I just had to comment on this because sometimes I find it hard to believe the lengths Christians will go into mediocrity.
My comment is prompted by a post at challies.com as well as many other blogs that have decided to post on the issue (it is a good time to post on it).
Just ask yourself a few questions and try to answer them honestly and scripturally. Can you see Jesus celebrating a holiday based in the occult? Can you picture the apostles giving in and partially celebrating an occult holiday just because everyone else is doing it?
I mean come on people (directed towards people making excuses to celebrate halloween), do you really believe the nonsense you are trying to feed yourselves?
I especially like comments like this one (sarcasm):
“I have seen too many Christian kids who were so sheltered from the world, that when they were inevitably thrust out into it, had a bad time.”
I can tell you my kids don’t miss halloween at all and they have never celebrated it. They aren’t going to have a “bad time” because they didn’t celebrate a pagan holiday (all hallow’s eve) either. I don’t think teaching your kids about Jesus and why not to celebrate such holidays is sheltering them at all, quite the opposite.
As far as the negative comments about Christians who turn out the light and don’t participate…I have to say I don’t really agree with those comments. The question is…does your “half” participation in the event further the Gospel and is it a witness for Christ? Putting a sign on your door with scripture (and not handing out candy or greeting people) may serve the same purpose…perhaps even to a greater extent since it shows that you are taking a stand on not celebrating the event.
In addition, I wanted to comment on one remark that Tim made.
“Perhaps the greatest fallacy Christians believe about Halloween is that by refusing to participate in the day we are somehow taking a stand against Satan.”
I honestly don’t think that this is a primary reason for not participating in halloween. I think it is more of a stand on Biblical principle and an attempt to be Christ-like, serving Him, in all that we do.
I will close with the question I already asked…would Christ and/or the apostles participate happily in an occult holiday?
P.S.
I suppose if you are going to stand at your door and preach the Gospel all night you would be doing pretty good. However, I somehow doubt that is what Christians who participate in this occult holiday are going to be doing.
AMDG
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Brian, a strong stance here! I’ll come back later and comment more when I have more time. To take your logic to its conclusion though, what about Christmas (winter solstis) and Ish-tar, . . . I mean Easter?
Christmas ’should’ be about celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour and Easter ’should’ be about focusing on and celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.
Equally we should as Christians be celebrating these events in our hearts all year round.
As the secular world has ‘adopted’ these events we should use that for the purposes of evangelism and proclamation about the true focus, which should of course be Jesus and salvation.
Halloween on the other hand has absolutely no connection or connatations relating to our Lord and Saviour and is, despite what many believe, a celebration of Satans world done in such a way as to make people think that witches, ghouls and other ‘creatures of the night’ (so to speak) are not to be taken seriously and are at heart a bit of harmless fun.
I am agreeing with Glenn on this one.
Christmas is currently accepted as a celebration of the birth of Christ…regardless of how accurate that is historically. In addition, Easter is currently accepted as a celebration of the resurrection of Christ…regardless of how accurate that is historically. So Christians celebrate the birth and resurrection of Christ on those two days.
I can tell you right now my kids don’t believe in the easter bunny or santa claus and every since they were introduced to the above holidays they were taught the truth. They know who gives them presents and they know exactly what we are celebrating on those two days.
AMDG
Yes I agree, Christmas and Easter are re-claimed Christian holidays; but initially they were pagan holidays–like Halloween. Instead of withdrawaling from this “holiday”, why not pro-actively engage halloween, and imbue it with Christian meaning. Many churches are doing this by offering the alternative–Harvest Fair or whatever you want to call it. What do you guys think about something like this?
I think it is going to be hard to convert an occult holiday to a Christian holiday.
It will be especially hard to have it mass recognized as a Christian holiday like Christmas and Easter.
I personally don’t see a reason for having to find an alternate thing to do on an occult holiday…I just treat it like any other day (I don’t recognize it as a holiday).
AMDG
You do realize, Brian, that Christmas and Easter were as much an occult holiday as Halloween, right? Although, given the trajectory of our society–I would tend to agree that turning Halloween into a Christian holiday won’t probably happen–but I think we should still use it as an opportunity to provide alternative venues for the world–and Christians.
Sadly, Christmas and Easter have returned to its original moorings as pagan holidays–even in the church. I suppose this has more to do with current state of the Western church; than just these holidays though.
I would say that generally Christmas and Easter are both widely accepted as Christian holidays in America.
I am not really against Christians trying to claim a holiday or create an alternate holiday to halloween if that is what they want to do.
I was just stating that I don’t think you will see a conversion of halloween to be a widely accepted Christian holiday and that I personally don’t see a reason to create an alternative (just to have one) on the same day of a widely accepted occult holiday.
AMDG
Brian, just an update, I am done blogging for awhile–my Credo site is gone, as is my old Mixed BAG site. Just wanted to let you know so you can update your blogroll. I’ll still visit your site periodically–I’m just devoting way to much time to the computer (my blog). I’ve enjoyed the interaction with you, even if we don’t agree all the time–but who does :)?
In Christ,
Bobby
Bobby, hate to see you take it down. If you ever just want to write a few articles you can blog here.
AMDG
Thanks Brian. It just takes too much of my time, and it’s better if I don’t leave myself an option–at least with my own blog; although it is as easy as opening another blog–if I ever want to. Thanks for the offer, and I’ll still keep checking your blog out from time to time.
In the LORD,
Bobby
How ironic, I just realized, your blog colors are the typical ones associated with Halloween ;). I’m not trying to make fun of the seriousness of this post, I agree with you in large part, I just thought this was kind of funny–given your strong dislike of Halloween.
heheh…or such a removal from it that it never even crossed my mind
Good one
(your last response above)!
You’re probably going to think I’m crazy, my wife does :), but I think I might’ve lasted one day, after I told you I was done with maintaining a blog, well I’ve already set another one up–I’m hooked. I just like writing too much, I’ll just have to learn how to limit my time in the rest of the blogosphere (I troll, I think that’s what they call it, way too much). I’ll just have to ask the Lord to give me some balance in this area.
my new url: http://bobbygrow.blogsome.com; I’ll understand if you don’t put me back on your blogroll–given my track record ;).
BTW, I like the colors on your template.
back in the blogroll…you should just let it ride…
you will love my follow up post on halloween coming, heh
AMDG
While I don’t disagree with your position, I think it goes entirely to 1 Cor 8. Paul helps us to understand that all things in encouragement, all things in moderation, nothing that would cause my brother to stumble. I look at Halloween and find the event to be harmless to my children. Do I feel that you, or others, are wrong for not letting your children participate? Absolutely not. While the background of the event is practical knopaganistic, I am simply dressing my kids in costumes and letting them knock on neighbors doors for candy. If anything, I could use this as an opportunity to reach out to my neighbors and to share the gospel. If, however, I don’t take that stance and I prefer to not participate, I could be missing out on an opportunity.
I have made a few comments and linked to this discussion at my blog.
http://www.revivedministries.org
James
Jason,
I would just like to say that I personally believe that all things are lawful for Christians. However, not all things are beneficial. (1 Corinthians 6:12).
I only hope that my posts cause people to think about (search/study) the Scripture and to pray about everything they do.
AMDG
Just thought I would point out to some of these people that do not want to celebrate non christian holidays and that maybe they should actually read the bible and make sure of when the three wise men followed the bright star and do some research into when this all happened. Because if I’m not mistaken the birth of Jesus was spring time and the “Church” changes the celebration date to when it is now so that it would be easier for the heathens to be converted. Correct me if I’m wrong though… would love to know…