Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

[maxx]

littlebuddy: It just seems like an emphsis on evil..

Those ghosts and skeletons aren't evil; they're symbols of death. Or maybe you actually believe in witches??? And ghoulies and ghosties?
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...1t:429,r:1,s:0

[gibran]

I am a christian , I have three degrees ... I am a small business owner and a university professor... I am Christian by choice.. I practice by choice... I celebrate Halloween, Christmas and other Pagan turned to Christian Holidays...why Tradition and Fun.. I resent people questioning INDIVIDUAL choices because of theirs... I resent people generalizing that all ______ fill in the blank think this way or not... I have no problem if you aren't Christian or Jew or if you believe in God or not... I have studied the science of creation and the science of the chaos theory... I make my choices biased on hope and faith in myself and the influence of the shoulders of many that came before me.. I want to be the first to wish everyone a Happy Halloween... and have a good thanksgiving ...go Lions...Go God .. go family .... go America

[gibran]

Papa ... yes that exactly why we can agree on many things...

[n7hn]

LAst year a saw a young girl putting up a sign in crayon out side their door. She looked SO SAD so Im sure she was forced to make and hang it. Sign read "No Halloween here, I love Jesus"

Why cant she [[and others) just be Saints, Virgin Mary's or Jesus's?

[maxx]

I don't know about Hershey's labor practices, but I do know the purchase of their candy helps support Hershey's Orphanage [[Since Mr. Hershey's death in 1945, the trust has yielded an embarrassment of riches, which now includes almost $800 million in accumulated income, far more than the school needs for its 1,163 students, who receive free room, board, clothes, books, bikes and backpacks.).

from the url I cited:
"...On the same day 'Time to Raise the Bar' was released, the U.S. government and the chocolate industry announced a pledge to commit 17 million dollars as part of a long-term commitment to eradicate child labour in the industry. 'If there's one thing people around the world share in common it's our love of chocolate,' said Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the legislators involved in the new agreement. 'But it is a bitter reality that the main ingredient in chocolate, cocoa, is produced largely by child labour.'
The Harkin-Engel protocol, as it is known, was pushed forward by two U.S. congressmen after a 2001 investigation by Knight Ridder exposed the manipulative and abusive cocoa industry in Cote d'Ivoire..."


So it's OK for Hershey to profit from child labor in Africa if they sponsor a children's charity in the U.S.?

[maxx]

gibran: I have studied the science of creation

The "science of creation". Is that the same as creation science? lol

[rb336]

if you are going that way --

should christians have Yule logs or chritmas trees? both are purely pagan, as is "santa claus" - aka Odin in his role as leader of the wild hunt.

Should christians have a holiday named after a germanic fertility goddess, symbolized by rabbits and eggs?

[gibran]

opps max... gt a little carried away on that one...LOL

[gibran]

rb .. yes.. I like the costumes [[santa and halloween too) ..but then again I am a believer too...so of course things that appear to be fictitious must be OK with me... LOL... Love the traditions... question the dogma , research the history: and then enjoy the famly on those days.. Ialways say... It's fun to celebrate the holidays even for us skeptics... ut undertand why you do it and not because you have to..

[Detroitej72]

Well stated, yet again Gibran.

People who have issues with Christians celebrating Halloween need to get a hobby and stop creating a problem where none exists. The same goes for radical Christians who fear or think the day is meant to worship evil.

This is America, and we still have the freedom to celebrate whatever we choose, despite the right wing's best attempts to suppress that liberty!

[1KielsonDrive]

You won't find anything on Halloween scarier than this....

Absolutely hilarious post.

[1KielsonDrive]

People who try to slam their religion down your throat are as annoying as people who try to slam their lack of same down your throat.

Not even in the same league. Very few ever try to slam their lack of religion down anyones throats unless the religious make a big ruckus about how they're discriminated against and their religions are persecuted. Religion seldom comes up in my conversations unless I hear someone crying about theirs.

[Papasito]

The founding fathers ensured freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
However, modern America is not a religion-friendly place anymore.
Just read some of the condescending and belittling comments toward religion in this very thread for proof.

[1KielsonDrive]

The founding fathers ensured freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
However, modern America is not a religion-friendly place anymore.
Just read some of the condescending and belittling comments toward religion in this very thread for proof.

A typical religious response. A cute quote of what the founding fathers said, or did, or intended. Seems to be the preferred method of the extreme right and extreme religious, nowadays. As long as people have the audacity to talk to me about their faith, implying I have to listen or adjust my life for their faith, I'll have the audacity to question their faith. Regardless of what you think the founding fathers said, did, or intended, I will enforce my freedom from religion by whatever means necessary, including calling religions and faith out. As long as they keep their faith and religion to themselves, I'm fine.

[Big Dog]

The founding fathers didn't ensure the religion of the american indians, while performing genecide over them, destroying cultures, killing almost all of them and stealing their land.

[East Detroit]

Not even in the same league. Very few ever try to slam their lack of religion down anyones throats unless the religious make a big ruckus about how they're discriminated against and their religions are persecuted. Religion seldom comes up in my conversations unless I hear someone crying about theirs.

I disagree. I see plenty of pre-emptive anti-religion comments on this board. Usually condescending in nature. As I said, I'm not really interested in someone's religion or lack thereof. It's a personal choice and people need to stop pushing their personal choices on others, when there is no harm to same one way or the other.

It is just more of the divisive dialog in this world that serves no constructive purpose.

[Zacha341]

I kinda tune it all out. Halloween came and went unnoticed in my house-hold. I here more teens and adults were out this year... I guess teens need something to do on a Sunday night... LOL!

if you are going that way --

should christians have Yule logs or chritmas trees? both are purely pagan, as is "santa claus" - aka Odin in his role as leader of the wild hunt.

Should christians have a holiday named after a germanic fertility goddess, symbolized by rabbits and eggs?

[G-DDT]

Not even in the same league. Very few ever try to slam their lack of religion down anyones throats unless the religious make a big ruckus about how they're discriminated against and their religions are persecuted. Religion seldom comes up in my conversations unless I hear someone crying about theirs.

I'm agreeing with East Detroit if you read this thread and many similar ones like it, there is a predominant attitude towards defining oneself by their intolerance towards other's beliefs.

Gosh, by 2015, within the last half dozen major mass shootings, two of them involved a guy shooting up a church steeped in Civil Rights and one where a kid in Oregon [[prompted-the media stated-by someone on a website-my first fleeting thought was "Detroityes?"-only later to be revealed as a Chan site.) based his killings on folk's religious beliefs-how strange the silent response to that situation [[seems those folks were more martyrs than Sheppard or Charlie Hebdo, but with less the coverage-just like how the Amish forgiving the mass murderer was understated in the media.). Not that I want the "take back America" response that inevitably comes from the right on such things, but regardless....

From such very incidents, to large billboards preferring Santa to Jesus in Times Square [[of all places) by Fundie Athiests, to the persevereing popularity of the logic-bully Bill Maurer, to the New Athiests movement, to Da Vinci Code [[don't get me started with that Masonic "Priory of Sion" hoaxery by all-Americans like Tom "Gumperoo" Hanks and Opie Cunningham-just the title alone is flawed.), to just how many folks want to believe in pseudo scholars like Joseph Atwill or that Harvard King person with her "Jesus's Wife" Gnostic scrap she could neither verify by origin or allow to be examined thoroughly, to aaaalll the Islamophobia, to reality shows attacking the Amish, and the overall dialogue and tone taken in society in America, any mature person gets an accurate reading from putting their finger on the pulse of it all to conclude that the tide of things has turned ugly on religion past just attacking the poor and prominent representatives of religion [[the Fundamentalists, the Jihadists, the Religious Right, etc.) and really digging into anyone humbly practicing their faith in an abiding fashion.

By what moral grounds can a childishly fundamental atheist, then, justify this attitude, if they use morals as the issue violated by the hypocritical displays of poor examples of religion, only to then carry themselves by a double standard of being intolerant and virus-like in offense? Even abiding is a virtue practiced [[and a character trait well developed) by more level-headed atheists and agnostics.

[G-DDT]

To any Fundamentalist Christian who wants to be on the purity kick to separate themselves from all things pagan, I'm willing to put them to task. I will walk into their office and rip that Thomas Kinkade calendar right off their wall and shred it for them. Wouldn't want them to be sullied by something that names it's months after Roman gods and days of the weeks after Norse gods. Right?

[G-DDT]

Symbols-like Holidays and movements [[which I give 200 years to improve-Planned Parenthood's clock started after Sanger's Death. The clock for the K.K.K. still hasn't started yet for me.) change. The cross was a symbol of fear and legal and mortal retribution turned into salvation. The Valentine's Heart was theorized to be a symbol of the woman's genitalia. The Peace symbol was theorized to be a symbol associated with anti-Christianity. The Swastika was once a symbol of "well-being". While the Confederate Flag still remains a symbol of cultural ignorance and intolerance. It's all a matter of progress and proximity.

Look at how locations change. Christians appropriate this spot used by pagans and build a church on it, down the line, some Muslims may build a spot there, and further on down someone builds an academy or condo space. Are holidays any different?

Granted, far-flung groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that flags and crosses are pagan idols [[-also Christmas and Christmas trees. They take a passage from Jeremiah 10 way out of anachronistic context and fail to correlate it with other O.T. passages-despite their heavy reliance to the Old Testament, as so many far-flung groups, like Mormons, 7th Day Adventists, and Reconstructionalists tend to do-to find the more common reference to trees being used to be carved into specific idols.), yet, if they knew that Charles Taze Russell was big into pyramids-well, you can't get any more pagan than that!

As time goes on, the way a holiday is observed and for what purposes change as well.

[G-DDT]

I think the flaw in this post is the title. It's not whether Christians should celebrate Halloween. It's a matter of whether they can be allowed to celebrate Halloween.

For me, Halloween is an observance of Death. It's an inescapable concept, one must meditate upon. We must acknowledge it, but more so, show we are not afraid of it. In fact, it's a good time to face up to any fears we have. Bootcamp for the psyche and all that. Face up to those fears and death and laugh at them [[hopefully not like those idiots in the Red Masque of Death who thought they were immune to the pestilence and indulged in their isolated folly.). Dress up like them in caricature.

It's also a good time to contemplate those souls passed on from this world [[yes, like Memorial Day). Much like All Souls Day, it is a necessary time to contemplate the transition those souls we knew have made. It's also a good time to look to heroes [[real or otherwise) and maybe emulate them in honor.

I do believe that concepts can be accompanied with other ones. Thus, just like "Plain Living with High Thinking" or Hendrix's "Strange but Beautiful", I believe in the "Dark but Redeemable" or the "Abnormal but Natural". It's a matter of reconciling issues not polarizing and compartmentalizing them in a grossly careless thought formation.


So, whether some kid wants to dress up like Popeye one year as a homage, and then dress up like a Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark [[because he was an ugly person who reminded him of his father) who got his face melted the next to show he wasn't afraid. So be it.

The Bible makes clear in Romans 14 that disputes should not arise as to whether certain diets or holidays should be observed or avoided by injunction-thus, insuring the rights of meat-eaters and vegetarians alike, and the rights of those who wish to celebrate Holy-days [[whether the JWs like it or not) and those who don't want anything to do with them. If a Christian just wants to celebrate "Harvest Time". Cool. As the seasons change, they may consider the death angle and visit a cemetery or read funky Bible passages about death [[got a bunch of skeletons in one passage in Ezekiel coming to life). If they want to throw Christian-themed parties where folks dress up like Biblical characters-be it one guy with a gory tent peg in his head or twelve guys who all want to be Moses or Abraham [[or a few daring ones who want to be Bathsheba, Jezebel, or Adam and Eve "pre-fall"), well, so be it.

Yet, a variety of old school faiths-Catholic [[despite what South Park would have you believe), Episcopal, Lutheran, even some Methodist-don't give a flying rip. As long as the whole Devil's Night, ritualistic Satanism stuff is left out [[as I would agree)-cool, they celebrate it just fine. I really don't think watching an old movie about the folly of a mad scientist with womb envy trying to "play God" by resurrecting an abomination [[the original film edited out the "In the Name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!" right after his "It's Alive!" line.) is going to hurt anyone's faith. If so, it sounds like a weak faith, that won't hold up to the real horrors of this world we must inoculate [[not de-sensitize) ourselves to.

So, if you are going to celebrate Halloween as a Christian family, don't pass out tracts and toothbrushes to the neighborhood kids, and don't limit your kids to this over-sanitized, over-protective [[part of Halloween is dispensing with the "poison candy hoaxes" of the past, facing up to your nerves, and intermingling with the strange community at large) Trunk or Treat nonsense http://www.freerangekids.com/the-pro...runk-or-treat/

By the way, Fundie Christians aren't the only persons who take umbrage at Halloween. Discordant punks like the Dead Kennedys addressed the folly of folks who designate a certain time of year to "cut loose" and dress up as something they could eccentrically be all year round. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiySknl9zs0Too bad, far too many immature Rennies, Comiccon attendees, and attention-starved idiots who haunt Time's Square or the Hollywood Walk of Fame take this principal too far. You got folks who can't accept being themselves, and they start believing they are vampires, or get into fights over who's the better Spiderman, or become antisemitic Elmos.

[Gpwrangler]

An old co worker used to tell me "you have to decide how hard you want to beat your head against a wall". When it comes to religion, I just go about my business and keep my mouth shut. Happy Halloween!

[Zacha341]

I tune out of halloween for the most part -- though those orange and yellow candy corn things are great......!

[det313grrl]

great thread Danny.

[G-DDT]

OHHH NOOO!

Attempts to sacrilize mundane things like hypoglycemia and tooth decay. Lucky for most of us, Jesus states that most japing blasphemy directed at God and Him are forgiven. Worse though, are those that merchandize junk food as being Christian-like Testa-mints or silly apocryphal poems about Candy Canes and Christ's death [[even if it was believed a choirmaster created them and a priest made the machine to make them in mass production).

Regardless, there are plenty of Christian humor sites out there [[like Joe Bob Briggs on Wittenburg Door), and it seems Landover Baptist was far from donehttp://objectiveministries.org/antio...halloween.html It was the Bazooka Jesus image that drew my brother and I to that site.