[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Christians celebrating Halloween (Page 2 of 2)
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Some people seem to think the purpose of faith and religion is to absolutely suck the joy out of anything and everything. That's why the Puritans were "persecuted" in England, by the way. They got booted out when they tried to cancel everybody's favorite holiday, Christmas. It make me happy that my faith is based on love and not on an enormous heap of rules, rules, and more rules. Jesus taught me that what's most important is for me to love God with all my heart and to love my neighbor as myself. I fail to see how making up stupid rules and then judging other people based on how they follow the rules is part of either of those. Too many self-proclaimed Christians are obsessed with rules and judgmentalism and are not at all interested in loving much of anything except people who subscribe to the same rule set as theirs. They seem to like being angry, judgmental, critical, and dictatorial for God. If being constantly obsessed with nonsense like yoga and secular holidays is a manifestation of Godly love, I'm Ming the Merciless. Love God. Love each other. It ain't hard. In fact, it's really quite simple if you let it be simple.  |
Well, here we are… No One Believes In Me Anymore (Satan's Boast) (with Lyrics) Keith Green/Ministry Years Vol.1_Disc1 |
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Growing up we treated it as dress kids up in cute costumes and give them candy day. We stayed away from the creepy/gory/ghoulish stuff. At present my wife and I have elected not to participate with our kids as there seems to be a lot more emphasis on the distasteful aspects these days. |
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Yes. Almost everyone has headless Jesus displays on Halloween. |
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Quoted: Growing up we treated it as dress kids up in cute costumes and give them candy day. We stayed away from the creepy/gory/ghoulish stuff. At present my wife and I have elected not to participate with our kids as there seems to be a lot more emphasis on the distasteful aspects these days. Exactly why I began to question where it meshed in my Christian walk. |
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Quoted: Pagans had all the good holidays. Of course we took them over. It was OK because cultural appropriation hadn't been invented yet. Quoted: Quoted: More like the Christians co-opted the pagan holidays. Pagans had all the good holidays. Of course we took them over. It was OK because cultural appropriation hadn't been invented yet. PAGANs |
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Quoted: Just harmless fun. SPNI. Chill. Just fun for kids and young adults. I don’t think anyone actually equates it with anything religious in any way. It’s just a pretend scary movie night for young folks. We don’t have costume balls anymore, this is as close as they get. |
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It's a Christian holiday to remember the Saints and to a degree, all the faithful who were persecuted for their beliefs. It also lines up with the traditional harvest festivals in Europe, and therefore you could, if you choose to, think of it as God's blessing of successful harvest. Almost like you can choose to contextualize certain celebrations or times or seasons with your beliefs, coupled with traditions you inherit. Weird. It's as if people have been doing that for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. I would even venture to go out on an exceptionally crazy limb and say... God might have even planned it out that way for us. 
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Quoted: Growing up we treated it as dress kids up in cute costumes and give them candy day. We stayed away from the creepy/gory/ghoulish stuff. At present my wife and I have elected not to participate with our kids as there seems to be a lot more emphasis on the distasteful aspects these days. It's gotten warped. Same people that put up nightmare before Christmas decorations for Christmas |
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Quoted: Co-opting a holiday to hand out candy and party in costumes is the best way to destroy it's origin and stamp out the ideology. Just like as a white guy I get drunk on tequila on May 5th because fuck the mexican culture still celebrating victories from a country they fled from, take it, make it yours and cleanse it. To be fair, it's not like there's a shortage of French military defeats. |
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Quoted: Some people seem to think the purpose of faith and religion is to absolutely suck the joy out of anything and everything. That's why the Puritans were "persecuted" in England, by the way. They got booted out when they tried to cancel everybody's favorite holiday, Christmas. It make me happy that my faith is based on love and not on an enormous heap of rules, rules, and more rules. Jesus taught me that what's most important is for me to love God with all my heart and to love my neighbor as myself. I fail to see how making up stupid rules and then judging other people based on how they follow the rules is part of either of those. Too many self-proclaimed Christians are obsessed with rules and judgmentalism and are not at all interested in loving much of anything except people who subscribe to the same rule set as theirs. They seem to like being angry, judgmental, critical, and dictatorial for God. If being constantly obsessed with nonsense like yoga and secular holidays is a manifestation of Godly love, I'm Ming the Merciless. Love God. Love each other. It ain't hard. In fact, it's really quite simple if you let it be simple. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/3c/c1/103cc1c604cfdb22a601764b9db2f6de.jpg It isn’t about rules and regulations for me. I think I have Christian Liberty to celebrate Halloween or not. It’s about what I feel comfortable with. I believe in spiritual warfare, and I believe that the enemy can be given permissions through activities that some people consider harmless. Witchcraft and idolatry are prevalent themes during Halloween. I’m not going to show my kids that it’s “fun” to celebrate those things once a year. I’m not telling you what to do. You need to decide what’s best for you and your family. |
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Fascinating thread. From my particular religious perspective, even more progressive Orthodox Jews would be utterly horrified by their kids celebrating Halloween. Heck, even the more observant parts of the Conservative community don't do it, including the local pluralistic day school. Inevitably, a non-Jewish babysitter at our synagogue on the Sabbath asks the kids what they're going to dress up as for Halloween, and hilarity ensues when they vehemently declaim ever debasing themselves to dress up for it, let alone participate at all. Is it pretty much just fun and not Satan worship? Yeah. Is it something I want my kids doing? No. Another reason they go to a Jewish private school. We hand out candy like everyone else, though. |
| I had a lot of heartburn throwing away some old sheepskin seat covers from my truck because I could have made a perfect Halloween costume out of them. |
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This right here. Always been my favorite time of the year |
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Quoted: Fascinating thread. From my particular religious perspective, even more progressive Orthodox Jews would be utterly horrified by their kids celebrating Halloween. Heck, even the more observant parts of the Conservative community don't do it, including the local pluralistic day school. Inevitably, a non-Jewish babysitter at our synagogue on the Sabbath asks the kids what they're going to dress up as for Halloween, and hilarity ensues when they vehemently declaim ever debasing themselves to dress up for it, let alone participate at all. Is it pretty much just fun and not Satan worship? Yeah. Is it something I want my kids doing? No. Another reason they go to a Jewish private school. We hand out candy like everyone else, though. Well, it's multi faceted. It's a Christian version to coopt Samhain. But then it's also become a cultural thing. As society shifts away from Christian values, towards a more "permanent present (no history or tradition)" death cult, it starts warping all the things. So jewishness is already a strike against celebrating it, but then the 2020s version has warped it, so that it's even less of a thing to be celebrated |
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Quoted: Well, it's multi faceted. It's a Christian version to coopt Samhain. But then it's also become a cultural thing. As society shifts away from Christian values, towards a more "permanent present (no history or tradition)" death cult, it starts warping all the things. So jewishness is already a strike against celebrating it, but then the 2020s version has warped it, so that it's even less of a thing to be celebrated I certainly agree in the sense that the shift from having cultures of deep tradition and history[1] to constantly-aggrieved identity culture is a primary driver of what's screwing up this country. People with a proud past tend to have resilience and can deal with minor problems without losing their minds. People who define themselves in the moment by the moment tend to be fragile mofos who lose their minds the second something happens they don't like it. We don't celebrate Halloween, but I've got waaaaay better shit to do than waste my time raging against it. [1] Which are not all Abrahamic or European, I should add. |
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Quoted: I certainly agree in the sense that the shift from having cultures of deep tradition and history[1] to constantly-aggrieved identity culture is a primary driver of what's screwing up this country. People with a proud past tend to have resilience and can deal with minor problems without losing their minds. People who define themselves in the moment by the moment tend to be fragile mofos who lose their minds the second something happens they don't like it. We don't celebrate Halloween, but I've got waaaaay better shit to do than waste my time raging against it. [1] Which are not all Abrahamic or European, I should add. For sure. I dont rage against it, I still appreciate Halloween for what it has been. For most it is still generally an innocent thing. As the ugliness in the world picks up steam, I just get wary about cooptable cultural items |
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Quoted: We are the house with the full size candy and people stop in the street all October to take pictures of the decorations. Every September my wife makes Home Depot stock go up a percent. Attached File |