BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Bible Basics Christians and Halloween

It's no secret by now that I don't believe in celebrating Halloween. I think that Christians shouldn't celebrate this holiday. I am not pagan or wiccan and see no reason to celebrate Samhain in any way. I encourage other Christians to take this same stand. As Christians, we don't celebrate Hannauka (sp) or bow and pray 10 times a day to asllah, so we should not celebrate the Wiccan New Year either. Think about it....

Our pastor has taken this "holiday" and turned it into a chance to reach out to the neighborhoods.

We call it "Hallow Him" - and we have a festival at our church with games, and face paintings, and hay rides.

The kids still get to dress up, but we discourage our own church kids from dressing in anything that has to do with the "darker" side of halloween- monsters, witches, vampires, etc. Of course we can't say anything to any guests, but we just hope that our influence will "rub off". And every game that is played has a Christian theme behind it. Like musical chairs is played with Christian music.

It's a really neat alternative for the kids.

Halloween and Samhain are two different things on the same date, and lumping them together will just confuse people.

Isn't October 31 also "All Saints Eve"? And November 1 "All Saints Day"?

Yes. And 11/2 is All Souls Day, Mass is celebrated in a Catholic cemetery. Not sure if other religions observe this day or not.

Halloween is a cover up for the celebration of samhain. It's actually a euphamism for the words Hallows Eve...meaning "night of the spirits" or "night of the souls". It is the time when Pagans and Wiccans honor the souls of lost loved ones and honor the acceptance ofthem by the goddess. Harvest Festivals and other such celebrations are also ways to celebrate samhain. I think there should be no such celebration on this day for Christians. I don't celebrate Yom Kippur and I won't celebrate samhain.

I think churches that offer an alternative celebration should research it further and not give in to peer pressure. They need to stand up for Christ, not shrink back and roll over just to appease the members of the congregation. If more Christians took a stand the holiday could go back to being a Pagan and/or Wiccan holiday. The problem with churches today is that they are filled with people instead of the Lord.

Of course thats just what I think...and I also think that anything done for the Lord is good enough...

Jenna, with all due respect, your inclusion of various non-Christian religious holidays that occur at this time of year in your discussion of Halloween is neither fair nor accurate.

As Editor of the Christian forum here on Bella, you owe a duty of respect to everyone, no matter what their religion. Halloween has nothing to do with sacred religious holidays such as Hannukah or Yom Kippur, or Islam prayer practices, or any other religion for that matter. You don't have to agree at all, but respect is not negotiable.

There is so much more to every person, religion, and situation than a definition you pull out of a book or a website. Instead of labeling and judging and condemning those who don't agree with you, perhaps you might consider listening, understanding, and embracing everyone's differences, as Jesus did.

I'm going to the same place you are, Jenna... I'm just taking a different path. Namaste.

We don't look at it as rolling over to peer pressure. We see it as reaching out to the community. Invariably we have about 10 children each year that come to this program, and then will continue to come for AWANAs and COMPASS Kids (our Sunday morning program for kids).

These are kids that are going to be out on the street trick or treating anyway. (I'm not talking about our church's members kids, I'm talking about the visitors'}. If instead they come to something that is Christian based, and is STEEPED in Jesus, then why is that a bad thing?

God can use ANYTHING to His glory.

The fact that you obviously have blinders on is apparent in some of your posts, which means you cannot see what is going on around you. You are criticizing and insulting something a lot of Christians do. What Halloween means to me is carving jack o'lanterns and giving out candy. The children that come to my house have probably never heard of Samhain, yet you continue to lump them together. (Just for you I will ask every trick or treater this year. I already know the answer). They are two separate things (issues to you) and you cannot see it. I, as a Catholic, spend the two days following Halloween in church, since they are Holy Days to us; we honor the departed souls on November 2. Does this offend you? Have you taken this up with the Pope? We are not in Mass for two days to ask forgiveness for giving out candy to trick or treaters. Your passion to Christ is admirable but you are sending mixed signals with your posts steeped in negativity and anger. The Christianity Forum should have a Happy Face; it should be beaming with love for everyone. Where is that Love?

Whoa, I didn't mean to start a "Jump on Jenna" post. There are many Christians that feel the same way she does. And the Hallow's Eve is NOT a holiday to be celebrated by Christians. But I feel our church has tried to turn good out of bad (the opposite of what society has done to Christmas and Easter).

But I didn't see Jenna knocking the two days following Halloween at all, just Oct. 31st itself.

My personal convictions about Halloween have been changing, I never saw harm in it before. But as the years go by, and everything seems to become so much more geared towards the "Do what feels good, because tomorrow doesn't matter", I have begun to question it. So I take my children to church and as they get older we'll look together at what it is about and why our church does what it does instead. "God can use anything."