Is Halloween A Celebration of Evil?
Jack O Lantern
The other day while I was compiling a list of Halloween activities in Edmond, I recalled the time I was in the middle of the debate about letting children observe this annual holiday.
There are strong opinions about the origin and celebration of Halloween and whether it left children susceptible to evil.
One side saw Halloween as an innocent time where children dressed in costumes and canvassed the neighborhoods for candy. At the same time, they saw Halloween as a time for scaring each other with ghostly tales and horror movies.
On the other side of the coin, some see the origin and commemoration of Halloween as a secular festival steeped in spiritual wickedness. Allowing children to participate in Halloween is akin to letting them “play on the devil’s turf.”
The city of Edmond offers wholesome, family-friendly events in October such as Storybook Forest and Fall Family Festival. At the same time Edmond churches and organizations put on fall parties and celebrations with some of the trimmings of Halloween but without the emphasis on the gory details.
Both sides of the issue can produce mounds of evidence to back up their belief about Halloween.
So what is your opinion? Is allowing children to participate in Halloween activities bad for the soul or is it merely good-natured fun?
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Comments
The only actual history of Samhein of the Druid’s at the time was written by Julius Caesar and it was a 100% evil religion.
Fact is, if God did not make something holy then man certainly can’t.
If a person wanted to find “evil” in things; they could find it in anything. FOR EXAMPLE, Afiretruck is red…some people relate red with the devil. WAKE UP…sometimes kids want to do things just because they are fun!
Floyd,
You’re crazy. Im a Christian & I celebrate Halloween. Its spelled SAMHAIN. It was a feast of the harvest, nothing evil about that.
Get a life. I hope someone eggs, toilet papers & otherwise vandalizes your house on Halloween night…
April, If you are a Christian I suppose you are celebrating Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles from Oct 5-12.
On the 1st day Yahshua the Messiah was born-symbolising our Eternal life with Him and His Father Yahweh.
On the 8th day He was circumcised as we are to have circumcised hearts in the Kingdom.This is Yahweh’s (God)Thanksgiving week for the fall harvest as Pentecost is His Thanksgiving for the spring harvest.
The one of the Druids, which much of the world celebrates, comes from Jeroboam’s defience against Yahweh.
You can read about it in 1 Kings 12:32.
If you attend a Christian church, why haven’t they pointed this out to you?
When this evil feast went through Greece it picked up Zeus worship so that is why on Jeroboam’s feast you see cornucopias. I gave you a lot of studying to do.
April, You show your Christian love?
You show the evidence of Druid evil by wishing me to be vandalized
REPENT!
If one does their research they will find that the so called “Christian” holidays are fraught with links to paganism. Even the most sacred of “Christian” holidays are linked to paganism. Christmas, where most celebrate the birth of Christ, was set as December 25th to concide with the Winter soltice festival, the ancient Egyptians decorated trees and worshipped them. Easter is named for Eostre the pagan god of fertility. The myth is that she changed her pet bird into a rabbit to amuse children and he brought forth bright colored eggs which she gave to children as gifts. Any of this sound familiar?
No, it’s a celebration of consumerism.
Unless you’re actively practicing the religion with which these events take place, you’re not celebrating it. If you’re a kid, you’re celebrating a chance to dress up and get candy. If you’re an adult, you’re celebrating a chance to dress up and scare some people. Religious or pagan origins are meaningless unless you’re practicing it, as is all outrage against it.
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
If you believe the Bible, Deu 12:30, we are to have nothing to do with other religions.
Of course, so many that call themselves Christian are in name only and really hate the Bible which is why they make fun of it.Since God did not make the heaten events Holy, man can’t. He HATES YOUR festivals! Amos 5:21-27.Why deliberately do what God hates? That is sin.
I think halloween is an innocent holiday. I mean if you want to look at in a bad way well then thats you,but I just look at it as having fun. I love God and would’nt do things that would make him unhappy,but I dont think the Lord is going to hate me for haveing fun on a holiday that comes around once a year.Take it from a kids point of view,because I’m only 13.
Floyd: The bible tells us not to where poly-cotton blends, have more than one type of animal grazing in any given field and that a rape victim is supposed to marry the person who rapes them. You can play “my cross is bigger than your cross” and thump your bible all you want, but I wager you don’t follow the arbitrary rules from the old testament that you’re quoting as well.
Mark, It is obvious you’re knowledge of the Bible is not good enough.
Please study Acts 15:19-30.It itells which of the Levitical laws of Moses to follow.
Christ told the Pharisees they were “laying a heavy burden on others that they themselves do not abide with.”
Now please go to Gal. 3:19-29. That miserable Mosaic law was added on to the 10 Commandments because God’s people were not keeping the 10 so He punished them.They were a curse.
Now go to Col.2:14 and see these “ordinances that was against us” was blotted out.
Floyd: No thanks. See, despite the fact that the Bible has been rewritten, retranslated (and mistranslated), revised and re-edited countless times over the years, and all the most fallible of creatures on the planet, I know those mosaic laws were abolished as a “curse” after the fact (ie: they were too inconvenient). But Christians love citing old rules when it suits them, and ignoring ones that don’t, it makes it easy to keep arguing without having to actually think about it when you can plug a search string into the BibleGateway and paste a Bible verse. But as long as they do, I have no problem pointing them out rules and regulations that were imposed, whether abolished or not. They’re a part of biblical history, it should do no Christian any good to try to ignore that these rules or any others were imposed.
You obviously love showing off your Biblical knowledge in lieu of actually responding to anything anyone says. We’re not supposed to be proud, but you can be if you wish. I’m not going to stop you, only repeat what I said.
I never said Halloween was good, I said it had no meaning for the vast majority of people who go out on it. It’s analogous to a birthday or Mother’s day or any other day designed to get people to spend their money. Every day of the year is like any other unless you provide a significance to it, and that significance is based entirely on your own beliefs. Arguing that a day is evil because ancient people sacrificed virgins to the pagan gods centuries ago is simply ridiculous. Unless you are practicing or actively celebrating what the pagans were on that day, you’re not celebrating a pagan holiday.
And please, before you play your “holier than thou” tune again, please study Proverbs 8:13, 1 Timothy 3: 5-7, and 1 John 2: 15-17. Your attitude is exactly that, you’re playing mother superior over people because you’re celebrating on certain days they’re not and vice-versa.
Proverbs 8:13 is very good because it says to hate evil. What does your Bible say?
1 Timothy is excellant and what I’ve been telling preachers for years. They just don’t listen and go on preaching lies.
And 1 John 2:15-17 is what I strive to live by and many, many times I have said “This world is not my home.”
All these are against Halloween. Thanks for making my point.
In my Bible it tells me to hate pride and arrogance, which you have in spades. All three show that same level of condemnation of it. But it doesn’t surprise me that you see only what you wish to see, you’re like a lot of Christians that way. So worried about the sawdust in the eyes of others that you fail to see the plank in your own eye.
Thank you for showing your vice.
In fact, it really is the funniest thing.
The Bible- “boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
You- “many, many times I have said “This world is not my home.”
The Bible- “6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
You – “We are to have nothing to do with other religions.”
The Bible – “I hate pride and arrogance,evil behavior and perverse speech.”
You – “I’ve been telling preachers for years. They just don’t listen and go on preaching lies.”
You’re either a very good troll or you are so blinded by your hamartia of absolute piety that you cannot see where you are showing that you falter. Either way you’re proving quite well why the church is in such the state that it is.
Mark, You are like a barber who was studying to become a minister. He was questioning about my faith and throwing insults like you are.
When he could not find anything to condemn me with he said I ate too much because I have always had a protruded belly from weight lifting.I had to be very strong putting up square bales for farmers who couldn’t do it for themselves and only got about $8 per day for it. I’ve never been greedy.
I gave up my life to take care of my dad and mom, 2 brothers and a prisoner, plus others. At 64 I finally got married for the first time having been called and thought of as a queer because I didn’t do what others did.
My life is still platonic and I married my wife because she needed me to take care of her.
And you find fault with me for being “arrogant”. You sure don’t know me.
By your writing you come off like Satan the devil, an accuser without cause.
Why are you so hate filled?
I only told the truth and you know it.
I can’t come close to telling you how many people have told me I’m too good for this world.
See what the love of Halloween has done to you?
You’ve not read anything I have actually said about the day, or you would see how incorrect your last sentence is. I don’t love Halloween, I have no opinion of it either way. It’s a commercial day, a ploy for large companies to make money. It is a day that holds no significance to me either way and it is a day I do not believe should hold any more significance than July 24 or April 16 do to most individuals. My statement is that any day of the year is meaningless except for what the person observing it puts into it. A Christian holiday means nothing except to those who apply their own meaning to it, a pagan, Jewish, Islamic or Hindi holiday is no different. Halloween is no different, it’s only evil if people celebrate evil on it. Most individuals who do something do not. I don’t believe it is an inherently evil day, I believe it is a day that holds no true significance unless a person makes it so.
As for being hate-filled, far from it. I only speak the truth, one that some people have a hard time coming to terms with. Christianity is filled with those who are consumed with pride and egotism. Those who are quick to tout their own accomplishments and faith while condemning the actions of others they consider beneath them. Those who have long since abandoned the attitude held by those very individuals they study in the Bible. Someone can do all you want in the world, but an arrogant attitude will render it all meaningless.
The worst part is that many have no idea of their own vice. In fact, they relish in telling others of their piety and refusing to listen to what others have to say because they believe they are purer and holier. You say I don’t know you, and that’s fair, I don’t. Nor do I doubt that you have done many good things for many people in your time. At the same time, you don’t know me or anyone else but have no problems throwing such accusations. That is hypocrisy. I do not hate you, I have no reason to do such. I think life is too short to be consumed by hatred of anyone.
There is no reason to continue this further. Those who are consumed with themselves aren’t capable of recognizing such until they realize it. If you have done all the good you have said you have done, that is very well and good, but it does not give you room to levy accusations at others whom you do not know.
i dont think halloween is evil and im getting sick of people saw it is cause it is really just a day that people in the old days celebrated on well festiviles and there harvest.
I believe the origins of Halloween are indeed evil (scarifing for false gods and worshipping false gods… and thinking leaving food out for spirits will help you get rid of them) you just been lied too and I believe. The word of God is evidence to that… and saying you have to actively be praticing in it to make it wrong is not true. Ex: your friend is stealing and he asks you just to be a look out?? or you see it happening and you don’t say anything?? well your not actively particing or practicpating but you are involved. I may not know the bible front to back and no… I’m not perfect… but I do know my God, and I do know when He is speaking to me about certain areas in my life that need change. Even though I do agree that dressing up like clowns and princesses and receiving candy is not a sin. But exposing a child/person to it may leave an open door to confusion. Myself being a mother I would prefer not to be reponsonable for bring confusion to my child… let’s face it we only dress up cute and cuddly in the begin when we are about 1-5 yrs old, because this world has convenienced us after a certain age being innocent isn’t appealing… now a days we see teenagers and adults dressing up in horrifing customes or very skimpy outfits… and if you don’t believe me that’s fine… Read the Bible (the living word of God) and believe God, then turn on your TV and really start watching some of this shows that influence our lives on a day to day basis. (I’m not saying every single person dresses skimpy and super scary, and that every show is the devil. I’m going based on what I know)… And since I have chosen to follow Christ my eyes have been open to a lot of disturbing things in this world and things that I myself use to do. It’s really creepy how we supposably love to be “scared”(I use to be that person)and then wonder why we have nightmares and some of us can’t sleep at night and feel like we are being watched. We love to be scared and it’s fun right? but when some really happens then what? It isn’t fun anymore. Halloween opens doors that shouldn’t be open, the devil is known as a deceiver and manipulator well because that’s really all the power he has… until you start believing his lies… And please I want people to understand that Christians aren’t perfect… God is the true definition of perfection… Christians should always show love and encourage and help those who are lost in darkness to see the light… The light being Jesus Christ. The only difference between Christians and the world is that we acknowledge we have a need for a savior, some one to hold us up when we can’t, someone to guide when we don’t know which way to go. We depend on Jesus at all times!! or at least we should… Even the bible says that we all fall short of his glory!!! That is why we need to confide in the Lord to pick us up where we fall short. Halloween is just another skim the devil uses to confuse people. And though yes it may not seem evil to the untrained eye, but the devil knows this world better then you think, this is his domain… so he knows exactly how to fool you and he is not going to do it in a obivious way… he’ll do it in the most subtle way, and if you don’t believe me look at the world and read the newspapers and turn on the news and take a look at the world not just yours… but the whole world!! Everyone has their own temptations and their one doors that they must keep close. For instance, if you are addicated to drugs… and you decided to get right and get cleaned, and you did. Once you get out of that rehad center, your goal is to stay far away from the doors that open that addication. In other words don’t associate yourself with things that will tempt you to go back to it… don’t put yourself in situations you can’t get out of… that is what the bible teaches me, don’t leave doors open to temptation and confusion… at those moments draw near to God…. Keep his word ingraved in your heart and know who He is. Halloween for you may seem like nothing but that is only you out of billions…. you don’t know what the next person is going through and that is why I trust that with time God will open everyones eyes to the truth. God bless you all!!
Seriously…. fanatics such as this amaze me. If you don’t want to practice having fun, dressing up & eating candy, then don’t. However if you feel children are letting in the “devil”, you have issues.