Posted on 10/17/2015 4:12:43 AM PDT by knarf
I have been antagonistic against Hallowe'en since I was born again in 1981 ...
Been supporting liberal causes for a long time haven't you?
The Dentists’ favorite holiday.
Dentists as well.
“The holidays celebrated by Christians today aren’t in the Bible. And the holidays that are (The ones God created) aren’t celebrated by Christians.”
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Exactly.
That is a book of the Old Testament, and none of the "festivals" (with the exception of Passover) resembles *any* holiday I've ever heard of. Even Passover is not celebrated the way it is described there. Plus, a lot of those "festivals" seem to require sacrifices of live animals, which is not a feature of Christianity, nor, as far as I am aware, is it a feature of modern Judaism.
Within the New Testament, I do not recall ever seeing that we are commanded to celebrate certain events, much less any instruction on how we should celebrate them. If we are to use Leviticus as a guide, we should not celebrate *any* Christian events--not Christmas, not Easter, no Saint's days (e.g. Saint Valentine, Saint Patrick)--or any of the other, not as publicized, Christian holidays that are on the calendar.
More like we have allowed pagan rituals which have nothing to do with the Bible to replace our celebration of the Passover, and distract us from God.
I do not know about "we have allowed", considering that none of us were alive in the early days of Christianity. When early evangelical Christians went out to convert people (as commanded by the Bible), they observed that the people they were trying to convert already had religions and associated rituals. So, to sell those people on the idea of Christianity, they simply co-opted the existing seasonal celebrations, gave them a Christian spin, and thus offered the people salvation through Christ without requiring them to give up their pre-existing rituals.
As the old saying goes, "God works in mysterious ways." And if God inspired early Christians to co-opt pagan rituals into the service of promoting Christianity, who am I to question?
Nothing. You're right...it's basically a chance to act a little goofy. That's all it is to 99% of most people who, like me, enjoy Halloween.
My parents were very religious, but they saw nothing wrong with Halloween either. As adults, they didn't get as excited as us kids, but my mother would sometimes make us masks. It was just an occasion for kids to have fun and get candy. Nothing more.
So what are your thoughts on Christmas?
In the mid 70’s I went to middle school and was in band/orchestra with two kids, a brother and sister who were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both were very talented in music (he in trumpet and his sister on the violin) but they would not participate in our school’s annual Christmas concert. In band class they would practice and play songs like “Let It Snow” or “Jingle Bells” but nothing that had anything to do with Christmas or Santa in the lyrics and of course no traditional “religious” Christmas carols. They also would not play any patriotic music either - The National Anthem, the Stars and Stripes, etc… They would however play the pop songs our band learned to play like Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” or “Color My World” and didn’t object to the one classical piece we (sort of) learned to play, don’t remember any more what it was but it might have been by Handel, not the Halleluiah Chorus, but IIRC, was written as a religious piece.
Two jobs ago I worked for a tech company and one of the employees I managed was a “Jo-Ho”. At this company, everyone’s birthday was celebrated with a cake, a card signed by co-workers, the obligatory signing of Happy Birthday AND a “free” day off sometime during their birthday month.
He made it very clear and was very vocal about it, that he would not participate in anyone’s birthday celebration, would not sign any cards nor did he want anything recognized for his own birthday because of his religious beliefs and we respected this.
He would however go to the kitchen afterward and scarf up at least one piece of left over birthday cake and take back to his cubicle to eat : ) . And then one Friday afternoon he informed me he was taking that Monday off. I said, “So you are taking a PTO day?” No. He told me he was taking his “free day off”. Just because he didn’t celebrate birthdays didn’t mean he was going miss out. And I didn’t make an issue of it since he was technically entitled to one just like everyone else, but I did find it all a bit hypocritical and was more than a little miffed over the short notice.
At the time Allhallowtide was formalized, believed to be by Pope Gregory III (731-741), all Christians were Catholics, excepting the Assyrians and Oriental Orthodox, who respectively broke from the Catholic church after the Councils of Ephesus (A.D. 431) and Chalcedon (A.D. 451).
The rejection of it is quite modern, often “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, because non-Christians have tried to capitalize on it. And there are indeed some who also reject Christmas and Easter as Christian holidays, because others have tried to exploit them.
But in the final analysis, all are Christian celebrations, and more is lost than gained by rejecting them.
One guy was a long hair and my father, the one Norman Lear copied for Archie Bunker YELLED out ...
"Hey Donald .... Jesus Christ is here!"
True story ... I'll never forget it ...
(Nor my Dad)
You must be really fun at parties.
I have fond memories of Halloween. When my kids were little, we used to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins. We'd carve faces in them and roast the seeds. Then we'd put them out on the door step with candles in them to illuminate the faces. Fun stuff.
I'd always play Bach's organ music for when people came to the door, usually the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and hand out copious amounts of candy, always of course, keeping some put aside for us to munch on later.
Halloween was always for me the transition between autumn and early winter. Come November 1, thoughts would immediately turn to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'd winterize the yard, stack my firewood and put up the storm windows.
When I was a boy, I never got into halloween costumes. Too much fuss for me. So at the last minute, I'd take an old sheet, cut holes in it for eyes, and head out there with a pillowcase. I lived in a densely populated neighborhood so within a few blocks, I would fill two or three pillowcases full of candy - most of which I hid from my mother and the hoard would last me for weeks.
Totally harmless and fun holiday. Any attempts to tie it to some sort of satanic celebration is utterly silly. I mean, Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin. C'mon. How satanic is that?
BTW, the "razor-blade-in-apple" was just a schoolyard scare. Never happened. It's what we would call today an "urban myth."
Besides, if anybody gave me an apple for Halloween, I'd toss it. It was the candy I was after.
Btw I like your screen name. :-)
Back in school, I would always feel sorry for the Jehovah’s witnesses. I know it was by choice, but they were always left out of celebrations. Whatever explanations the parents gave them to tell their classmates—I would think—would not be enough to counter the feelings of isolation at those times. I suppose they would get used to it as they grew older.
Running from house to house.....tripping on my long hem!
We'd holler out to the kids behind us .... *HERSHEY BARS!* [and they were the full sized ones] ...not those cheapie minis. Or *APPLES....THEY"RE GIVING OUT APPLES* ....and all the apples would be thrown back on that neighbor's lawn.
The whole object was to visit as many houses you could, in the time you had to be out.
IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE CANDY. ALL ABOUT THE CANDY.
Why hasn't HilLIEry been arrested?
HAHAHA! I get it! LOL
I used a big box too .... punched out the bottom, decorated it like a horse.....tied ropes to it to make shoulder straps, dressed myself as a cowgirl, slipped the boxhorse over me. Best costume I ever had.
Something like that happened at our old house, which was in a small neighborhood. We moved in 2002, and now our driveway is so long and steep, with no streetlights on this street, that no one comes down here. It was fun for a long time at our old house, but by 1997 or 98, it had become rather insane. We easily had at least a hundred children holding out bags for candy. People from towns away were driving their children to our little spot, and still ringing the doorbell after 9:00, even though all of our outside lights were off.
That's a real cutie in the pic.
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