Hallowed or Harmful? - A Christian perspective on Halloween

Christian Broadcasting Network ^

[hasegawasama]

well in my belief system which is more spiritual and eastern, i do not believe in celebrating halloween because of its association with "darker" and more malicious entities and spirits. it makes light out of serious matters. it won't affect everyone directly, but i get a weird feeling in halloween. why else is that the only "holiday" where people go crazy, in a sense. in hollywood, CA, there are huge massive wild parties, with drag queens parading the streets. no other "holiday" is like that.

[moyden2000]

Blah, blah, blah.

You can say all the same things about Christmas, which was also a pagan holiday.

[WackyKat]

That is interesting.I presume you belong to a church of the Orthodox family.

I had in mind the English speaking tradition.

"Easter" is derived from "Aester" the Anglo- Saxon goddess of spring and fertility.

Her totem animal was the hare and one of her symbols was the egg. Pretty clear.

Even more interesting is the true identity of Santa Claus.

His characteristics:

Is a large, old man with a grizzled beard

Lives in the far, snowy North

Flies by means of magical animals

Has magical means of spying of the activities of people

His helpers are elves

Visits people secretly

Can cloak himself with invisibility

Sometimes bestows gifts if the person has been good and requests them

So who is Santa Claus? He is Wotan-Woden-Odin. Santa's and Wotan's characteristics match very closely

Of course Wotan was a rather darker figure than Santa, but he has been sanitized for the kiddies.

[CapandBall]

Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

[Conservababe]

Oh, lighten up. Let the kids go out trick or treating without guilt as they have done for years.

[SoCal Pubbie]

I take it you've never been to New Orleans around Mardi Gras.

[Conservababe]

My small town loves Halloween. Yall should see the elaborate decorations on the porches and lawns. The kids love it and so do the adults who make an effort to amuse and scare them.

Fall festival...my patooty. We celebrate Halloween!

[bonfire]

Ditto! My husband goes out of his way to scare the living daylights out of the bigger kids. They LOVE it and can't wait to see what he does every year. IT's also my daughter's birthday and every year ALL her friends come here to go trick or treating. (she'll be 16!) For kids, the whole point of Halloween is CANDY CANDY CANDY!! For teens too!

[stands2reason]

Christians are eeeevil bump

[The Grammarian]

To answer several of your posts at once:

1) Christmas and Easter are not "pagan" holidays in the sense that Halloween is, since they celebrate Christian history in a manner not nearly as associated with paganism as Halloween (Christmas, whatever else it is, celebrates Christ's birth, and Easter his resurrection--it doesn't matter that they are near pagan holidays on the calendar).

2) The Christmas tree is purportedly a tradition started by Martin Luther, according to some.

3) Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch spelling of Saint Nicholas, a Christian bishop in Turkey from a long, long time ago (over a millenium) who was well-known for some incidents involving anonymously giving out gifts of money to needy families. The special powers, etc., were not introduced until the late 19th century in an effort to commercialize the holiday more.

4) Valentine's Day is also a subject of debate, as some say that it is the day held in honor to St. Valentine, an early Christian.

5) I do not celebrate Halloween, although I do celebrate Christmas and Easter (I find Easter a lot more meaningful, however). I do not "throw out the baby with the bathwater," as the saying goes, in thinking that any holiday remotely associated with paganism either by date or name (in Easter's case) is evil. I simply find little in Halloween that resembles "All Hallows' Eve" more than Samhain.

[stands2reason]

Did you actually read the article?

[stands2reason]

Did the article say that you shouldn't celebrate Halloween? I must have missed that part....

[etcetera]

The Bible doesn't say anything about Halloween. The Bible (as we know it) was written before Halloween (as we know it) came into being.

If kids didn't celebrate Halloween, does that mean the wickans and satanists would follow suit?

Halloween, for all its (supposedly) malevolent beginnings, has evolved into something else.

[MattAMiller]

hollywood, CA, there are huge massive wild parties, with drag queens parading the streets. no other "holiday" is like that.

Yeah but how do they mark Halloween?

Seriously, have you ever seen Mardis Gras in New Orleans? Or how about New Years eve in any major city?

[Concentrate]

Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, the Celts, inhabitants of Britain and Ireland, observed a festival on October 31.

As far as I know, hundreds of years before Christ, there was no October 31st. The Julian calender began with the Romans; Julius Cesar. Wasn't October the eighth month of the year, instead of the 10th month, as it is now, until Agustus Cesar added 2 months in order to straighten out the calendar? Sept (7), Oct(8), Nov(9) and Dec(10)?

[mysterio]

I read it. I see nothing wrong with Halloween. The author has a slight tone of veiled disapproval in some places, but overall, the article at least appears historical. I am a Christian. I see little chance of a holiday making me into an evil person. I think what some people consider evil or dark is almost comical. Be secure in your faith. And if somebody sticks a devil worshipper manual in your face, it won't make you flinch. Your faith is about you and what you believe. Worry about important things, like living a good life.

[yevgenie]

Man, you would have loved my "Why Santa Claus should be banned" speech I gave when some family/friends asked me to speak at Christmastime. LOL. The kids sure loved it . . . come on now, "he sees you when you're sleeping"--grab the shotgun!

[Euro-American Scum]

Bump for future reference.

[yevgenie]

That is interesting.I presume you belong to a church of the Orthodox family.
Well, kind of. We had our own "reformation" soon after the Protestant Reformation of Europe. Belief-wise, we are protestant/evangelical in nature, but we do have a liturgical service derived from the St. James (Jesus' brother) liturgy of the first century. We have made a few changes to that service, changing the language, adding prayers for the President and his Cabinet, Senate, House, etc.

[D-fendr]

we do have a liturgical service derived from the St. James (Jesus' brother) liturgy of the first century.

What is your source/reference for this liturgy?