Posted on 11/02/2015 7:56:10 AM PST by DouglasKC
If you are not a Christian or do not consider yourself a Christian stop reading. This doesn't apply to you.
But if you ARE a Christian or consider yourself a Christian please think about this.
Most Christians who observe Halloween see it as harmless. But the real question is "What would Jesus do?". When we apply our modern standards to biblical truth it looks ridiculous. And that's the intent of the following...to show how ridiculous it is for Christians to keep Halloween. It's humorous but I guarantee it will make some of you angry. If it DOES make you angry you need to examine why you're angry.
This book does not exist in the bible but many Christians apparently think it does.
Bizarre 14:1 And the disciples gathered together on the feast of the pagans known as Samhain.
Bizarre 14:2 And being gathered together, they saw the pagans going house to house, dressed as demons, and sorcerers, and witches.
Bizarre 14:3 Then Peter stood and said "Men and brethren. Let us do as the pagans do and let us dress up and go from house to house as they do.
Bizarre 14:4 For we have the liberty to do so and it looketh like a lot of fun."
Bizarre 14:5 So they dressed. Here is the manner in which they dressed:
Bizarre 14:6 Peter dressed as a witch and Andrew his brother dressed as a cat that is black. James dressed as a ghost. John dressed as a soothsayer.
Bizarre 14:7 Philip and Bartholomew dressed as demons. Thomas, and Matthew the publican, dressed as vampires.
Bizarre 14:8 James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus dressed as werewolves.
Bizarre 14:9 Simon the Canaanite dressed as a hobo. And Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ, dressed as a princess.
Bizarre 14:10 They then sought Jesus, the Lord. Finding him in the synagogue, they began to boast.
Bizarre 14:11 Saying "Lord Lord, look, I am a witch!" And "I am a princess."
Bizarre 14:12 And their contention was great for each wished to gain the approval of the Lord for their costumes.
Bizarre 14:13 But Christ said "Have you not read where my Father said to not worship as the nations do?"
Bizarre 14:14 Peter said "Lord, we do not worship the pagan gods, but only you O Lord. But we taketh great joy in dressing up and doing as they do."
Bizarre 14:15 Then Jesus said "Verily Peter, you knoweth more than my father and I. Let us proclaim today as a day we all do as the pagans do and dress up, and go from house to house with great joy.
Bizarre 14:16 Further, I proclaim that the Holy Days I created with my Father, and caused to be written in the book of the law, are not to be observed henceforth."
Bizarre 14:17 And Jesus went to looketh for a costume but the hour was late and finding none, he said "Behold" and instantly his countenance became as one who is dead, and still walks the earth.
Bizarre 14:18 And Jesus did winneth the prize for best costume at the Samhain party and all were joyful.
Bizarre 14:19 But Judas was of dark countenance, for he desired his princess costume to win the prize.
Ok, which part is humorous?
Christians co-opted the druid evergreen tree and transformed it into a Christian message.
It's the same thing with Christmas parties and lights and trees and songs like Jingle Bells, Deck The Halls, etc. Any chance for people to get together and to celebrate family, friendship, and neighborliness is a very good thing and very in-line with Christian values!
Yep, I was going to say that the Pilgrims in Massachusetts did not allow the celebration of Christmas, considering it a pagan holiday. I’m not sure they were wrong then, and I’m pretty sure they would be right if they said the same thing today.
Great post, by the way.
Considering the non-Christian roots and traditions of Halloween where would you draw the line at people getting together on questionable days or events to celebrate family, friendship and neighborliness? For example Christians getting together to celebrate a public hanging? How about Christians getting together to celebrate Ramadan? How about Christians getting together to watch an x-rated movie?
Where is the line? Serious question....
Christians did NOT co-opt the pagan holidays, Roman Catholicism did. The ana-baptists never touched any of that stuff, and many independent Baptists who trace their lineage from the ana-Baptists, do not either.
I do not like nor except most Christmas decorations just because of that. And I certainly do not practice Halloween, nor Easter. It is Passover Sunday or resurrection Sunday, as befits a Jewish holiday specifically designed by God to mirror His Son’s sacrifice.
We shunned Halloween for about a decade thinking it was right thing to do. Last year we lightened up-it really is a neighborhood night out. We just moved and are new in town. It seemed like a good way to meet other neighbors with kids.
I still feel unsure of what is right. Pull the shades and hide in the basement? Pick wholesome costumes for the kids and go out? Keep kids at home but hand out full size candy bars with a tract?
I have to say that the kids have so much fun-planning and creating their costumes with a tiny budget is a challenge. Our two year old (almost three) was a crazy cat lady, so adorable. I feel bad for not letting our older kids have the fun of dressing up in a costume.
I did not say nor imply that Roman Catholics are not Christians; did I? Most RCs are Christians and not every Protestant is.
Kinda tired of the scolds in this country that have to pull the fun out of every American tradition.
The Samhain thing is a myth
Redeeming Holy Days From Pagan Lies : Hallowe’en : A Short History
http://steadfastlutherans.org/2012/10/halloween-a-short-history/
That one is false, too.
Actually there’s no record of pagan practice of some of the things before Christians did and it is very common for people to mistakenly attribute historically Christian practices to pagans without evidence because of all the crap being spread by modern wiccans who generally don’t know crap about historic paganism.
If you put your faith in your church membership instead of Jesus Christ, you are not Christian. Too many people of too many denominations put their faith in their church, or their pastor, or their membership, or the Pope, or Mary or something else besides Jesus.
But Roman Catholicism did take a lot of pagan customs and affix Christian names to them.
Agree completely. No membership in a man-created organization has ever saved anyone. They can present the Gospel message and encourage maturity in Christ, but every person must make a decision for or against Christ.
Was that sarcasm?
Roman Catholicism christianized a lot of pagan holidays, because it christianized a lot of pagans.
Case in point: no-one gets sacrificed to the Gods on Saturnalia now. Instead we celebrate the birth of Christ.
Christianity stole a lot of its ideas and customs from the pagans.
Baptism was a rite in the Cult of Isis.
The observation of Christmas comes from Mithra ism.
Devouring the blood of a sacrificed animal (i.e. Jesus). The Jews outright forbid that.
Where is the line? Serious question....
Your question is fair enough. Just because an activity came from somewhere other than Christian roots, doesn't mean it's bad or non-Christian.
Ramadan would not be my first choice for celebration, but I have Jewish friends and family (by marriage). I've been at their homes during Hanukkah and I was very happy to be included as part of the celebration. It was a great opportunity for the celebration of family and friendship, and was 100% in-line with Christian values, in my opinion. If I had friends that invited me over to celebrate some Ramadan feast, I would definitely accept, and they would see how good Christians behave firsthand.
As a society, there are unsavory tasks that need to be done such as tax collection, public safety, trash collection, national defense, etc. that were around before Christ and so obviously have non-Christian roots. I wouldn't take my family to a public hanging, but I'm in favor of capital punishment, as distasteful as it is, just as I'm in favor of our soldiers killing the enemy when necessary.
As for x-rated films, I wouldn't watch one with my family, but I totally agree with my tagline by Walter Williams. The more that people have the opportunity to get together and share customs, traditions, and moral values, the less there will be x-rated movies.
As a society, we need more opportunities to all get away from the computer and TV and get together in person. We need more dinner parties, more block parties, more Halloween celebrations, more Christmas parties, more community events. Community interactions because of these customs and traditions will foster a more Christian society.
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