Halloween?

[JohnR7]

4 hours ago, JohnD said:

Forcing Jesus on anyone only results in their rejection of Jesus.

We are not responsible for how people react. We are to give a witness and testimony for God, and what they do with it is totally up to them and is to have no effect on us at all. Some people are happy, some people are sad. Some are positive and some are negative. That is just the way the world is. We do all we can do to help others. We do not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. We try not to worry if people have an attitude of gratitude or not. 

Ezekiel 3

A Watchman for Israel
…17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. 18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.

[JohnR7]

4 hours ago, JohnD said:

For even the Churches we attend are filled with sinners saved by Grace.

Grace is a work of God in us to deliver us and set us free from sin. We are called to holiness and sanctification. 

[other one]

3 hours ago, missmuffet said:

But your children are now grown. How would you handle it if your children were still young?

same as when they were kids.   Dress up in something non dark-side and forbidden to use the phrase "Trick or Treat"

[missmuffet]

2 hours ago, other one said:

same as when they were kids.   Dress up in something non dark-side and forbidden to use the phrase "Trick or Treat"

I wasn't walking a very close path with God then. I could tell people I was a Christian but I was not a born again Christian yet. I would not let my kids dress up in something evil but I let them say "trick or treat". 

[other one]

8 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

I wasn't walking a very close path with God then. I could tell people I was a Christian but I was not a born again Christian yet. I would not let my kids dress up in something evil but I let them say "trick or treat". 

we just asked for a treat.   But we had a very long discussion about demons, witches and such so they took them serious.

Last week  in one of our schools a student brought a knife to school to protect himself from bullies.   Turned out it was a ritual knife from his mothers witchcraft tools used for casting spells.

[Dennis1209]

Proverbs 22:6 (KJV) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Least I be a hypocrite, my thoughts have drastically changed about Halloween from my past to my present new self.  Speaking for myself, I should have my children’s best interests first and foremost at heart.

It can be heartbreaking to tell your children NO. You cannot go out trick or treating. Isolating them from what their friends and peers engage in targets ridicule and isolation. For one, you don’t know all the craziness going on and what could be in the treats. Two is the consideration of witches, demons, goblins, and the occult we should have no contact with.

With what I now know, if I could change my past and what I exposed my children to, I would have found alternatives to trick-and-treating.

Yesterday our church had a very nice fall festival with loads of candy, food, games, and activities. A Christ-centered safe, and loving environment, and the children had a blast.

But hey, that is just me and I am not criticizing anyone for participating.

[missmuffet]

1 hour ago, other one said:

we just asked for a treat.   But we had a very long discussion about demons, witches and such so they took them serious.

Last week  in one of our schools a student brought a knife to school to protect himself from bullies.   Turned out it was a ritual knife from his mothers witchcraft tools used for casting spells.

Unfortunately that may not be so uncommon in the world we live in. 

[JohnD]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:41 AM, BibleStudent100 said:

Yes, you are are reflecting what I see in his holiday:  it springs from pagan sources.  It has now turned into a celebration mainly FOR children to one in which adults totally get into outrageous and sexually inappropriate costumes worn to their offices during the day and then topped off with a licentious party in the evening.  No thank you!

As I said, this can be done at any time of year including office Christmas parties.

 

[Ray12614]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:49 AM, BibleStudent100 said:

What should be the Christian's view of participating in this "holiday"?  Should Christians dress up in costumes?  Should we allow our children to go trick or treating? 

To those who think that churches can use this 'holiday' as an outreach, I can only offer my past church's experiences because they tried to do the same thing and failed in every way.

Our neighborhood the church did not have in-church costume parties, but was on a street that would have literally multiple hundreds of parents with trick-or-treaters pass by, so we tried to use it as an outreach to the community. We would set up hot chocolate and donut tables, bales of straw for people to sit on and rest around camp fires and we would meet all with an bag of candy that had an gospel tract in it. One year, we set up large TV screens with family friendly movies playing on it. We had security walking the street looking for any 'issues' (pranks etc.) and had an detail of people who would walk the street cleaning up after those who left trash laying around. We invested almost 1,000.00 for candy and supplies to hand out. We invested many hours of preparation and clean up. We tried to keep everything done right to 'minister' to kids and parents.

So, what was the result of all our 'ministry' and effort to the community ? ? ? 

Leading people to receive Jesus as Savior? None. We never saw any results from our evangelism efforts, did the tracts have any fruit? Unknown.   Establishing our church as an safe place for children to come to?  None came. Were there new people coming to church that we could help?  None.  Was Jesus' Name exalted?  In a small way only . . . Halloween activities overshadowed Him I am sorry to report.

It certainly was not because our church body did not make the effort. So what happened? Well . . . I believe that it is because light and darkness cannot mix. As hard as you might try to 'dim' the light, you must 'hide' the light to make it something that it is not. Trying to make Halloween into something wholesome and Christian is just smoke and mirrors and can never work . . . unless . . . you hide the light of the Gospel.

Ray . . .  

[teddyv]

1 hour ago, Ray12614 said:

To those who think that churches can use this 'holiday' as an outreach, I can only offer my past church's experiences because they tried to do the same thing and failed in every way.

Our neighborhood the church did not have in-church costume parties, but was on a street that would have literally multiple hundreds of parents with trick-or-treaters pass by, so we tried to use it as an outreach to the community. We would set up hot chocolate and donut tables, bales of straw for people to sit on and rest around camp fires and we would meet all with an bag of candy that had an gospel tract in it. One year, we set up large TV screens with family friendly movies playing on it. We had security walking the street looking for any 'issues' (pranks etc.) and had an detail of people who would walk the street cleaning up after those who left trash laying around. We invested almost 1,000.00 for candy and supplies to hand out. We invested many hours of preparation and clean up. We tried to keep everything done right to 'minister' to kids and parents.

So, what was the result of all our 'ministry' and effort to the community ? ? ? 

Leading people to receive Jesus as Savior? None. We never saw any results from our evangelism efforts, did the tracts have any fruit? Unknown.   Establishing our church as an safe place for children to come to?  None came. Were there new people coming to church that we could help?  None.  Was Jesus' Name exalted?  In a small way only . . . Halloween activities overshadowed Him I am sorry to report.

It certainly was not because our church body did not make the effort. So what happened? Well . . . I believe that it is because light and darkness cannot mix. As hard as you might try to 'dim' the light, you must 'hide' the light to make it something that it is not. Trying to make Halloween into something wholesome and Christian is just smoke and mirrors and can never work . . . unless . . . you hide the light of the Gospel.

Ray . . .  

I don't see that event as a failure. The church got actively involved in the neighbourhood. People got to sit down in front and perhaps interact with members of the church. Simply being a neighbour outside of usual church events is its own reward.