halloween

[Scarletprayers]

If your kids are dressing up like cowboys, princesses, etc., there is nothing wrong in letting them participate.  Of course, parents need to be careful and watch that their participation doesn't go overboard in dressing up like ghouls, etc., or soaping windows and such.  Going to a local church or community event where the kids can have fun and be safe is perfectly fine.  It doesn't mean that they are going to worship Satan or get involved in witchcraft.

If you believe that, then consider this:  Pagans, witches, wiccans, etc., celebrate Christmas.  When they do it their way is it glorifying God?  Why not?  It's a CHRISTIAN holiday!?  If it works one way, it has to work the other.

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I don't celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday, so why would I have a problem with what they are doing?

[Scarletprayers]

So lets just agree to disagree.

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Yay. The age old argument Solomon's wives used on him.

"You have your God, I have mine...you have your beliefs, I have mine. Can't we just agree not to disagree..."

And you know the rest of the story. Pretty soon there was a temple for every false God under the sun.

The fact is you are going to obey, or disobey God. It is not my concern whether you agree with me. It is my concern to tell the truth according to the Bible so that you have a chance to accept it. What you do with it is between you and God.

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No you are telling me what you think God means, and thats all. God is NOT a God of fear, well at least mine isn't!

[Keith]

This is a weak argument for the likes of you.

Wicca's don't give a hoot what God thinks and for all I know they could be thinking to themselves, "What are those lousy Christians doing, tainting our unholiest of nights.". If parents were to take their kids out and pray for the community and bless every house in the name of Jesus, I would think it would nullify any garbage that the pagans would have in their involvement.

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Are these wiccans worshipping God just because they celebrate Christmas in their own way? They take God out of it, so of course it's not worshipping Him. If it works one way, it has to work the other. Good post, Gerioke!

[Keith]

If your kids are dressing up like cowboys, princesses, etc., there is nothing wrong in letting them participate.

[Keith]

So lets just agree to disagree.

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Yay. The age old argument Solomon's wives used on him.

"You have your God, I have mine...you have your beliefs, I have mine. Can't we just agree not to disagree..."

And you know the rest of the story. Pretty soon there was a temple for every false God under the sun.

The fact is you are going to obey, or disobey God. It is not my concern whether you agree with me. It is my concern to tell the truth according to the Bible so that you have a chance to accept it. What you do with it is between you and God.

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So, what then, WSB, are you trying to force Kahlan into battling this out with you then? Why are you so intent on inflicting your way of thinking onto people? On this board, "Let's just agree to disagree" is a polite way of saying, "You know what? I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe. It's not going to change, so, in order to keep peace, let's just at least agree that we disagree and move on, shall we?"

It is not a cop-out. Give her some credit. I know Kahlan well and you're cutting her to the quick with such comments. That's not going to happen when I'm around, ok? I hope you understand.

[Scarletprayers]

If your kids are dressing up like cowboys, princesses, etc., there is nothing wrong in letting them participate.

[Mongo]

Halloween is the most important day of the year for wicca and many other pagan religions.

They don't hold commercial events for it. If they celebrate it, they do so quietly. Its now a secular holiday.

Paul said we are not to do anything that might cause our brother, or for that matter anyone else, to stumble.

If it was wrong to eat meat that was sacrificed to an idol, because someone else mgith see you and be confused by that, how much more do you supposed it is wrong to take part in a festival originated in paganism, and that to this day is still used for pagan religions?

If the world sees a christian celebrating halloween, or if a REAL witch sees a christian celebrating halloween, then what you are doing in THEIR eyes, is putting God's stamp of approval on it. They see the "Christian" do it, so it MUST be ok. Right? You dress up as a witch or goblin or vampire, or whatever you do, and so you are saying, "this is right and acceptable to God."

Well, it isn't right.

When was the last time anyone looked at another person in a costume and said, "There's a Christian celebrating Halloween!" It just doesn't happen. When's the last time we heard that someone's child turned to the devil because "Halloween rules"? These things just don't happen.

Look, you can be self-persecutive and maybe it works for you, but for me things are within the context and when people blow them out of context like this it is simply fanaticism. You have to either celebrate in the intent or not, and Holloween is not celebrated in the states within its orignal intent.

When's the last time you celebrated Christmas? Everyone knows the intent of the holiday, but they also know its not the actual day and its an event that has been commercialized. We still celebrate it within the spirit of the original intent though. So you're celebrating Christ's birthday on the wrong day and you're celebrating something the pagans have corrupted into a simple commercial event.

Or Thanksgiving. You celebrate a day that honors a feast in the spirit of love and brotherhood. Sounds nice. However, the feast animal is not sacrifice according to scripture and you eat it! Our intent is to celebrate love and understanding. Let's not even get into the later history where thousands and thousands of natives were killed by the descendants of those pilgrims. How could we still celebrate an event which later had no meaning? What are we commemorating?

There's extremes. Some Christians choose to live in those extremes. That's your right. However you should never take something and look at it only through the narrow lens of that extreme. When you do you miss the details and the context by wide margins. Holloween's orignal purpose is lost. If someone runs around on Halloween celebrating false gods - they are in the minute minority. Everyone else is simply having fun and letting their kids have fun too.

[Keith]

Hey Keith, how ya doing?  I know it wasn't directed at me, just putting my two cents in!  Christmas is the day Santa Claus comes, nothing more, nothing less.  The Bible never says to celebrate the day of Jesus birth, but every day is a celebration of who we are in Him.  So to "me" Christmas isn't a Christian holiday either.

I've been up for about 26 hours straight now, so don't feel bad, even 2 cups of coffee hasn't helped yet!

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You know I'm

I understand if people don't want to celebrate Christmas because of the commercialism that it's become about. Personally, I think it must please God that His creation has chosen to celebrate His Son's birth for them annually.

My point is that Christmas is a day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If pagans celebrate it their way and it doesn't worship God, the same applies to Halloween. Halloween even had some spiritual roots at one time.

Now, get some sleep young lady! I know Worthy is addicting, but so is sleep!

[Keith]

some of my family members who arent Christians refuse to listen to anything i say about halloween..

Personally, I think your priority ought to be in their getting saved. You can worry about Halloween later.

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I'd like to add my agreement to what Nebula said. I understand where your heart is, theblessedlife, but how can they understand fully what you're saying if they don't know the Lord yet? Just keep praying for them and live your life as a witness before them. I promise you, it doesn't go unnoticed by them. However they may act or no matter what they may say, they are thinking about things because the Holy Spirit convicts. Don't give up!

[Scarletprayers]

I don't have a problem with anybody that wants to celebrate Christmas, I just choose not to do so. I'm am no where near smart enough to tell someone they have to do this or they have to do that. I happen to agree with your reasoning.

As for the sleep thing, I wish I could. I'm not staying awake because I want to, just can't sleep