Churches and Halloween

This, is what I don't get...

You indoctrinate your child to think that HALLOWEEN is to worship the devil.

So, you don't celebrate it.

Which I totally respect.

But yet, where did the kids go mostly to celebrate HALLOWEEN this year? At the churches.

Whose the hypocrite's now?

Trying to making sense of how Halloween is the devil?

It becomes annoying, when I'm at work, and a child stands there and tells me, Halloween is the devil.

And, then, you guys sit there, and celebrate it on the same night.

No wonder, I had hardly any kids this year.

Don't sit there preaching one thing and turn around and do another thing.




Obviously, Halloween isn't that bad, when you celebrate it on your own time.

I was going to write about this same topic! As usual the Christians are being huge hypocrites. Last year while we were trick or treating many of the people were trying to convince us to go to the church Halloween even down the street.

Is this a sign of desperation, or just trying to indoctrinate every last person?

Halloween is a Christian holiday, (it came from the Celts, the festival of Samhain, people dressed in costumes around a bonfire to ward off spirits) why would they not celebrate it at a church? Add to it the fact that there are a gazillion psychos out there and people legitimately worry for their childrens safety, why not go celebrate at church?

IMO it's too bad, because I have always loved halloween, and feel that the churches, malls, psychos, delinquents, freaks and pervs etc are ruining what used to be a great and fun day and night for kids.

Holy crap guys - they're just trying to give the kids something to do that's oriented around the church instead of the traditional devil, witches, ghosts, monsters stuff...

Give the indoctrination crap a break - they understand kids still like to have fun & are just tying to give them & their families an alternative.

When's the last time either of you stepped in a church (CB328 & OP)?

Have you ever been to one of these functions?

It's actually pretty fun for little kids...games, candy etc...

Pagan is what Pagan does...

Makes sense.

Get them in there on the Solstices.



Jehovah Witnesses catch a lot of crap but what I have witnessed from them is Religious Discipline.

No Holidays....None!!
No Birthdays, in honor of John the Baptist
No Money allowed to be circulated in Sanctuary as offerings. Private discreet donation box outside sanctuary.
No Preacher or Pastor. The Congregation takes turns sharing stories, concepts and teaching techniques.
No Windows or shuttered windows on most. This always puzzled me. Maybe to keep peoples eyes from wandering outside. I don't know.

I think Passover is the only one that is ok in this strict discipline or fasting.

They also break down the trinity.

They see Jesus as one of many sons. I branch away from them a bit on this because I feel Jesus may be the only "hybrid" or "begotten" son. Thats another thread tho.

Just wanted to show everyone not all churches are like what you think.

Diabolical
You indoctrinate your child to think that HALLOWEEN is to worship the devil.

VERY FEW Christians teach their children that.
And most Christian churches have what is called an alternative to the Halloween celebration.
Most call it 'light night'.
They have the kids dress up as their favorite bible character or saint.
And they have games and candy.
It's a celebration of LIGHT instead of a 'dark halloween theme'.

There is nothing hypocritical about it.
It makes perfect sense.

CB328
Is this a sign of desperation, or just trying to indoctrinate every last person?

.... says the person with the Obama avatar running around ATS trying to tell people that Obama didn't lie about Obamacare. Dude .. seriously .. you might want to take the log out of your own eye before you complain about the speck in the eye of the Christians.

Churches having a Light Night so the kids can have an alternative fun source isn't
'desperation'. And them inviting people from the neighborhood is just being friendly. Lighten up.

Halloween has become a mostly harmless, social affair. Appreciate that different countries celebrate Halloween in different ways, but at its roots Halloween was a Christian festival based on remembering the dead, so an association with Churches is hardly inappropriate. It is hardly hypocritical and the OP has misunderstood the origins of the festival, IMHO.

Of course, like many Christian festivals, Halloween has even longer associations going back beyond Christianity. Whereas Spring is a time of (re) birth and life renewed, Autumn is a time of death and preparation for Winter. It is the transition from Summer which would have been celebrated.

Regards

AbleEndangered
Jehovah Witnesses catch a lot of crap but what I have witnessed from them is Religious Discipline.

No Holidays....None!!
No Birthdays, in honor of John the Baptist
No Money allowed to be circulated in Sanctuary as offerings. Private discreet donation box outside sanctuary.
No Preacher or Pastor. The Congregation takes turns sharing stories, concepts and teaching techniques.
No Windows or shuttered windows on most. This always puzzled me. Maybe to keep peoples eyes from wandering outside. I don't know.

I think Passover is the only one that is ok in this strict discipline or fasting.

They also break down the trinity.

They see Jesus as one of many sons. I branch away from them a bit on this because I feel Jesus may be the only "hybrid" or "begotten" son. Thats another thread tho.

Just wanted to show everyone not all churches are like what you think.

edit on 2-11-2013 by AbleEndangered because: typos

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this. I have a certain respect for people who are so devout that they're willing to go that far to be observant of their chosen faith.

However, I stop having respect for that, the moment the faith is forced on to other people. People who are in positions where they can not necessarily freely choose. e.g., children.


And again, the part of me that respects religious and spiritual beliefs understands the desire to want your children to believe as you believe. Doubly so if you're convinced that your way is the true path to salvation. But I still disagree with forcing this matter. I'll apply that to all religions generally, but I might even say especially when it comes to any judeo-christian derived religion.

These religions teach that we were given free will by god. Free will to choose between good and evil. And yes, they may also teach that a parent is to have a certain role in a child's life, and is to be respected, and should bring their children up right, etc. However, I still think the free will given by god to ALL trumps this. Or should. At least when it comes to purely religious matters.


And I think it's a shame that kids should be made to feel like outcasts, or even just left out, when it comes to stuff like holiday celebrations, and birthdays, etc, simply because the parent has a particular view. Sure, they need to have religious freedom, but where do we draw the line, exactly? A belief that they should not use man made medicine or medical interventions? Clearly that could be harmful to a child.

But might it also be harmful in some way to subject them to a particular belief system that almost seems to equate fun or celebration with evil? Why does psychological harm seem to not "count?"

reply to post by Diabolical


Hallowe'en, evolving from the pan-Celtic traditions of Samhain and Calan Gaeaf, actually has very little to do with the Devil, or Satanic themes. If you study the Greater Sabbats of Wicca and witchcraft, or even just the holy days honored during Western Europe's pagan period, you'll find that they almost universally deal with the seasons, and that Samhain/Hallowe'en specifically deals with the "wheel of the year" as it turns from Summer to Winter. Samhain is the Celtic New Year's Eve, much as December 31st is the Western World's New Year's Eve.

The idea of monsters, and beasts, and creatures actually comes from the later celebration, Yule (around December 21st) and the Wild Hunt, when the spirits of the dead, be they beast or man, were said to roam the streets in a final day of reckoning, taking the last vile souls and blessed dead with them before the Sun returned to power and began vanquishing the darkness of the Otherworld in favor of the Wheel turning from Winter back toward Spring/Summer.

Since the Church had already placed the birth of Jesus near Yule (being that Jesus was the light, and the way, and the life: all elements of the Sun's return to power and the new growth of life), it didn't make sense for the Christians to celebrate the joyride of the dead at the same time (if at all), and so Samhain and Yule celebrations kind of just blended into one, over the course of three days: all hallow's eve, all saint's day, and all soul's day.

The Church certainly has a right to celebrate the day, as their own mythology was blended with the pagan traditions of the people they sent missionaries to. And, since proselytization is the Christian way, you also shouldn't be surprised that they use what they believe is their own holiday to preach to you about their traditions.

If you understand the pagan roots though, and the symbolism of the celebration, simply let them continue to subsist in their wrongly-attributed beliefs. They wouldn't understand the wax and wane of light and dark throughout the year anyway, since they don't believe that darkness, death, and the Cold Season have any place in "God's kingdom".

~ Wandering Scribe

bronco73
Halloween is a Christian holiday, (it came from the Celts, the festival of Samhain, people dressed in costumes around a bonfire to ward off spirits) why would they not celebrate it at a church? Add to it the fact that there are a gazillion psychos out there and people legitimately worry for their childrens safety, why not go celebrate at church?

IMO it's too bad, because I have always loved halloween, and feel that the churches, malls, psychos, delinquents, freaks and pervs etc are ruining what used to be a great and fun day and night for kids.

Let's just say you are right for the sake of argument here and say that Samhain was about "warding off spirits". Even if so, do you really think that ancient Celts were Christian?