What kind of "real" Christian lets the kids do Halloween?

by lovelylil 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  diamondblue1974

  I feel that a true Christian would not let thier children do Halloween. Even when you get the TRUE history you are worshipping an anti-christian religion founded long before Christianity was ever thought of.

  For christians its easy to condemn pagan beliefs but what a great number of people are not aware of is the very fact that Christianity on the whole still has vast elements of paganism wrapped up within it. There is no escaping such facts when you consider the similarities between the two; it begs the question as to whether or not they are one and the same.

  But I know full well my son is not a practicing witch, warlock

  You say that as though it was a bad thing

  Tonight he told me that Halloween "glorifies death".

  He would entirely right on this when you consider the origins of Halloween.

  DB74
• 

  Sad emo

  It's how you celebrate these festivals and what they mean to you personally that matters.

  At our church, we celebrate Halloween as 'All Hallows Eve' - ie the eve of All Saints day. The kids have a light party - have fun, play games, get treats - and keep warm, dry and safe into the bargain!

  They even carve pumpkin lanterns - but with happy, smiley faces instead of scary ones.
• 

  daystar

  skyking

  I feel that a true Christian would not let thier children do Halloween.

  LOL! Hmmm... maybe I'll go as a "True Christian"... pretty scary in their own way and at least as equally imaginary.

  The only problem I can see would be... well, what the heck does a "True Christian" look like since no one has ever seen one?
• 

  bebu

  Even when you get the TRUE history you are worshipping an anti-christian religion

  worship?? I think worship has more to do with the mind and heart. Do you think the pharisees were worshiping God with all their incredible participation? They were, if it only takes participation.

  Halloween is for most people: a chance to dress up, a chance to go to parties with others who are dressed up, a chance for kids to enjoy dressing up and going around the neighborhood, and a chance to enjoy a lot of candy and silliness. Older kids enjoy trying to scare others (this can get out of hand, however).

  If you've never participated in Halloween before and are unsure, consider getting a lot of candy and answering the doorbell. You'll really enjoy the costumes you see. Wear a crazy wig or mask and the kids will be laughing at you, too.

  Except for those who are looking for an excuse to do something destructive, which is not caused by Halloween btw, Halloween is about as "potent" as a Shirley Temple drink. It ain't what it used to be... just like pinatas ain't what they used to be.

  bebu
• 

  james_woods

  I have a story about this subject. I may have told it before, but here it comes again anyway...

  A long time ago, in a city some far distance away, (and while I was recovering from my JW exwife and the WTS), I had a little blonde hellcat of a lady friend whom we can call "Rhonda".

  I have never had any children of my own, but Rhonda came with two boys - aged 6 and 8 at the time. Rhonda had decided that James had all the makings of a good stepdad and that these boys needed some solid male influence (I think this may have been because I actually held a job and drove an old Corvette).

  I was called to help with halloween night. Rhonda already had the costumes - a Dracula for the older (he was cool with it) and a Clown for the younger (he was decidedly NOT COOL with this). Rhonda had to grab him by the arms, and force him into it like a tag-team wrestling event. Not having children, I have always been a little uneasy when watching a real mother deal with an unruly chile - but, she got the job done without too much physical harm. (Including whipping out her lipstick and putting clown dots on his face...) We got him out into the Vette (both of them fit pretty well into the hatchback at that age) and went through a couple of streets. Younger boy did not want to get out of the car.

  It was only later in years that I found out what was wrong. (as years went by, I was called on to teach the boys how to start a lawnmower, snake out a toilet drain, fix an overhead garage door, drive stick-shift, etc.). Through this, I got to know these guys as they grew up.

  Turns out that both boys had been forced to sit and watch the entire TV movie about John Wayne Gacy (the homo-serial murderer) so that they would learn to "stay away from bad people".

  Needless to say, the only thing that our 6-year-old came away with from Brian Denehey's fine performance as J.Wayne.Gacy was that "clowns are bad people and they will kill you and bury you in the basement". (The prototype killer used to dress up as a clown for "charity events", presumably to stalk young boys as victims...).

  He is probably not scared of clowns anymore, but I think I still am - in a weird way...

  James
• 

  lovelylil

  James - that is why my daughter finds them scary. She also saw that movie at a friends house. Its funny that you mention movies as I saw "it" when I was younger and it could be that subconsciously it bothered me and that is why I don't like clowns? I don't know for sure but even at carnivals I hated them. Thanks for sharing that story. Lilly
• 

  MsMcDucket

  Just tell hubby "It takes one to know one." Since he doesn't believe in God why does he believe in the Devil? Ask him if he believes that the Devil is going to get the Christian parents for letting their children celebrate Halloween? Also, tell him that most Christians glorify death. They believe that Christ died for their sins and was raised from the dead; and that they believe that they (themselves) will be raised from death too.
• 

  XJW4EVR

  As I mentioned yesterday, I made a presentation for The youth group in the church I attend last week. Well, it's starting to blow back on me. In that presentation I debunked much of the Christian urban legends about Halloween, namely that tens of thousands of children are murdered on Halloween in Satanic ritual sacrifices. Well, I ran into one parent of a teen that was there, and was asking very intelligent questions. She was upset because I had contradicted what was spoken from the pulpit a couple of weks earlier by the Pastor of our church. She was also upset, because I had ruined all her work to keep "this holiday for the Devil" out of her home. She said that I had called the pastor a liar, and that she "knew" of many cases in which Satanic ritual sacrifice occured. She said that it was a "fact" that thousands of children were murdered in these ritual sacrifices. When she stopped her raging, I appologized for her getting upset, and then went on to say that Christianity is already offensive enough to non-Christians, and that we should not add more offense with urban legends, and down right lies about the origins and current celebrations of Halloween.

  I appologized for upsetting her, and her family. That I was not out to undermine her parental authority, but that I felt it was more important to get correct information out, than to continue to propagate urban legends, half-truths & lies about Halloween. I told her that in a time in which over 90% of Christian teens leave the church, the church can't afford to teach these sorts of distortions. "After all," I told her, "aren't we supposed to speak the truth at all times a Christians?" She stood there silently for a moment, and then said, "Thank you," and walked away.
• 

  bebu

  XJW4EVR!

  Good for you!! I'm glad she could listen to your point.

  bebu
• 

  james_woods

  There was a very good History Channel special on the origins and past practices of Halloween last Sunday. One of the main points made was that this holiday has evolved into a useful way to act out certain primordial fears about death, dying, and the unknown. In that sense, it may act as an antidote to superstitions.

  So Ironic when you think about it - the Salem protestants hated this holiday, but also hanged 21 of their own women as witches. And the self-righteous JWs actually believe that the Smurfs are able to channel demons.

  Go figure.

  PS - I also loved that episode of "King of the Hill" where the New Age Evangilistic witch-woman and her family taught all the kids not to go trick-or-treat anymore because it was Satanic.

  Hank himself had to suit up in his boyhood Devil suit to bring back some Halloween sanity.