What does the Bible say about Halloween?

[retsacelet]

Just wondering...thanks.

[reverbbb]

I'd like to know too. There is so many legends surrounding the origin of Halloween that you don't know which story is the truth.

I found this link. I was going to cut-n-paste, but it is clearly copyrighted.

http://ohoh.essortment.com/halloweentrivia_rzls.htm

Then there are these links too.

http://scorpiolady_2.tripod.com/index-30.html

http://www.nisbett.com/holidays/halloween_origin_of.htm

http://www-atdp.berkeley.edu/2030/tgonzalez/halloween_origin.html

http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm

Basically, it seems as the Bible did not mention anything about Halloween directly. But some forms of Halloween was created by the Christians to win over the pagans. Some pagans deeply believed in honoring their dead with respect. My version is bound to skew the actual references, so it is best that you read the links yourself.

Of coarse, commercialism and people that disreguard Christian beliefs have made Halloween into something entirely diferent than its origins. The same goes for Easter. Christmas has been in danger of this redifiniton for a long time. But at least the story is told correctly each year. Easter and Passover and the resurrection all coincide at the same time, but they are not directly related to each other.

[stephen]

Specifically, it doesnt address halloween. that has crept into our cultures, over the past 1500 years, maybe a little more.

Its origins "could" be from the Druids, and their solstice celebrations, requiring a sacrifice, of a virgin teenager, taken from the peasant villages, and if they felt the sacrifice was suffiscient, a jack-o-lantern was left to warn the "spirits" off. I say could, because that, while one of the most predominate hypothosis' of the origins of halloween, may not be correct. There is not a lot of archeological evidence to support, or deny, and the "manuscript" evidence, is sparse, and not always in agreement. Also, historians vary greatly as to what exactly the Druids did do at all! They still arent sure what "Stone Henge" (purportedly built by the Druids), is all about. Heck, there are more theories about Stone henge, than who shot JFK!

Now, we do know what halloween has become, and I beleive it is fairly obvious to any born again beleiver, with a little common sense. It is the most desensitizing day of celebration of Satan, demons, and evil in general. Stop and think about it, when I was a kid, the devil was a scary image to behold. Seeing a bunch of kids dressed up as the devil, and his cohorts, year after year, makes it not so intimidating. When I first recognized some kid was dressed up as the devil, I thought, "This kid has to be a devil worshipper!". after a few years it was more like, "Gee, you cant think of anything else scarier?" I was desensitized.

Likewise for maming: A mask with an axe in the head, amputated arm, etc,.), and those images dont bother us as much. Matter of fact, if the movies we go to, doesnt show a graphic, gory decapitation, or fatal injury, were not impressed. Did you hear what I said, we (the general public) are not impressed, unless we see the worst type of violence, that we could inflict on another human being (or maniquin, doll, CGI, whatever), and would consider the film a dud.

OK, I got a lil side tracked there. I do know that the bible does say, we should eschew (run away from as if appalled) even the appearance of evil. I myself, would not permit my kids to go out dressed up for halloween. I would get them some treats, and we would do a special movie night. We would also hand out candy with tracts too: I would remind them, that not everyone beleives as we do, and these are just children, and we need to take every opportunity to reach people with the Message of Christ. My oldest still loves to hand out candy, and he even does some witnessing too!

[TheViking]

Just wondering...thanks.
Halloween originates from the Celtic pagan holiday Samhain. The word Samhain means basically “end of summer” but was also the name for the Lord of the Dead, a powerful Celtic spirit. According to Celtic mythology and history, there were 2 different kinds of Samhain celebrations. The first and most “humane” included the Druids bringing offerings of food and gifts. This was all burned in a big bonfire. The offerings should guarantee good crops the next year and the dead would communicate through the druids with the farmers to makes sure wisdom and knowledge was brought on to the new generations. The second Samhain way of celebrating Samhain is a lot more dramatic and inhumane. The druids would bring criminals, poor folks and outcasts to be burned for the publics viewing. According to Celtic literature, they would be grouped on top of big bonfires and watching them burn would help the druids predict the coming year. The predictions included information on floods, what to grown, weather forecasts and so on.

The Catholic Church later used pagan holidays to get the pagan population to associate the church with powerful spirituality. The pagan holiday Yule, became what we know as Christmas, and Samhain became Halloween or All Hallows Eve. (The word Samhain in Celtic is pronounced Sow-wen) This was the day the pagans were allowed to remember their dead and put gifts of food and flowers on their graves. It is important to keep in mind that Christianity and paganism coexisted in Europe for several hundred years as traditions took new forms under new names.

A lot of the Halloween customs we have today are leftovers from Celtic paganism. The Druids and the people would dress up and hide their face, in case evil spirits were out for revenge or someone dead wanted to settle a score with his murderer. Kids would also be essential aids in collecting the bounty to go on the bonfires. If the spirits were ignored, they would punish the tribe.

I will not bore you lot with more Halloween history. The Bible doesn’t actually say anything about the Halloween celebration as a phenomenon since it did not occur until years after the Bible was written. However, the festival has originated from a pagan tradition. So the question would be, what do you place in the celebration? For me Halloween has become a time where I remember with gratitude what my ancestors have done and cherish their memory.

[reverbbb]

MAN!!! I love this place. Thank you God for putting Stephen in my life. It is discussions like this that have so much more meaning than 'what value of capacitor do I need in my Telecaster?' :wink: .

[kewlpack]

My wife is talking about this very subject with one of our friends.

Here's her note... no need to rewrite it all. ;)
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Back in 1991, right after we became Christians and still had a television (we gave up television pretty quiclky and didn't have one for 8 years) we watched a video on Halloween. It really opened our eyes to what halloween was all about. It was frightening and sad.

I knew that in my past that Halloween was a day to just not be yourself and party it up. My friends and I planned months in advance for Halloween. It was our favorite holiday. I would always dress as something good. But my costumes were always skimpy (Peter Pan, a Genie, a Superhero, etc,) It was a day that I could let loose and let it all hang out. Literally. We would all get wasted and have a blast and possibly "pick up on someone". I lived a life with no convictions and anything we did was okay. The scary movies associated with Halloween always accompanied the holiday as well as Haunted Houses and whatever evil thing we could find to do.

When we saw this movie, we saw that halloween was more than just a big party day for kids as well as adults. It has some evil origins and traditions. Jack-o-lanterns began when people would carve pumpkins and other things out and put lights in them in hopes that evil spirits would pass by their homes and themselves. Food or "treats" were set out in front of houses to appease the spirits. Satanists favorite holiday is Halloween and their big sacrifices are done on this night. They use this night to channel the spirits and try to summon the dead. We saw that the holiday mostly is associated with evil or superstitious things. Witches, black cats, cauldrons, bats, vampires, werewolves, etc. Just take a look around the next time your at the store. We had to think about what we were trying to do with our lives now that we had become Christians. One of those things was leaving what was behind and moving forward.

We also knew a lady that was converted out of Satanism who reinforced what we saw in the movie. She had been abused repeatedly and had death threats put on her life. She was constantly being attacked by Satan and struggled greatly. We would pray fervently on Halloween with other Christians for her and the Satanic group she used to be a part of. They would torment her by telling her which child that she knew would be sacrificed that night. [NOTE from Kewlpack: 12 people died via murder or suicide during this terrible situation. The FBI ended up investigating, etc. A brother and I were ministers to her through it. It was so very sad and it made us dislike the so called Holiday even more.

It was easy for us to leave this Holiday behind before we had our daughter. Every year we have to remind her of why we don't celebrate Halloween. We don't tell her all the bad stuff that we know but we do let her know that we as Christians want to avoid even the appearance of evil. We always plan something other than being at home on that night, that doesn't include dressing up, and we try to just let the day pass as just another day. It is hard when your bombarded by the products and decorations everywhere you go. So, we have already started the conversations this year with her. It is never easy but we know someday she'll understand.
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While Halloween may not be mentioned in the Bible, you don't have to look too far to see that the activities and core principles that it is based on are clearly mentioned as sin or abomination before God. Particularly divination, witchcraft, idolatry, worship of creation, and other anti/non-God activities. Paul said it was shameful to even speak of things they do in secret [like those above].

Better to steer clear of this day (although redirecting your kids attention through other, perfectly fine activities is usually a good idea).

Good thread.
~A~

[stephen]

Good thread.
~A~

Yes it is! Thanks for posting that! Now, what was the name of the movie/documentary you mentioned? Is it from a Christain perspective? Neutral or biased?

[ptrallan01]

Well, Samhain and Dios De Muertes have a lot in common. If there is any one of Mexican origin participating they can bring more light on the latter.

Lets talk about what we do on halloween: we give gifts to the "spirits" so they won't hurt us. That is essentially the meaning behind "trick or treat". I am going to trick (read hurt) you if you don't pay the bribe. We are essentially buying a years worth of peace from the "spirit" world.

What I have learned from my friends, aquaintances and teachers in the "craft" has led me to understand that this is not an innocent day or practice at all. Witches believe that the barrier between the "spirit" world and the "natural" world is thinnest during late october and early november and that this is the time that the "spirits" find it easiest to enter "our realm". Halloween for them is a celebration of all that the "spirits" do for them. The satanist and Luciferians among them take to even greater depths than simply celebrating but will offer blood sacrifices and have intensive worship meetings at this time. It is not innocent fun but as Stephen said a desensitizing experience. The Viking gave us a pretty good overview of Druidical behavior during this time and Reverbbs posted links allude to this "spirit" time.

Notice that I have put spirit in " "s. These spirits are not The Holy Spirit and they do not mean you any good. They are out to reach those who they can and the easiest people to reach are our children. These demons want to get them and will and do use this as a means of preparing them for demonic possession!

I know, I know nobody today believes in Demonic Possession, after all its just a chemical imbalance or a mental health disorder. But our Lord and Savior cast out demons by the hundreds it seems from reading the gospel accounts. Paul cast one out of a girl in Philippi and got thrown in jail for his trouble. This is a real situation and circumstance and must be looked at through a spiritual discernment.

Now let me say that no one who has received the Holy Spirit of God can be possessed by demons. Where the Holy Spirit dwells demons cannot. Yet our children can be put at risk as can our unsaved loved ones and neighbors.

The Bible speaks to some general themes that address this issue:

Acts 15:20 gives us the only dietary law in the new testament: don't eat foods sacrificed to idols. Should we eat Halloween Candy that is essentially a gift to the devil?

1 Peter 5:8-9 warn us that we must be sober and vigilant to resist the devil's schemes. The devil making a contract with you for your soul is a movie device. He rarely identifies himself but always tries to appear to be something fun and desirable and worth having or doing (see Corinthians 11:14)

The devil will always sell you a lie and pay off with a broken promise. (Credit goes to my friend Rev Barry Jones for telling me that) Check out his conversation with Eve in the garden Gen 3:1-7 .
Ephesians 6:10-18 urges us and explains to us how to stand against the wiles of the devil. This is truly a time to put on the whole armor of God in order to stand against the wiles of the devil.

I live in a nice suburban neighborhood of manicured lawns and well behaved kids except on halloween when they vandalize cars, toilet paper trees and houses and egg the homes of those of us who choose not to participate in this ritual of the world. But our non participation can allow us the opportunity to explain why we don't.

Some of you may disagree and I accept and respect that Romans 14:5-6 deals with the issue of "holidays" by saying that we must each choose which days we will honor and which we will not and that we should not be disrepectful to each other. We should be fully persuaded in our own minds about our own choices and practices.

I am fully persuaded that this day is and its celebration has become dangerous for the souls of many and I do not allow any celebration of it in our church, and do not participate in it in my home.

Please, pray and be led by the Holy Spirit of the Living God in what choices you make regarding October 31.

Love always yours in Christ

Peter

[kewlpack]

Yes it is! Thanks for posting that! Now, what was the name of the movie/documentary you mentioned? Is it from a Christain perspective? Neutral or biased?
Hoo boy... that was over 10 years ago... ehrm. I don't remember.

I would probably google the topic - no doubt there are many good resources available on video now. Maybe try www.family.org.

(edit: http://www.family.org/topics/a0017957.cfm - good stuff)

Good luck.
~A~