I am not going to write about the origins of Halloween in this post and depending on what you are reading they vary slightly. I do encourage you to look up the origins of Halloween for yourself so that you can make the best informed decision for your family. I will say that in my research of this day, I find nothing Christian about it. Halloween is a sacred day to people who follow Wicca or Witchcraft (worship Satan).
The Bible says that we, as Christians have been called out of darkness and that we should not participate in evil practices.
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
Colossians 1:13
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
Deuteronomy 18:9-11
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
Abstain from every form of evil.
So, as you can see from the scriptures above the reason we do not celebrate is pretty simple. However, not celebrating Halloween in the traditional way that the world does has been a hard road for us at times. I have felt alone and isolated because of what we believe. I have had to explain myself to teachers and staff at school many times as to why we do not allow our children to participate in school Halloween parties, dress up days, etc.. We have had to explain to our children's friends and parents of friends why our children can not go to the haunted house with the rest of their friends. One thing we didn't say was that is was against our religion because in our house we try to focus more on a relationship with Jesus than having religion. I explain that we are Christians and celebrating Halloween does not glorify Jesus and that it's origins are evil. One of the reasons that my youngest son will tell people is "that we don't celebrate the devil's birthday" LOL He knows that it is not the devils birthday but for him as a child that was an easy way to explain it. When writing this post I asked my kids for the reason we don't celebrate and I was very pleased with the answers they had to give. They talked about how it was an evil holiday and had nothing to do with Jesus just to name a couple. Sometimes this is understood by others and sometimes they think we are "just silly for not letting our kids participate in a harmless holiday".
Continue reading here tomorrow when I talk about some alternatives to celebrating Halloween...
We are often met with the same response 'a harmless holiday'..however, once we understand the purpose of a thing, are we not responsible for how we handle that information? Training our children in this manner is a challenge, but so very vital to their future. Thank you again for sharing your heart.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have shared here can apply to the other major holidays, e.g., Christmas and Easter as well. As I do more research, I am finding that these so-called holidays tend to celebrate materialism and greed, in some form or another, and have nothing to do with bringing glory to Christ. I often wonder if our feeble attempts of celebrating certain holiday functions only feed our souls to engage in the sin known as idolatry.
ReplyDeleteMy family doesn't celebrate Halloween either... and as anonymous commenter pointed out, ALL the holidays have pagan origins and NO holiday was celebrated by the early Christians who knew Jesus and walked with him. The only "holiday" Christ commanded us to celebrate was his death. He instituted this at the Last Supper.
ReplyDeleteCongrats for you and your family for having the conviction to stand up to the world.
Thank you for your comments Carrie and Anonymous. We do celebrate Easter and Christmas because they are both celebrating Jesus! We do not do Santa or Easter bunny because that leads away from what the true meaning of these days are all about. It is true that so many people either don't care or lose focus of the fact that these are days to celebrate Jesus' birth and His Death, Burial and Ressurection and it tends to be more about getting things than about HIM. We should focus on giving and being a blessing! Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI love to see that other people are open to living for Christ and not living for the world. I have experienced the same thing in explaining myself to family and friends for not celebrating halloween, santa, or the easter bunny. I have had "so called" friends walk away and family members have strong opinions of us not going with worldly views. I just wanted to encourage you to keep up the good works for God. He will bless you and your family for the choices you make to bring Him glory.
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