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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > General Religion

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  #1  
Old 12-10-2019, 04:54 PM
Found Goat Found Goat is offline
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Christianity And Halloween: Simpatico?

With Halloween forthcoming, it is that time of the year when many people turn their attention to confectionery and possibly the fear of acquiring cavities. (No, Halloween was not invented by money-grubbing dentists, as some dentured conspiracy theorists believe.)

As one who was raised into a puritanical community, to celebrate All Hallows Eve was taboo and any congregant caught doing so would likely have been called on the carpet if not excommunicated for the infraction, if unrepentant and continually unpresentable whilst in attendance at church services. The heathenish holiday conflicted with our Bible-based faith. We were schooled as to its origins, and viewed it as a spiritually deranged observance, steeped not in mere superstition, but in demonism. We learned about the donning of masquerades for these original observants, and how this served in their opinion a practical purpose. The practitioners seriously believed these frightful facades would help ward off malevolent spirits lingering about the earthplane.

Nowadays, children and even some grown-ups dress up in Halloween costumes for the sheer fun of it. For the most part, it has become a secular, commercialized holiday. Over the years, I’ve heard of some rather creative trick-or-treaters. The boy who went about begging for candy as a pretend ghost-buster. The man who went about with sack in tow wearing no unusual attire whatsoever. When asked what he was, he’d introduce his doppelganger.

Although I have long since moved on from my sectarian upbringing, and recognize several creatures of the fey dimensions, I continue to find it a bit curious whenever I hear of people observing this holiday who identify themselves as Christian. I realize the celebration no longer has any relation to actual pagan practices, but for a Christian to observe a holiday that involves make-believe ghouls, goblins, skeletons, and other spooky beings still puzzles me. It would seem to border on a type of transient interfaith that is contradictory to this life-affirming, light-bearing religion.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel Halloween conflicts with the Christian faith, even though Scripture doesn’t explicitly prohibit it?

Personally, I wonder what churchgoers would think of their female minister if they were to learn of her having gone out on Halloween night disguised as a sorceress or succubus. Would they simply shrug it off, and think nothing of it? Find it amusing? Request of some leftovers? Praise the Lord?
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  #2  
Old 12-10-2019, 06:05 PM
sky sky is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Found Goat
With Halloween forthcoming, it is that time of the year when many people turn their attention to confectionery and possibly the fear of acquiring cavities. (No, Halloween was not invented by money-grubbing dentists, as some dentured conspiracy theorists believe.)

As one who was raised into a puritanical community, to celebrate All Hallows Eve was taboo and any congregant caught doing so would likely have been called on the carpet if not excommunicated for the infraction, if unrepentant and continually unpresentable whilst in attendance at church services. The heathenish holiday conflicted with our Bible-based faith. We were schooled as to its origins, and viewed it as a spiritually deranged observance, steeped not in mere superstition, but in demonism. We learned about the donning of masquerades for these original observants, and how this served in their opinion a practical purpose. The practitioners seriously believed these frightful facades would help ward off malevolent spirits lingering about the earthplane.

Nowadays, children and even some grown-ups dress up in Halloween costumes for the sheer fun of it. For the most part, it has become a secular, commercialized holiday. Over the years, I’ve heard of some rather creative trick-or-treaters. The boy who went about begging for candy as a pretend ghost-buster. The man who went about with sack in tow wearing no unusual attire whatsoever. When asked what he was, he’d introduce his doppelganger.

Although I have long since moved on from my sectarian upbringing, and recognize several creatures of the fey dimensions, I continue to find it a bit curious whenever I hear of people observing this holiday who identify themselves as Christian. I realize the celebration no longer has any relation to actual pagan practices, but for a Christian to observe a holiday that involves make-believe ghouls, goblins, skeletons, and other spooky beings still puzzles me. It would seem to border on a type of transient interfaith that is contradictory to this life-affirming, light-bearing religion.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel Halloween conflicts with the Christian faith, even though Scripture doesn’t explicitly prohibit it?

Personally, I wonder what churchgoers would think of their female minister if they were to learn of her having gone out on Halloween night disguised as a sorceress or succubus. Would they simply shrug it off, and think nothing of it? Find it amusing? Request of some leftovers? Praise the Lord?



Find it amusing
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  #3  
Old 13-10-2019, 06:55 AM
BigJohn BigJohn is offline
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Ask her why she did not take me along.
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  #4  
Old 14-10-2019, 10:03 AM
Altair Altair is offline
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Here in Europe it's not celebrated [maybe some people organize some events though]. I think it's a funny tradition. Maybe we can make it an adult holiday, have people dress up as succubi and lovely dark sorceresses.
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  #5  
Old 14-10-2019, 07:28 PM
Lucky 1 Lucky 1 is offline
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Here In Texas on into Mexican the majority are Catholic and in the Latin culture they do a form of Halloween known as dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead)

As strictly Catholic as the Spanish seem to be....they don't seem have any problems with this belief right along side of it.

For that matter....my grand kids go to Catholic school....and the school has a Halloween carnival every year too.

Currently, my grandsons intend to have me prowling the neighborhood in a Godzilla outfit come Halloween night! ROAR!
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  #6  
Old 14-10-2019, 07:45 PM
Altair Altair is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky 1
As strictly Catholic as the Spanish seem to be....they don't seem have any problems with this belief right along side of it.

For that matter....my grand kids go to Catholic school....and the school has a Halloween carnival every year too.

Catholics are loose in general, at least in modern times. There are Catholics in my family and I lived with Catholic families in Central America..
Haven't seen any fundamentalism, and they don't mind to celebrate and have fun.
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  #7  
Old 17-10-2019, 04:40 PM
Found Goat Found Goat is offline
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As a partly neo-pagan (who would celebrate Halloween himself if he was even the least bit interested in it), it is nevertheless fascinating to observe this modern curiosity which has the lenient denominations seeing nothing unchristian about participating in this glamorized, pagan holiday. I still don’t get it.

It is what makes some outsiders who find it difficult to fathom this glaring overlapping of faith question the sincerity and depth of certain religious convictions, and what has often led to the would-be convert of principles and integrity to seek out and ultimately choose the more conservative churches over the nominally identified: those with arguably very little spiritual boundaries and so watered down by worldly influences to the point of their being practically indistinguishable from practicing secularism.

I did not realize that Halloween is not all that popular in (parts of) Europe. This to me is rather surprising, considering the continent’s largely Celtic origins.

What I never understood as a youngster raised into a rigidly religious community was how it would have been a no-no for one of us to don even the most neutral of Halloween apparel; say, that of a bear or a bunny. What was so devilish about these costumes? The reason was, like Christmas and Easter, it was pagan-originated, thus unchristian, despite the sugar-coating.

That grown-ups get into this otherwise childish holiday is nothing to be astonished by. It happens. Some of them even wear a costume to work on Halloween day! This may be hard for some to believe but it’s true. A friend of mine told me of one colleague of his, a forty-something fellow, who came into work on Halloween dressed as a nun, from head to toes. He was not out after candy but, quite apparently, the attention. This man not only looked the part of a nun but played it up. The entire day he spent speaking in a high-pitched woman’s voice and waddling about the office. (It turned out this guy was a lapsed Catholic, who got off, at least for one day, on mocking his former faith.)
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  #8  
Old 18-10-2019, 01:17 PM
Found Goat Found Goat is offline
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One thing I’ve observed over the years is that there seems to be less people into decorating for this holiday and less into trick-or-treating. The observance of All Hallows Eve might very well be on the decline and, who knows, maybe in ten, twenty years time, it will have gone the way of the turnip.

This gradual decrease in the observance of Halloween may be the result of many who have had their fill of sweets or, more likely, the fact of an increasingly multicultural society, which includes other spiritual faiths that do not observe this holiday on account of it conflicting with their strong religious beliefs.
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  #9  
Old 18-10-2019, 06:59 PM
Lucky 1 Lucky 1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Found Goat
As a partly neo-pagan (who would celebrate Halloween himself if he was even the least bit interested in it), it is nevertheless fascinating to observe this modern curiosity which has the lenient denominations seeing nothing unchristian about participating in this glamorized, pagan holiday. I still don’t get it.

It is what makes some outsiders who find it difficult to fathom this glaring overlapping of faith question the sincerity and depth of certain religious convictions, and what has often led to the would-be convert of principles and integrity to seek out and ultimately choose the more conservative churches over the nominally identified: those with arguably very little spiritual boundaries and so watered down by worldly influences to the point of their being practically indistinguishable from practicing secularism.

I did not realize that Halloween is not all that popular in (parts of) Europe. This to me is rather surprising, considering the continent’s largely Celtic origins.

What I never understood as a youngster raised into a rigidly religious community was how it would have been a no-no for one of us to don even the most neutral of Halloween apparel; say, that of a bear or a bunny. What was so devilish about these costumes? The reason was, like Christmas and Easter, it was pagan-originated, thus unchristian, despite the sugar-coating.

That grown-ups get into this otherwise childish holiday is nothing to be astonished by. It happens. Some of them even wear a costume to work on Halloween day! This may be hard for some to believe but it’s true. A friend of mine told me of one colleague of his, a forty-something fellow, who came into work on Halloween dressed as a nun, from head to toes. He was not out after candy but, quite apparently, the attention. This man not only looked the part of a nun but played it up. The entire day he spent speaking in a high-pitched woman’s voice and waddling about the office. (It turned out this guy was a lapsed Catholic, who got off, at least for one day, on mocking his former faith.)

There has always been a dichotomy to Christianity as practiced in the southern united states and on down into central and south America

The best example I can give is Carnival (Mardi Gras) .....basically two weeks of paganism and sin ..."folly chasing death" as they say followed by the penance of lent.
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Yes I Am a Pirate! 200 years too late....the cannons don't thunder...there's nothing to plunder...I'm an over 40 victim of fate!

Maybe we're all here because we ain't all there????

If you're lucky enough to have been born in TEXAS....you're lucky enough!
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  #10  
Old 18-10-2019, 07:02 PM
Lucky 1 Lucky 1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Found Goat
One thing I’ve observed over the years is that there seems to be less people into decorating for this holiday and less into trick-or-treating. The observance of All Hallows Eve might very well be on the decline and, who knows, maybe in ten, twenty years time, it will have gone the way of the turnip.

This gradual decrease in the observance of Halloween may be the result of many who have had their fill of sweets or, more likely, the fact of an increasingly multicultural society, which includes other spiritual faiths that do not observe this holiday on account of it conflicting with their strong religious beliefs.


I don't know where you're at Goat....but here on the Texas Gulf Coast...Halloween and its side kick Dia de Los Muertos are bigger than ever and people are decorating (and spending money on Halloween decorations) like I've never seen!

Come October 31st....I'll be out with my two oldest grandsons and rocking a Godzilla outfit!

I can't wait! It's gonna be fun!
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Yes I Am a Pirate! 200 years too late....the cannons don't thunder...there's nothing to plunder...I'm an over 40 victim of fate!

Maybe we're all here because we ain't all there????

If you're lucky enough to have been born in TEXAS....you're lucky enough!
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