halloween do you?

[Jessicado]

The neighbors across the street go completely nuts for halloween. They this huge uphill yard with a winding path to the front door. The yard is overgrown with vines and they have completely turned into a graveyard with graves and coffins and skeletons everywhere. They have fog machines going all over and all sorts of trick lights. On the balcony of their upstairs they have this headless couple dressed in olden day clothes illuminated by light. Then on a wire they have this ghoulish skeleton/ghost thing hanging and when someone starts to walk up the path, they send it down on a trip wire. On the sidewalk under their yard is one of those old underground garages--a guy hides in their with a chainsaw (with the blade removed) and then jumps out and scares people. Then they have other people hiding in teh bushes on the way up. They actually park all the cars bumper to bumper to prevent people who are scared from running into the street. It is amazing how completely creepy their yard is--cars drive by and stop all the time. I didn't get to watch last year because I had a final, but I heard that a girl walking by was scared so bad she peed herself.

So anyways, this year I have no final, so Cliff and I have carved up like 15 pumpkins (which are totally awesome by the way--we have Gizmo, Animal, Jack from Nightmare before Christmas, Jason, Freddy Krueger, Napolean Dynamite, Ned Flanders, Mario) and are going to put them out on my porch and then hand out candy. My parents are even driving an hour up to watch the neighbors as well as all of Cliff's friends. My dad wants to figure out a way to go and scare the people who are doing all of the scaring.......his last idea was to hire some really big guys and have them dress up like bikers and have them go to up and start yelling at the neighbors about how they scared one of the biker's kids, and now they were pee.....

*sighs* no it didn't. It was originally a occult high day, long before All Saints day rolled around. All Saints day was applied to it to make it look good, and to blend with the pagans, which sadly enough, it seems the Christian church at the time made quite an effort to mix in with the world, when the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be a peculiar people, and to not compromise, under any circumstances.

On a side note, Christmas and Easter were formed exactly the same way.

[Laura Ingalls]

Our family doesn't celebrate Halloween. We turn out our lights and play games or something.

[The Top Crusader]

I wear an inverted William Shatner mask painted white all day.

[WINDSHEAR]

*sighs* no it didn't. It was originally a occult high day, long before All Saints day rolled around. All Saints day was applied to it to make it look good, and to blend with the pagans, which sadly enough, it seems the Christian church at the time made quite an effort to mix in with the world, when the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be a peculiar people, and to not compromise, under any circumstances.

On a side note, Christmas and Easter were formed exactly the same way.

Uh... I know that, and if you read the first page of this thread, I say exactly so, and talk about how it was formed.

[Kingpin]

Question? Did Christ not call the Church to be a light to the world to point the way to the cross? Why is it that when given a prime opportunity, like Halloween, to exemplify the Love of Christ, we hide in our houses with the doors closed and the lights off? Did Christ come to save the church or to save the world? Why do we concede a day to Satan? Scripture says this world and all that is in it is God's. I can find no place in scripture that gives any day to Satan. Satan was defeated at the Cross. I do not see Halloween as the Church mixing with the world but rather pointing the way to the Cross. Your views make Christ the loser and not the victor on that Easter morn.

[JesusFreak777]

Kingpin, I agree wholheartedly with what you just posted.

Also, I HAVE done extensive research on halloween- add to it some of my friends in high school were pagan/wicca. I know what some people do on Halloween, however, I think Kingpin has a great point. We are to be a light and by giving Satan a day like this, we are giving him power that he shouldn't and wouldn't have otherwise.

Use this day of death and darkness to lead people to the cross. The darkness only has as much power over you as you give it.

Here at LU, the youth department puts on this HUGE haunted house that got about 15,000 visitors this year and about 1,500 descisions for Christ as well. Basically it is a house all about death, and at the end it there is a cross and it's all light and bright. They take everyone into white tents at the end and present the Gospel to them. It has been a VERY effective outreach thus far, and I see no problem with doing stuff like that if it means bringing peopel to Christ by showing them what death really means. www.scaremare.com

[Danadelfos]

I wonder what pumpkins have to do with Halloween.

[jasodia]

We go trick or treating. In fact, tonight my sisters and I are going as Whos from the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

[Zelda Jacobs]

Here at LU, the youth department puts on this HUGE haunted house that got about 15,000 visitors this year and about 1,500 descisions for Christ as well. Basically it is a house all about death, and at the end it there is a cross and it's all light and bright. They take everyone into white tents at the end and present the Gospel to them. It has been a VERY effective outreach thus far, and I see no problem with doing stuff like that if it means bringing peopel to Christ by showing them what death really means. www.scaremare.com

Scaremare is very VERY scary! I was crying by the time I got out. It is a great way to share the gospel. I agree with Kingpin and Pumpkin Pie! My brothers and I a few years ago went trick-or-treating, but when we went up we gave them a tract.

[Jonathan]

If you read the first page of this thread you can see several extensive posts by me to that effect that Barely Is just posted.

I've made a couple as well.

*sighs* no it didn't. It was originally a occult high day, long before All Saints day rolled around. All Saints day was applied to it to make it look good, and to blend with the pagans, which sadly enough, it seems the Christian church at the time made quite an effort to mix in with the world, when the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be a peculiar people, and to not compromise, under any circumstances.

On a side note, Christmas and Easter were formed exactly the same way.

True. However, those days now revolve around good. Halloween does not.

And to those talking about being a witness, I believe that we should, and can, do that without celebrating what Halloween is.

[Baragon]

True. However, those days now revolve around good. Halloween does not.

That honestly depends on how you celebrate it, actually. As with Easter, and Christmas... Halloween is what you make it.

I don't agree with the notion that whatever Christian celebrates Halloween is going to hell...

[Jonathan]

I don't agree with the notion that whatever Christian celebrates Halloween is going to hell...

I don't agree with that either, nor have I seen it in this thread.

I just find it unfortunate when Christians celebrate Halloween like everyone else does.

[Kingpin]

God is the creator and Satan is the deceiver. Satan cannot create he can only alter what God created. So then Halloween is not inherently evil but altered to evil. The very rituals of Halloween can be used to demonstrate God. There is a excellent children’s story that does just that called the Pumpkin Gospel. It shows how the carving of a pumpkin can represent God's taking the sin from our lives and replacing it with his lights. Same tradition Godly spin.

[Baragon]

I don't agree with the notion that whatever Christian celebrates Halloween is going to hell...

I don't agree with that either, nor have I seen it in this thread.

I didn't say it was in this thread, but I know there are some Christians in this world who think it's the ultimate sin to celebrate halloween.

I just find it unfortunate when Christians celebrate Halloween like everyone else does.

So you don't agree with churches when they call it something other than halloween and try to reach kids\parents with the Gospel? Merely curious. I like to get a feel for what other people think.

[LizzieG]

Here at LU, the youth department puts on this HUGE haunted house that got about 15,000 visitors this year and about 1,500 descisions for Christ as well. Basically it is a house all about death, and at the end it there is a cross and it's all light and bright. They take everyone into white tents at the end and present the Gospel to them. It has been a VERY effective outreach thus far, and I see no problem with doing stuff like that if it means bringing peopel to Christ by showing them what death really means. www.scaremare.com

There was a church back home that did something like that. One of my friends worked there, and my small group went to it on Halloween. Not as many people went, but there did seem to be a good turn-out. It talked about death and hell, and at the end there were people asking us if we were Christians and how we knew that.

[Dr. Watson]

In other news, today is also REFORMATION DAY!! This is the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the door of the church, which started the reformation.

If you must celebrate something today, celebrate that.

[Danadelfos]

*sighs* no it didn't. It was originally a occult high day, long before All Saints day rolled around. All Saints day was applied to it to make it look good, and to blend with the pagans, which sadly enough, it seems the Christian church at the time made quite an effort to mix in with the world, when the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be a peculiar people, and to not compromise, under any circumstances.

On a side note, Christmas and Easter were formed exactly the same way.

True. However, those days now revolve around good. Halloween does not.

And to those talking about being a witness, I believe that we should, and can, do that without celebrating what Halloween is.

Well put Jonathan, well put!

Maybe this should go in The Town Hall.

[Jessicado]

*sighs* no it didn't. It was originally a occult high day, long before All Saints day rolled around. All Saints day was applied to it to make it look good, and to blend with the pagans, which sadly enough, it seems the Christian church at the time made quite an effort to mix in with the world, when the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be a peculiar people, and to not compromise, under any circumstances.

On a side note, Christmas and Easter were formed exactly the same way.

Uh... I know that, and if you read the first page of this thread, I say exactly so, and talk about how it was formed.

Sorry I didn't see that.....do now!

True. However, those days now revolve around good. Halloween does not.

Oh I am aware that Christmas and Easter are positive holidays--I just meant that Christians made compromises on many holidays, so to just point out Halloween as a negative side effect of bringing old traditions to Christianity was being kinda one sided.

Halloween does not revolve around evil to many people. Halloween is celebrated by many as a fall harvest and a time of thanks. Halloween was not originally a holiday that was set aside to worship Satan or any other evil. A sect of people have claimed this day as theirs and a day of evil, just as they tried to do with June 6th of 2006. I think to allow them to claim this day (or any other day) as theirs though is allowing them to win, so I don't view Halloween as a day having to do anything with Satan.

On a side note--I haven't actually handed out candy for like 8 years, but last time I did it, we wrapped bible verses to each piece and handed them out. I would have done that this year, but my printer broke.....

[darcie]

I wonder what pumpkins have to do with Halloween.

The story, which I've heard before, is also in one of the links Jonathan posted.

The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

[Jonathan]

I just find it unfortunate when Christians celebrate Halloween like everyone else does.

So you don't agree with churches when they call it something other than halloween and try to reach kids\parents with the Gospel? Merely curious. I like to get a feel for what other people think.

I agree with churches who do that. That's not celebrating it like the world.

In other news, today is also REFORMATION DAY!! This is the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the door of the church, which started the reformation.

If you must celebrate something today, celebrate that.

That is something I certainly do celebrate

*highly recommends the movie Luther to folks here*