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Originally Posted by houston
Do you celebrate Halloween? Why or why not?
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We do not celebrate Halloween. Halloween was originally a pagan holy day (Samhain) which was 'christianised' by the catholic church into "All Saint's Day" and "All Hallows' Eve". The day is a pagan holiday originating in demon worship, the customs used to celebrate the day are secularized versions of the rites of demon worship, and as Christians we are forbidden to either participate in demonic rituals or to 'christianise' the rites of paganism. (See
Deut 12:30-32, 1 Cor 10:14-21)
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Should Christians christianize Halloween like they did to Christmas? Or is Halloween too evil and powerful that you can't reclaim the day?
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It is not a matter of anything being 'too evil or powerful'. 'An idol is nothing', but that gives no authority for bringing idols into the worship of the true God or into the life of a Christian. We are to 'flee idolatry'. Notice the word 'flee'. We are instructed by the Word of God to have a certain attitude towards pagan religious practices, an attitude best expressed as 'fleeing from' them, ie shunning them as if by literally running away from something abhorrent. The practices of demon-worship must necessarily be abhorrent to God, for he declares the gods of the heathens to be 'abominations' and the service of those 'gods' as 'abominations' as well. Therefore, Christians (who are to have the mind of Christ) are to have the same attitude towards them. If those practices are truly abomonable to one, they will not want anything to do with them, will not want to participate in them, will not seek to perpetuate them in some 'new christianized form'.
The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice using certain rituals. Would it be appropriate for Christians to take those rituals, and 'christianise' them, so they are 'not so objectionable'? But so they are still recognizable as imitations of the original abomination?
Same thing with Halloween.
So it has nothing to do with some day being too evil or powerful that it cannot be 'reclaimed' or 'claimed'. Rather, here is God's opinion regarding pagan religions -
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. (
Ex 23:24).
Not bow down to them: ie do not engage in religious worship of them.
Nor serve them: ie do not follow the precepts of false religion.
Nor do after their works: ie do not follow the traditions of pagan religion.
Utterly overthrow them: ie pagan religion is to be UTTERLY overthrown so nothing remains, not even 'vestigial practices'.
Break down their images: ruin the idols, destroy the statues/images, ie total destruction and furthermore,
humiliation of the heathen religions.
By attempting to 'christianise' pagan holy days and their customs, one is not taking the approach to demon worship that God expects, commands, and supports.
It would be like if American Jews decided to celebrate April 20th with mass rallies using Wagnerian opera performances, all the decorations using Germanic 'rune-like' lettering, dressing in brown shirts and jack-boots, using Germanic greetings and salutations, decorating everything in red, black, and white, and then claiming 'oh, but this has NOTHING to do with any celebration of Hitler or National Socialism!'
we all get much candy and have a lot of fun with our costumes. We also celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, Easter and MLK day....and a few others within my dad's Tribe. Like Timmy said.....why not, its all fun~ 
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