It’s the Biblical Families Merry-go-roundSo weird how, at the end of the day, that’s what it boils down to.
@Bartato has a point.... once you see the accepted paganism behind Helloween, then you may as well research the other popular 'christian' holydays.... just sayin'It’s the Biblical Families Merry-go-round
There’s a difference between holidays that are thought of by those enjoying them as celebrating evil things (halloween for instance) and those that are thought of as celebrating good things like kindness, thankfulness, giving, etc. Sure you can go digging deep to find some bad origins, but that’s kinda like kicking down the door to the back of the meat shop to make darn sure they are not sacrificing to idols.@Bartato has a point.... once you see the accepted paganism behind Helloween, then you may as well research the other popular 'christian' holydays.... just sayin'
(I'll be leaving now... lol)
I’m not sure everyone got your joke.I think we pretty much all agree that Halloween is largely negative, but may differ on the extent to which we think so.
It also sounds like most of the folks here are more firmly against it than I am. I think y'all are probably right and that I should be more opposed to it than I am.
If you want an even more lively discussion, we could also throw in Christmas (winter solstice) and Easter (or Ishtar).
Then maybe we will discuss how we should actually celebrate the Biblical feast holidays instead, avoiding shellfish and pork. Before we know it we can have another Torah observant vs typical Christian dialogue.
I have never once known anyone personally who enjoys Halloween that worships demons. Even Easter is tied to pagan roots. At some point, in my view, we simply resolve that the Earth is the Lord's and everything therein, and we rejoice in His goodness!Parties are great. Costumes are fun. Candy is delicious. Joy and outdoor community activities are wonderful gifts from God.
None of those things should have any connection to macabre celebrations of the occult.
I stay far away from holidays of the world nowadays.I have never once known anyone personally who enjoys Halloween that worships demons. Even Easter is tied to pagan roots. At some point, in my view, we simply resolve that the Earth is the Lord's and everything therein, and we rejoice in His goodness!
Following your post people did start talking about Torah holidays, but I really think that is an entirely separate matter!I think we pretty much all agree that Halloween is largely negative, but may differ on the extent to which we think so.
It also sounds like most of the folks here are more firmly against it than I am. I think y'all are probably right and that I should be more opposed to it than I am.
If you want an even more lively discussion, we could also throw in Christmas (winter solstice) and Easter (or Ishtar).
Then maybe we will discuss how we should actually celebrate the Biblical feast holidays instead, avoiding shellfish and pork. Before we know it we can have another Torah observant vs typical Christian dialogue.
Growing up in the US I just naturally assumed most countries celebrated our holidays. We Americans have a bad habit of assuming everyone is like us and if they are not they should be...Following your post people did start talking about Torah holidays, but I really think that is an entirely separate matter!
The vast majority of Christians in the world reject halloween. As far as I have seen, the only ones who celebrate it are Americans and Irish Catholics. I know from within one of those cultures it might seem like it's normal to celebrate halloween, and people who choose not to are going out on a limb serious religious types, maybe even starting thinking about Torah holidays etc - but that's a misconception. Most Christians already reject it simply because it's evil. The Americans and Irish Catholics are the weird ones.
As Sarah has said, halloween never existed over here when we were children. It does now though, because it was introduced in the 90's / 2000's by retailers looking to make money by selling trash. Basically, tonnes of crap is already manufactured in China for the American halloween market, so it was really cheap to buy wholesale, and retailers here saw the potential to make money if they could create demand for it. Which they successfully did. US culture is exported to the world in this way, through media and commerce. So secular people started celebrating halloween, it gradually became accepted over a couple of decades of intensive advertising push, largely by a chain store called The Warehouse (basically a mini version of Walmart).
But the Christians still, almost universally, see it as evil. Christians here don't celebrate halloween. They seek to work against this influence in our culture. However, some work against it by rejecting it entirely and praying against it. Others try to work against it by having "light parties" so kids can dress up and have fun that day, and not feel they are missing out on anything, but have no actual exposure to anything evil. I think this is seriously misguided - but in the minds of those organising these events, they are still rejecting halloween and genuinely trying to work against it.
Most Christians of all denominations have rejected this for all of history. It's got nothing to do with Torah holidays.
We don't celebrate or observe pagan holidays like Halloween, MLK Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Labor Day, May Day, or etc.