Big Bubba - The Holidays Threads Merged

[BrckBrln]

So would you go to the church of Satan if they were passing out free candy? How far does the free candy thing go? How much are you willing to give up for some free candy?

You know he doesn't mean that. Going to somebody's house in a fun costume to get free candy is hardly evil. But that's just me.

[Enoch]

I know the World Series is nigh when I see the Halloween threads. Reckon it's time to get out the warm clothes.

[Kelly4C]

No matter how much I see it, it never ceases to amaze me how many christians say halloween is ok. And even some on this thread kind pushing the envelope by making it known they will rent a movie to watch that night. I pray for the eyes to be opened and a teachable spirit for those that think halloween is ok.And to celebrate or to not celebrate halloween is not one person's conviction, it is a direct command from the Lord God to shun the very appearance of evil. And halloween is evil, no matter how you look at it.


It should cease to amaze you how many Christians say Halloween is OK. I was raised by two born again Baptist parents and we went to Sunday school and church most every Sunday morning and some Sunday nights and I went trick or treating from the 1st grade on and participated in the school classroom parties complete with costume. I always thought that Halloween was for dressing up, walking the neighborhood with friends, getting candy and having fun being scared at haunted houses. My parents even threw a Halloween party for my friends in our basement and it was cool my dad jumped out and scared them and I was dressed as a mummy and we had props in the other 2 rooms. All good clean fun. Didn't have a CLUE about any satanic origins of the day and I highly doubt my parents did either. What harm came? None. I respect your convictions and I probably have some that you DON"T have but it seems like you are judging those of us who don't see anything "evil" in what we did harshly.

[LindaLee]

I have no problem with those who want to go and do those things that the rest of the world does on the daily basis. However I see it as compromising your beliefs based on the fact that its under the premise that its all "harmless fun". There is nothing "harmless and fun" when you deliberately go against God and His ways, regardless if its church sanction or not. You have to answer for what you decide about the holidays you keep and what you teach your children.


Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

As I said, God has His Feast days, and Satan has his. Man, including Christians it seems, prefer to keep Satan's feast days rather than God's.


Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

[NovaStorm]

I bought my daughter's Halloween costume yesterday...

If you don't want to take your kids trick or treating, that's your prerogative. But don't blast your brothers and sisters who don't feel the same way. I've had zero convictions about this. It's just a fun evening for our family - that's all.Who's blasting brothers and sisters here? Seems to be all pointed at Halloween and how inappropriate it is to participate in it for well founded reasons.

People try to sell how ok it is to participate, it always deserves a response because I have no intention of buying into it. Conviction is not always something that leaps up and snaps at you, the lack of knowledge about something can be to blame (as I previously mentioned). We can refuse to identify the problems with a thing, God usually does not outright force us to follow his words; we have a choice.

I've met quite a few Christians that did drugs (i.e meth etc..) and they thought it was perfectly fine, where was their conviction? Why do we need conviction, anyway? I seldom do or not do something over conviction, but over knowledge, which is far better to respond to rather than getting involved in something, coming to the knowledge that it's wrong and then continuing in it until conviction comes, if it does. One needs to be at a point of conviction to work before it is imputed onto someone, I think. It's the volatility of it, because if conviction comes and is not heeded, in time that conviction becomes common place and the sound/feeling of it fades away. If one has no knowledge of it being a right or wrong thing to do, what good is conviction?

Halloween seems to have become a year round event, however. So on this I have received conviction, because I used to play video games loaded with the same things that Halloween contains; the Occult. Games like Balders Gate, Ultima Online, EverQuest, Neverwinter nights etc.. quite a lot and for a long time I had no convictions because it was all just in fun, I told myself, but I should have known better. Actually a trigger was set 10 years before that got me to stop playing those games. 10 years before, a good friend of mine gave me a list of scriptures on a post-it note and asked me to put it in my bible and forget about it for a time, that the Holy Spirit moved him to write those things down and say to hide it away. So I put it in my bible and didn't think of it. I hadn't used that bible in a long time, it was a big bulky study bible and I usually use a mid sized compact bible. One night I was praying about these games, I still didn't think they were all that bad, just in fun, but I was still moved to seek the truth and so I responded. I went to my bible to see if there was anything that I could meditate on that could help. I happened to grab that old bible that I had pulled out nights before when sorting through boxes, and it was closer to reach rather than going to the other side of the house to the one I usually read. When I picked it up, that post-it fell out. What was it? Oh! it was a list of passages against practicing the Occult and not even letting such things have the look of being a part of my life. Gah! :doh

So I dumped those games, then realized the wasted time I had put into them and the influence they had on me. Recalled all the times I encouraged others to play such games even when they said they felt uneasy about playing games with that stuff in it. The tough part is that I was really drawn to keep playing Ultima Online which I really liked a ton and had played for five years (which I started playing in the beginning at a very low point in my life, spiritually). I really wanted to keep playing it, but that's where conviction stepped in, I knew it was wrong, so I didn't, so I welcomed conviction to help me. Still, it's been maybe five years since I stopped, I still want to play it, but I don't, it's just not right.

The world has a strong pull, and the Occult is a very deceptive and powerful in the world. It's fun for a season but it amounts to destruction which spreads like a disease... and can be spread by us to others. It's found in a lot of day to day things and not just only presented on Halloween. For those that are OK with Halloween, I wonder what other things in your day to day life have elements of things presented on Halloween, as it was for me. I didn't celibate Halloween, ok that was a no brainier to me, though not at first, but it was actually a lesser thing to struggle with compared to the daily Halloween like life many of us live or have lived daily, ...all in the name of fun.

[Kelly4C]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Comfort me
Kids getting dressed up to get candy is not worshipping Satan. Some people love to find the negative in everything.

Waiting2Go said:
1Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

God doesn't care what your excuse is.


So, what if we don't see an appearance of evil in children getting dressed up to get candy? As been touched upon in this thread some who've researched say that Christmas itself started out as pagan so would you go so far as to say that we should stay away from celebrating the birth of Christ with our brothers and sisters because it had the "appearance of evil" due to its pagan roots??? Christmas was always a beautiful and spirit filled time of year for me as a child so should I let another person put a damper on that for me because THEY have a different feeling toward it? Nope not going to do it.

[TomT]

The Halloween thread has degenerated into a massive back and forth exchange of criticisms of other's views / opinions - no real enlightenment is occurring -

Let's all pray for God's Holy Will and guidance in our daily decisions, thoughts, actions and deeds -- as well as for our brothers and sisters in Christ - may we each be more Christlike in our daily walk

locking thread

[Alikersh]

Sorry about this, I know it's way too early but my son is already thinking about Christmas (mainly because his birthday is just before Christmas day). So far we have sold him the whole Father Christmas thing, but now I'm not so sure - is it a cruel lie? Is it Christian? We have told him (possibly wrongly) that he is based on a real person but the doubts about the whole myth are getting stronger. I don't know what it's like in the USA, but over here in England we're already getting Christmas cards etc in shops and it's only going to get worse. He's 7 on his next birthday so I don't think he will believe much longer anyway, but we also have a 2 year old daughter. Do we continue with the whole thing? We do make sure they know the 'reason for the season' by the way. Any advice will be welcome! Ali x

[4kiddosmama]

We debated too about the whole santa claus thing. We don't do the easter bunny, etc. But both grew up with Santa. We decided there was no harm in letting believe in Santa, we just don't go overboard. We do the stockings and let them sit on his lap at the bank if they want, oh, and the cookies. That's about it. My oldest 2 are now in on the "secret" of DH and I playing Santa, but also know a bit of the story behind the charater. My then 8 yr old just figured it out last year, though she suspected before. ;) they still have fun with the idea of it though.

We have of course always taught them about the true meaning of Christmas. And we have also implemented a 3 presents per child rule - each child gets 3 presents from DH and I (to go with the 3 wise men), normally 1 larger and 1 that is clothing. :lol2 Of course this is partially because DH comes from a larger family so they get quite a bit from everyone else!

We also do things like Operation Christmas Child and giving to Toys for Tots to help them understand how important that is. They have a lot of fun picking out what they think another child would enjoy if they could pick for themselves.

Anyway, I guess I'm rambling :blah but my bottom line is: We have done the santa thing and it's not proven do any damage to my children or their faith. My oldest 2 got baptized this summer even. :yay

[graceforme]

I have a theory about Christmas. Enjoy the glitter, the glitz, the gifts, the tinsel, the trees and everything that goes with the holiday season. Have a wonderful holiday season. Just make sure to celebrate Christ EVERY DAY of the year.

We were raised with Santa, and it sure didn't hurt us any. But our daughter, from the time she was very small, didn't seem comfortable with the concept of Santa, and we never emphasized Santa to her. She just wasn't interested. When we were at the mall, she'd make a great big circle around Santa to avoid getting too close. She also backed off from the Halloween trick-or-treat and never went out. She just didn't want to. I wouldn't worry about letting them believe if they want to - most of us did and it sure didn't cause us any permanent damage.