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From: rbq@iforgetmyname.lbp.harris.com (Robert Quattlebaum)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Halloween
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Date: 29 Sep 89 07:23:22 GMT
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In article  dj022184@longs.lance.colostate.edu (Douglas Jenkins) writes:
>
>Something has been brought to my attention but I never really considered it
>seriously until this year, and that is the subject of Halloween.  I'm told
>that the Bible says we aren't supposed to associate ourselves (children of
>God) with evil spirits (ghosts, goblins, etc).  Well, that is pretty much what
>Halloween is all about, right?  The idea used to be to put out jack-o-lanterns
>and dress up in costumes to appease the evil spirits.
>
>I understand that now its little more than a tradition, but the basic concept
>still remains.  We still carve scary faces in pumpkins and run around in scary
>costumes.  Should we give up this tradition in order to obey God's will?  Is
>it okay to dress up in clown outfits instead of ghosts and goblins?

Many churches are now offering alternatives to Halloween. They give
various different names to the parties, but all are basically an
alternative to traditional Halloween. In fact, for the kids, there
probably is no real difference. Candy is given away, games are played, and
you show up dressed for the occasion (usually a Bible character).

This seems well and good to me -- IF you have children who have
participated in Halloween previously. It's better than just stopping them
from the trick-or-treat fun. However, if you are like me and have no
children yet, you should consider never starting ANY such tradition on
October 31. (I'm not sure yet how this will be handled).

Halloween is, after all, derived from Satanism. I want no part of it. I'm
also still not sure how best to handle trick-or-treators who come to my
door. Perhaps the best way is to give them a piece of candy attached to a
tract or note or something proclaiming Christ or revealing what Halloween
is. You might me seen as the weird/mean neighbor if you refuse to give
kids anything or if you don't answer the door.

I am also very interested to see some more opinions on this subject.

R. Quattlebaum			My employer doesn't CARE what I think.
"God is love, not religion"     So what does it matter what I say?

		gatech!galbp!iforgetmyname.LBP.HARRIS.COM!rbq

[Of course Halloween is not derived from Satanism.  It's derived from
a festival of the Church combined with earlier generations' fears of
evil creatures.  But your advice may still be sensible.  I'm not
saying you are doing this, but I'm worried that it is possible to go
too far in purging the world of things that reflect our ancestors'
attitudes to things that they did not understand.  Why are "ghost
stories" around a campfire still attractive?  For me at least they
provide a little opening in a world that otherwise has all too little
room for anything mysterious or beyond the ordinary.  Certainly one
would not want to do this in a way that promotes superstition, but I
worry about completely ridding the world of all fairy tales, ghost
stories, halloween, etc.  Again, I don't necessarily object to the
sort of replacement you are suggesting for Halloween, particularly now
that there are practical reasons why Trick or Treat is no longer as
useful as it used to be.  --clh]