So that was you outside Caesars Palace that night! I knew it! :chuckle:
toldailytopic: Halloween: harmless fun or sinful celebration?
- Thread starter Nathon Detroit
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So that was you outside Caesars Palace that night! I knew it! :chuckle:
If you don't celebrate Halloween you are the only Calvinist I know who doesn't.
Furthermore... according to Calvinism the entire celebration of Halloween is God's creation... not mans.
Calvinism = epic fail.
"Abstain from all appearance of evil" Thessalonians 5:22 (History of Halloween, Preview of "Halloween: Trick or Treat" video)
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2
Excerpt from Should Christians Celebrate Halloween:
Once each year, little costumed beggars show up demanding a treat and promising mischief if they don’t get it. And what better treat can you give than the message of eternal life.
One family dressed as angels around a judgment seat with a judge. Children who came for treats were asked their name and an angel looked to see if it was written in the book of life.
When it was not found, a tract was given with a warning to read it carefully to see how to get their name listed. Halloween tract suggestions.
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2
Excerpt from Should Christians Celebrate Halloween:
As children nowadays already have more than enough candy, a much better alternative is to give the message of salvation. Listen to the "Miracle on George Street". :wave: (Free to download and copy)
Once each year, little costumed beggars show up demanding a treat and promising mischief if they don’t get it. And what better treat can you give than the message of eternal life.
One family dressed as angels around a judgment seat with a judge. Children who came for treats were asked their name and an angel looked to see if it was written in the book of life.
When it was not found, a tract was given with a warning to read it carefully to see how to get their name listed. Halloween tract suggestions.
Anyone who finds kids in ridiculous costumes giggling their way through a cycle of sugar highs "the appearance of evil" is giving off "the appearance of a head injury."
lain:Or you could open the door and take their candy from them for their own good...that would be about as on task. And the next time your kid has a birthday feed them broccoli shaped like a cake and give them a present of a toy they already have too many of...
Yeah, that's just a terrific present for a kid well outside of the age of accountability. Maybe you could throw in a motorcycle helmet or tickets to the opera as well. They won't know how to thank you.
Did they hand out discounts to a local therapist instead of candy?
'Cause nothing screams 'appropriate' like usurping the role of parent/religious instructor to other people's children.
lain:
Nang
TOL Subscriber
It has been obvious for quite a while, that the Calvinists you know or have known, do not think or teach at all like the original Reformers. :mmph:
C'mon Knight . . . no one can blame God for sin and no one should blame God for sinners celebrating Halloween!
When you attend church services tomorrow, are your little children allowed to wear their Halloween costumes?
If so, why so? If not, why not?
Nang
Nice deflection Nang. :chuckle:
Random
New member
Yes, it's just harmless fun. Christians who think having your child dress up as Winnie the Pooh or Thomas the Tank Engine and going door to door procuring candy is devil worship need to get a life.
I miss being little and dressing up. When I was in middle school my friends and I would rent really bad horror movies from the 40s and 50s and go Mystery Science Theater on them. Although last year I did go trick or treating for the first time since elementary school. My costume was a college student who was trying to relive his long lost childhood. So basically I went as myself. One lady refused to give me candy. I think I scared her. Another guy tried to rope me into talking politics because I made a silly comment on the forest of political signs he had on his front lawn. Good times.
Nang
TOL Subscriber
Nice obfuscation of the subject, Knight. . .
Tomorrow is the Lord's Day when Jesus Christ is worshipped by most Christians, and tomorrow is also a day set apart as "Halloween."
What will the children of various churches, according to parental guidance, celebrate first and foremost?
Jesus only?
Halloween?
Jesus plus Halloween?
Nang
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
A 'chick tract'? Nice. Heaven forbid that kids have a bit of fun and instead have nightmares over that vile garbage. That guy and his advocates act as though having a sense of humour is a sin....
lain:
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
To be fair that's one of the lesser vile tracts kicking about although the crudity is still there. Other tracts would have the unfortunate abused girl going to eternal torment if she'd expired in a cardboard box prior to conversion through a 'witness'.
I don't see how. Wildly inappropriate for small children for a number of reasons, but that's a different objection.
ShadowMaid
New member
That was a very interesting tract. But here is what I'm going to do for Halloween.
Since I have only been trick or treating once in my life, I didn't make a big deal about the idea of celebrating Halloween with my family. My husband, on the other hand, mentioned that he always had so much fun as a kid, so that inspired me with the idea to call up my sister, ask her if she wanted to take the kids trick or treating with me. She got some costumes, and she has all the kids dressed up and ready for when I come down to town later to take them.
This is a huge deal for my little siblings, because they don't get to see me very often, and little as they are, they adore me. Therefore, this Halloween isn't about going to get candy, and dressing up in funny clothes, but to get a chance to do something fun with my siblings that I wish I would have had more of when I was their age.
I won't need that tract to teach them of God's love, because I can teach them by spending time with them.
You don't need to get your knickers in a bunch because people decide to have some fun on a nationally scheduled day. The day is what you make of it. And if you only see it as a day of the devil, then you're missing out on all the fun and love you spread.
What a Debbie-downer...
:chuckle:
Do you ever smile?
Think about it. Halloween takes place right when the days become shorter, when it starts to get colder, when the vegetation starts to wither and die...it's the twilight of the year, as it were, in expectation of its death in winter.
Note that halloween celebrations generally don't take place during the day, but rather begin at twilight and extend through the night (the death of the day).
The traditional costumes generally deal with monsters, skeletons, etc. These represent our death and its imminence. It's worthy of note that the Mexican correlate to our Halloween is "The Day of the Dead."
I mean, yes, halloween also very clearly has to do with the harvest (which is why we associate it with pumpkins), but what greater harvest is there than our very deaths? Death is the harvest of a man's soul. It's the consummation of life.
Halloween is a day conceived in dread. Fortunately, the Catholic Church gives us a day to remind us that our dread is not absolute: All Saints Day. Yes, we are going to die, but there is new and eternal life in Jesus Christ.
nonreligiouscourt
New member
well
well
halloween is a double edge sword. Now a days it was for children to have candy and have fun but adults and teens take it to far dressing skanky and it just seems as if it lost tradition, not tradition as in the reason for hallows eve many years ago but for the last couple decades.:cow: i wanted the cow, its irrelevant but they are my all time favorite animal
well
halloween is a double edge sword. Now a days it was for children to have candy and have fun but adults and teens take it to far dressing skanky and it just seems as if it lost tradition, not tradition as in the reason for hallows eve many years ago but for the last couple decades.:cow: i wanted the cow, its irrelevant but they are my all time favorite animal
zoo22
Well-known member
So are a lot of things. In fact, that's one of the major explanations of religion.
so atheists have no fear of death?
zoo22
Well-known member
That fear of death is one of the major explanations of religion doesn't mean that atheists don't fear death.
zoo22
Well-known member
I loved Halloween when I was a kid. I have to admit that it doesn't make as much sense to me not living in an area with defined seasons... In the north east, autumn was kicking in, the leaves on the ground blowing around in the wind making scary noises, the weather becoming cold, the bright colors turning to darker muted colors, the bare sihouetted branches of the trees against the sky, the smell of fires, pumpkins and gourds, the general feeling of getting ready for the winter ... Spooky! Halloween just seemed to make more sense.
But even though I'm on the west coast, in the neighborhood I live in now, we have a pretty great Halloween set-up... It's an historical district, and there are lots of old restored Victorian-style homes. Big houses with towers and large porches and creepy windows and carved woodwork and vine-covered walls & lattices and big lawns... And lots of trees. Our entire neighborhood has a tradition of decorating the houses and yards for Halloween. Not with the typical cheesy plastic ghosts, but with lots of homemade decorations and scarecrows and tons of hand-carved pumpkins and whatnot. It's one of those neighborhoods where people drive from all over to bring kids to trick-or-treat... And adults dressed up too. Three blocks are basically closed off and the street's open to walk down. It's like a parade. Very fun.
Halloween in parts of Brooklyn also used to be really fun.
But even though I'm on the west coast, in the neighborhood I live in now, we have a pretty great Halloween set-up... It's an historical district, and there are lots of old restored Victorian-style homes. Big houses with towers and large porches and creepy windows and carved woodwork and vine-covered walls & lattices and big lawns... And lots of trees. Our entire neighborhood has a tradition of decorating the houses and yards for Halloween. Not with the typical cheesy plastic ghosts, but with lots of homemade decorations and scarecrows and tons of hand-carved pumpkins and whatnot. It's one of those neighborhoods where people drive from all over to bring kids to trick-or-treat... And adults dressed up too. Three blocks are basically closed off and the street's open to walk down. It's like a parade. Very fun.
Halloween in parts of Brooklyn also used to be really fun.
zoo22
Well-known member
Oh, and while I don't have kids, if I did and I knew that a home was inviting kids in for a staged "judgement day" and giving out chick tracts (or even just giving out chick tracts), I'd pass that house by. If I found out that someone in the neighborhood was giving my kids chick tracts, I'd thank them and tell them nicely that I'd appreciate that they don't ever preach to my kids or give them religious comic books or other religious materials without my permission, and let them know that I'm not giving it to them. I'd also have a sit-down with my kids about it.
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