Happy Halloween :P

[outcast]

I know that Halloween is a sticky subject for most of us, but I just had to share this with you guys...

My husband had a rather cathartic experience today. During the time we were in the cult we never celebrated halloween because that was considered evil. I can see why churches feel this way and I can respect that, but for me halloween was just a time to go around and get candy. I didn't get much out of it as a kid concerning the scary, spooky part. I know that it is scripturally wrong to focus on fear and try to glorify it.

My husband though had a real cathartic experience today in this area. He went to walmart and bought a bunch of candy to pass out tonight. For him it was a way to heal from the programming that taught us that even though we don't celebrate the fear factor of the holiday, passing out candy was wrong in and of itself.

He's had a great time tonight and I was blessed to see him enjoying himself. I found it interesting how God could use what has become a pagan holiday to set someone free of a cult mentality.

Hubby enjoys just seeing the kids have fun and giving them candy. He's a generous man by nature and it was neat to see him have fun in this way.

So, I know that maybe many here still do not recognize halloween, but for me it was fun to see my husband set free of some negative mentalities by simply passing out candy tonight.

My question to you guys is what do you think of this holliday post SA experience. Is it wrong to celebrate it if we keep in mind it's original context? Is is wrong to pass out candy if we don't glorify the scary and evil? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, my friends

Happy Halloween...

[Willow]

Originally Posted by outcast

He's had a great time tonight and I was blessed to see him enjoying himself. I found it interesting how God could use what has become a pagan holiday to set someone free of a cult mentality.

My question to you guys is what do you think of this holliday post SA experience. Is it wrong to celebrate it if we keep in mind it's original context? Is is wrong to pass out candy if we don't glorify the scary and evil? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, my friends

Happy Halloween...

I think it's just nice to be able to participate in society again and not make a big deal over formalities. I was so narrow before that I couldn't hardly function outside church. My undies don't get in a wad over Halloween or pagan stuff anymore. If God's big enough to let it happen... so am I! Heck.. we might even learn something if we can lighten up a little. At the least we can enjoy the kids... and the people... and the festivities.

[Grey]

Thanks for asking, I'd love to see the responses, too.
We also had never "done Halloween". My husband took our daughter to a Harvest Party at someone's house. I did not attend, because although the church is much better than the group we used to be with, it's still not a happy place for me. I wouldn't mind taking our daughter trick-or-treating, but he still does not want to. *sigh* On the same note, I used to love Christmas til all the joy got sucked out of it.
Like your husband, I enjoy giving. Or I used to, before the idea of giving a bunch of presents was frowned down on and made as joyful as going to the dentist. But it's getting a little better. I may heal from it soon.
This year I stayed home and passed out candy. I really had fun, too. My sis asked if we were going to give out tracts, too, and I just said "Nope". I find some joy in having the freedom to not do that, if you understand what I mean.
So I'm starting to get back to "me", maybe Christmas will be better. Maybe I can find that joy again.

[Grey]

Originally Posted by outcast

My question to you guys is what do you think of this holliday post SA experience. Is it wrong to celebrate it if we keep in mind it's original context? Is is wrong to pass out candy if we don't glorify the scary and evil? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, my friends

Haha, I should answer this instead of rambling on, but it did feel good to talk about it, anyway.
I personally now feel it's OK to give out candy and get candy. In my mind, I figure what do kids know about the pagan stuff? Do they really believe they are dressing up to fool the spirits or whatever the whole purpose of that was? (Maybe I'm wrong, but wasn't that where the dressing up comes from?) So it doesn't bother me.
I personally still don't like ghosts & vampires & such if they are meant to be evil. A cute ghost, maybe, LOL.

[Hope 98]

I grew up celebrating Halloween. Our church observed November 1st - All Saints Day (as the remembrance of Christian brothers & sisters well known & unknown who are no longer living) - and considered Halloween unofficially related. The idea that it was pagan or evil was new to me about 10 years ago.

I can see the focus on horror and fear being out of line with our faith, but there was no way I could see the "dress-up and collect candy" aspect as bad in any way. What's there but creativity, generosity and fun?

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by outcast

I know that Halloween is a sticky subject for most of us, but I just had to share this with you guys...

My husband had a rather cathartic experience today. During the time we were in the cult we never celebrated halloween because that was considered evil. I can see why churches feel this way and I can respect that, but for me halloween was just a time to go around and get candy. I didn't get much out of it as a kid concerning the scary, spooky part. I know that it is scripturally wrong to focus on fear and try to glorify it.

My husband though had a real cathartic experience today in this area. He went to walmart and bought a bunch of candy to pass out tonight. For him it was a way to heal from the programming that taught us that even though we don't celebrate the fear factor of the holiday, passing out candy was wrong in and of itself.

He's had a great time tonight and I was blessed to see him enjoying himself. I found it interesting how God could use what has become a pagan holiday to set someone free of a cult mentality.

Hubby enjoys just seeing the kids have fun and giving them candy. He's a generous man by nature and it was neat to see him have fun in this way.

So, I know that maybe many here still do not recognize halloween, but for me it was fun to see my husband set free of some negative mentalities by simply passing out candy tonight.

My question to you guys is what do you think of this holliday post SA experience. Is it wrong to celebrate it if we keep in mind it's original context? Is is wrong to pass out candy if we don't glorify the scary and evil? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, my friends

Happy Halloween...

Yes we too every year pay homage to the vegetable orb

[Spiny Norman]

As an Aussie, we've never had Halloween as part of our culture (we're more like the Brits than like the Yanks). However in the past 10 years in particular, there has been a huge increase in kids participating in Halloween, presumably encouraged by teachers at school. Anyway, I suppose kids don't need much encouragement to go out and get lollies/sweets (a.k.a. "candy").

But I hate it. I see it as a degeneration of our uniquely Aussie culture. Becoming more Americanised. So I refuse to participate, and stick a sign on my front door advising Halloween participants not to bother knocking/ringing the bell. It mostly works ... for now ... but I wonder how long it will be before I get egged, or something like that.

So is one permitted to be a conscientious objector?

[Willow]

Around these parts... all you have to do is leave your porch light off if you don't participate. No signs needed... I wonder if that could be an approach you could take in aussieland too?

Originally Posted by Spiny Norman

As an Aussie, we've never had Halloween as part of our culture (we're more like the Brits than like the Yanks). However in the past 10 years in particular, there has been a huge increase in kids participating in Halloween, presumably encouraged by teachers at school. Anyway, I suppose kids don't need much encouragement to go out and get lollies/sweets (a.k.a. "candy").

But I hate it. I see it as a degeneration of our uniquely Aussie culture. Becoming more Americanised. So I refuse to participate, and stick a sign on my front door advising Halloween participants not to bother knocking/ringing the bell. It mostly works ... for now ... but I wonder how long it will be before I get egged, or something like that.

So is one permitted to be a conscientious objector?

[outcast]

Yay!! I was pleasantly surprised to see all the happy overnight/daytime posting to my original post!!

Willow and Gray, thanks for the comments. I agree with you guys on the generosity part of it. Once I got over the programming and just thought about it being an excuse to give kids candy, I was fine with hubby passing it out and spending money on it. In fact, a part of me was kinda sad that it was the first time to see him do this during the 11 years we've been married, just b/c of that dumb old cult!

I know most abusive churches (and even many healthy ones) teach that christians shouldn't celebrate it. But, my opinion has always been that if we aren't to recognize it, are we being hypocritical by having alternative halloween parties in an effort to keep kids safe? Really, you're celebrating it anyway, just not the way it's been secularized.

I find the gruesome aspect of halloween a bit twisted and I don't go to haunted houses and such just because I don't believe in meditating on fear and I don't get anything out of it anyway...

Gray, I am glad that you too stayed home and had fun with your freedom to give and pass out candy last night. I hope your christmas goes well for you. I know I had trouble with that holiday my first couple of years out of the cult. In fact, this is the first year I've been involved in any kind of church christmas program since leaving the cult. It's been very enjoyable so far, but as I've shared before I think I'm in a pretty healthy church right now. They really respect our personal time and boundaries.

I always think it's interesting to see how the programming has affected each of us. I was almost in tears (of joy) to see my hubby having so much fun last night. The costumes were adorable and I know he experienced alot of freedom with such a simple action.

I hope others will post reactions as well. I'd love to hear more opinions. Honestly, I have not been surprised to know that I'm not alone in how I feel now concerning this holiday. The idea that trick or treating was wrong really is a result of control and desire to program our minds to conformity. It also goes along with the idea of seeing a demon around every corner.

I used to hate how every halloween we had to have extra prayer meetings to pray against all the satanists who were supposedly plotting against us. I don't doubt that real satanists exist and really do practice more around this time, but it was pretty ridiculous how big of a deal this became in my old church setting. It was practically paranoia.

[outcast]

Originally Posted by Spiny Norman

As an Aussie, we've never had Halloween as part of our culture (we're more like the Brits than like the Yanks). However in the past 10 years in particular, there has been a huge increase in kids participating in Halloween, presumably encouraged by teachers at school. Anyway, I suppose kids don't need much encouragement to go out and get lollies/sweets (a.k.a. "candy").

But I hate it. I see it as a degeneration of our uniquely Aussie culture. Becoming more Americanised. So I refuse to participate, and stick a sign on my front door advising Halloween participants not to bother knocking/ringing the bell. It mostly works ... for now ... but I wonder how long it will be before I get egged, or something like that.

So is one permitted to be a conscientious objector?

Hmm... yours is an interesting point of view, Spiny. I haven't thought about the holiday from that standpoint before. I have a good friend who lives in Brisbane, but he's not mentioned the americanised issue before. I didn't even know that was going on.

I agree with willow. When hubby and I used to ignore the holiday, we simply turned our porch light off. We were never egged...