Follow up to Halloween Question

Great response from everyone! Thanks!

I personally grew up "celebrating" Halloween... as in dressing up and trick or treating, carving pumpkins, etc. I have some great memories of that! (Ross is convinced he never carved a pumpkin until last year, I find that hard to believe)

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in the area, but in researching it looks like Halloween started as a time to worship the dead, ghosts and evil spirits so they won't get mad. People would sacrifice animals & more, and try to appease them. Then when the the traditions moved to America it took on a new meaning, yet still having the same superstitions of dressing so evil spirits don't recognize them, and leaving food/sweets out by their door to appease the ghosts/evil spirits. Slowly turning into a fun time for kids to run around disguised to get treats and such.

I think it is wise to know why we do what we do. I think there are spiritual implications to everything we do. I don't want to be ignorant to the original intent of why we celebrate the things we do. I also believe God can redeem anything. So I think with me and my family I want to be wise and know why we do what we do, and make sure we have purpose to what we do.

I have no problem with dressing up, and getting/giving candy from neighbors, and carving pumpkins... I just want to make sure my kids know why, and that we set ourselves apart from worldly traditions. We aren't doing it to appease evil spirits, or hide from them. I see this as a chance to be creative and silly and make sure we are pleasing God, not trying to appease the devil. As long as your conscience is clear before God and you do everything to honor Him, we can bring God's redemption to the holiday and turn what was meant for evil into good.

Practically I think this can be done by honoring God with how we dress, but serving/blessing others and by praying to God, and do all things to bring Him pleasure, not praying to spirits or the dead or being concerned with pleasing them. I think this also means not glorifying death, witchcraft, or fear (in costumes/haunted houses/ etc). Let's not be ignorant, and avoid truth, but be knowledgeable and bring redemption to these areas!

Those are just some of my thoughts...