Trick or Treat?

[Shell]

I'll probably get roasted, but I think it's a way for the candy companies to bring in more money. Satan can't have a day if you don't give it to him. Many churches have alternative Harvest Festivals if you don't feel comfortable with Halloween.

[String]

Early in my elementary years, we did the trick or treat thing but since then I don't acknowledge the day. My non-Christian friends to this day make a big deal out of it. Just another excuse to dress up and have a reason to party.

I just tell them that my Lord gives me reason to do the Holy Hustle every day!!

[PetfanInCt]

Halloween?

Satanic festival, harmless kid's fun, somewhere in the middle? what do you think?

Satanic festival , without a doubt.

[seichu kaisho]

The enemy has also messed up people's concepts of Christmas and Easter - with the corny fictitious characters that kids seem to worship. Of course kids grow out of that dillusional stage by the time they're teenagers, but since a lot of people were taught more about Santa than Jesus when they were children, they'd probably be less likely to acknowledge Jesus later in life.

[Shell]

The Santa legend started in Germany a very long time ago...There's a place for legends and stories.

But yeah, I do know what you mean, children should be taught about Jesus.

[SamScales]

Yeah, growing up in Germany I still remember how my parents had me going till I was 8 years old.....every December 6, Nikolaus (Santa Claus) would come to bring candy to the good kids or a broomstick to the bad kids.....So I was always really really good around that time, HAHAHA.

It was kinda fun when you woke up on the morning of the 6th and you found candy by your bed, cos Nikolaus would always come in da nite.

Christmas it was the Christkind (Christ Child) that would bring the gifts. You had to be out of the room (parents usually kept the kids busy elsewhere) and then all of a sudden you'd hear a bell ring in the room (mainly livingroom) where the Christmas tree was, which meant that the Christkind had brought the presents and you ran to find the tree light up with presents all under it. Now with the tree being lit up that meant over there with real candles all over the tree!!!
It was fun - but man - disappointing when you found out that you believed a lie!

That's why I never let my kids believe in Santa, they always knew parents and friends bought the gifts. When they were little we'd have fun by dad taking the kids out to the truck to go see the Christmas lights downtown and while he got them into the truck, I got the prsents and plugged in the tree before I walked out of the house. They always loved it when they came home and there was all the stuff.
They always knew who Jesus was and they also knew what Easter was all about. They did their share of egg hunting when they visited family and friends.....but the easter bunny thing was totally out at my house....

Halloween, well I admit, at first when the kids were very little they got to dress up and we took them to family and stuff - but then I got so convicted and I talked to the kids about it and they actually chose to participate in church and dress up as bible characters than go trick or treating. I never liked Halloween and all that scary stuff that people tend to put out and do....

Ok, that's my story.

[Pethead1]

Satanic festival. I could say a lot more but then I would have to tell how I know and with what I went through last week I can not do that now.

[seichu kaisho]

I used to be an avid Goosebumps reader when I was in 4th - 6th grade. The only book I never read, out of R.L. Stine's series of 62 Goosebumps books, was the very last one. I also read several books from Stine's Fear Street series. Even back then, reading only very few of those books provoked my negative emotions, because a lot of them were not quite "scary" but just "weird." Some of them were really dumb, like Monster Blood III, Beast From the East, and The Blob That Ate Everything. Others were more exciting and hard to put down, like The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena and Ghost Camp. In 6th grade, I also watched episodes of the Goosebumps TV show, but the shows were dumber than the books.

Of course, as I got older, I moved on to other, more mature selections of reading. Nowadays, I hardly read anything at all except for this message board, my Spanish Bible, children's books in Spanish, reading assignments for classes, and, occasionally, devotional books. Sometimes I go to internet websites in Spanish and read them to increase my skill in the language. A year ago, I found the Goosebumps book Night of the Living Dummy II translated in Spanish and read it - and it really helped me learn more vocabulary and colloquial phrases. (Escalofr�os - La Noche del Mu�eco Viviente II)

[reoracer]

I don't celebrate Halloween, but one of the reasons is more personal than religious. A friend of mine died suddenly on Halloween 1999... I still miss him alot!

My feelings on the holiday is that it is EVIL, and nowdays is as much corrupted commercialism as anything else... But most holidays are anymore...

This year, I have signed up for a half hour segment of a prayer vigil on the 31st.

Jen

[SamScales]

Hey, one good thing about Halloween.........it's SUE'S BIRTHDAY!!! One reason to celebrate!

[gman]

I don't like what halloween represents, but trick or treat is cool. It's a great opportunity to give out candy and tracts, and be a good witness to your neighbors. Where we live, they don't even really celebrate halloween. They have harvest parades and festivals, and trick or treat is held on a day other than halloween, and for limited hours.

[WR1U]

I agree with Shell besides, Daddy loves candy YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!