Should Christians participate in Halloween?

Should Christians participate in Halloween?, submitted by Christ, for the answers. Short answer: no. Long answer:

The October 31st holiday that we today know as Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of this world, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the dark things of this world, rather than the light of Jesus Christ, The Truth.

Really, Halloween is "closely connected with the worship of the Enemy of this world?" Shit, I guess I had it wrong all along and thought it was a chance to put on spooky costumes and beg for candy.

Have you noticed how costumes and masks are getting generally more bloody, gory, and depraved each year? Unfortunately, the gruesome and grotesque and the occult are increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween, but throughout the year in horror movies and in television programs.

Glorifying something grotestque and gruesome, like...I dunno, scourging a man with thorns on his head and then driving nails through his hands and feet and stabbing him with a spear? Ohhhhhh, wait!

My family does not celebrate it or participate in it. We do not believe that our children are "missing out," and neither do they. Other days are used for costumes and parties. Happily, all of our children have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have found that Halloween provides an excellent time to remind our children that, as Christians, we are different, and not of this world.

Happily, I'm sure your children weren't given a lot of choice about accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

Here's the rub, weirdo paranoid fringe Christians: your religion is as pagan as Halloween. Christianity is not special among religions. It, like all of the others, emerged from existing religions and practices. Several of the gospels in the Bible are gnostic, many of the practices of Judaism and Christianity are gnostic in origin and even the idea of a martyred godhead is not unique by any stretch. Despite what you may believe, the Bible did not appear in some cave after it was placed by the great level designer in the sky. It was written by a bunch of dudes and made into a mixture of plagiarized religious texts, political opinions and the usual mélange of demagoguery and decent insight. Too many cooks spoiling the soup and all that.

Take what you will from the Bible, just don't use it to point fingers when you've...dun, dun, dun...got four more pointing back at you! My youth group pastor used to say that all the time.

– Zack "Geist Editor" Parsons (@sexyfacts4u)