Let’s be honest here, the Bible says absolutely zero about Halloween - accept that. Don’t cherry pick verses taken completely out of cultural and historical context and try to make them fit. Further, as mentioned, the verses used typically refer not to the historical facts concerning the origins of the holiday, but rather the legend, lore, assumptions, myths, misinformation, outright lies and religious paranoia that surround it. To take a few of these quickly, Ephesians 5:11 is construed as prohibiting celebrating Halloween due to its perceived pagan origins and association with darkness, this interpretation is does not take into account the context of the verse, which is primarily focused on actively participating in evil deeds, not simply engaging in activities with a preconceived historical connection to paganism (which is not at all correct) that are now widely considered harmless fun by many Christians. Deuteronomy is a prohibition about cultural and religious assimilation as the Hebrew people enter Canaan. This oft quoted passage is essentially a reiteration of prohibitions. To put it in more modern terms, verses 9-13 are a prohibition to the Jews, that when they begin to settle and colonize Canaan, they are not to follow the practices of those already living there, particularly religious practices. This essentially speaks to a concept facing any peoples settling in a new land -Assimilation. Assimilation into the existing culture, resulting in the complete or near complete loss of their own culture. These verses are a prohibition that speaks to the potential loss of the Jewish cultural identity as a result of becoming completely assimilated into the culture of Canaan. The most feared aspect of assimilation was, of course, the loss of religion - in this case, the loss of Judaism. Had the Jews been assimilated into Canaanite culture rather than preserving their own, one can only imagine how different the three Abrahamic religions would be today. Today, these particular phrases are used by some churches with a completely different meaning of sorts - they are still being used to justify a ‘prohibition’, but for an entirely different reason than the original reason they were written - nobody is going to ‘convert’ or be led to Satanism by participating in a completely secular holiday which mocks death and plays on people’s fear of the unknown.
Yup, pretty much agreed with everything you said. I didn't quote Ephesians. As a matter fact I said that the Bible does not talk about Halloween. I do accept that. I said nothing about the origins of Halloween. I did take into consideration the context and came to the same conclusion as you. I mentioned the reiteration. Only place I disagree with you is that I would not call Halloween "a completely secular holiday".
Let’s be honest here, the Bible says absolutely zero about Halloween - accept that. Don’t cherry pick verses taken completely out of cultural and historical context and try to make them fit. Further, as mentioned, the verses used typically refer not to the historical facts concerning the origins of the holiday, but rather the legend, lore, assumptions, myths, misinformation, outright lies and religious paranoia that surround it.
To take a few of these quickly, Ephesians 5:11 is construed as prohibiting celebrating Halloween due to its perceived pagan origins and association with darkness, this interpretation is does not take into account the context of the verse, which is primarily focused on actively participating in evil deeds, not simply engaging in activities with a preconceived historical connection to paganism (which is not at all correct) that are now widely considered harmless fun by many Christians.
Deuteronomy is a prohibition about cultural and religious assimilation as the Hebrew people enter Canaan.
This oft quoted passage is essentially a reiteration of prohibitions. To put it in more modern terms, verses 9-13 are a prohibition to the Jews, that when they begin to settle and colonize Canaan, they are not to follow the practices of those already living there, particularly religious practices.
This essentially speaks to a concept facing any peoples settling in a new land -Assimilation. Assimilation into the existing culture, resulting in the complete or near complete loss of their own culture.
These verses are a prohibition that speaks to the potential loss of the Jewish cultural identity as a result of becoming completely assimilated into the culture of Canaan. The most feared aspect of assimilation was, of course, the loss of religion - in this case, the loss of Judaism. Had the Jews been assimilated into Canaanite culture rather than preserving their own, one can only imagine how different the three Abrahamic religions would be today.
Today, these particular phrases are used by some churches with a completely different meaning of sorts - they are still being used to justify a ‘prohibition’, but for an entirely different reason than the original reason they were written - nobody is going to ‘convert’ or be led to Satanism by participating in a completely secular holiday which mocks death and plays on people’s fear of the unknown.
Yup, pretty much agreed with everything you said. I didn't quote Ephesians. As a matter fact I said that the Bible does not talk about Halloween. I do accept that. I said nothing about the origins of Halloween. I did take into consideration the context and came to the same conclusion as you. I mentioned the reiteration. Only place I disagree with you is that I would not call Halloween "a completely secular holiday".