I don't celebrate halloween on my own because I never actually grew up with it, but have been to parties on halloween. There is this stigma from some Christians that they shouldn't be celebrating halloween because of involvement of witches and ghost dressup. This type of reason is similar to people who don't celebrate Christmas or Easter because of the objects that relate to pagan practices and the commercialism. There shouldn't be this type of complete avoidance from the holidays themselves. People need to remember that halloween relates to Christianity as well, for it comes before what many churches call "All Soul's Day" "All Saint's Day" Or "Commemoration of the Faithful Dead". It leads up to remembering saints (Christians) who have died living in faith. Sure there are people who claim pagan practices on these days, but that is significant for their celebrated day, but not for Christians, in the same way as the Celtics have certain practices for their pagan days, but some changed the meanings when they transferred over to the Christian celebration. The meaning of the tree in Christmas is different to those who celebrate the Winter Solstice and it shouldn't be exclusively for one group to have a say on how this day should be celebrated when different people have different meanings on this day. 

This is similar to when Paul calls out to Christians not to force circumcision on gentiles (non-Hebrew) (Galatians 3) and that they may eat with gentiles (Galatians 2:12), and Peter who saw the vision that those that are unclean animals can be eaten (Acts 10:9-16), and when Paul say that it is ok to eat meat from the marketplace without asking about whether it is used to sacrifice to the pagan gods, or if they are from unclean animals. They don't need to "ask questions for conscience's sake" (1 Corinthians 10:25). We got to remember that "the Earth's is the Lord's and all it contains" (1 Corinthians 10:26). Everything that God made is good and we shouldn't act like pagans has dibs anything that they claim to be theirs. 

So my case is that it is ok for you to celebrate halloween, as long as you are not involved in practices that actively and exclusively celebrate pagan rituals or cultish beliefs. The same with Christmas and Easter. It's ok to give out presents and hunt Easter eggs as long as the focus goes back to Christ.

play4fun : i understand that the pagen rituals and holidays were really messed up

play4fun :  Interesting take on this.  I don't really care for halloween since like you, I also did not grow up with it.  In fact, it was never part of our country's "culture".  Only lately the youth seem to latch onto it.  It is a great time to witness to kids though as you don't have to go out to the streets.  They come to you

I totally agree with you on this one, play4fun, there is no reason to celebrating Pagan practices. Christmas is about Christ, Halloween was Reformation day/ All Saints Day, Easter is about Christ. If our focus is where it should be, there is really no reason to be taking part in the esoteric practices, which sadly, many of our holidays have.

Wow! I liked your reasoning on this very sensitive subject. I personally hate halloween. Not the time, but what people do with it. I hate the dark feeling around that time. My family has always celebrated halloween. Except for one thing...we do away with the ghouls and goblins, witches and skeletons. In a way, we peel back the layers of darkness to get to the light. We call this holiday Harvest. It is similar to thanksgiving in that we focus on the bounty of GOD's blessings that HE has given us. In th past, we've done candy hunts in place of trick or treating. And sometimes just little treat bags or some sort of sweet treat. But like you said, it really does not matter what you do--as long as it's nothing evil--it's why you are doing it that counts.

I agree entirely that there is nothing wrong with celebrating halloween, or any holiday really. It all depends on how you celebrate it and what it means to you. People want to get all caught up in what it meant to someone who lived long ago, but what does that have to do with me?

Also, nice work referencing the meats bought in the shambles/marketplaces. Paul indeed let us know that what mattered was not how sonething started, but how we used it.

I never knew that Halloween related to Christianity. I always got so caught up in celebrating Halloween that I'd never stopped to think about why Halloween exists. I never knew about All Soul's/All Saint's Day/Commemoration of the Faithful Dead coming right after Halloween, either.

I have no need to worry about getting involved in any pagan rituals or cultish beliefs on Halloween. The only thing I should do differently is think about and find out more about the All Saint's Day right after it.