Posted on 09/19/2008 11:20:58 AM PDT by Publius804
Church of England claims Hallowe'en is 'similar' to Christmas Eve
Hallowe'en is a special religious festival just like Christmas Eve, according to the Church of England.
By Martin Beckford Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:52PM BST 18 Sep 2008
A website created by the Church claims that the event, which is based on a pagan celebration and has no Biblical basis, represents "light coming in the darkness" similar to the arrival on Earth of Jesus Christ.
It is part of a campaign by clergy to stop the spread of the secular American interpretation of Hallowe'en that sees children dress in horror masks and demand "trick or treat" from neighbours, and revive its Christian meaning of a commemoration of saints.
However critics claimed it is "odd" for the Church to be equating the two festivals.
Rod Thomas, chairman of the traditionalist group Reform, said: "We have to remember that Hallowe'en has only recently taken off in this country. It's a bit of an American import so to put in on a par with Christmas Eve is overplaying it.
"To equate the coming of Christ with a celebration of His followers, the saints, is an unequal comparison."
However he added: "I think their motivation is exactly right, they're trying to restore a bit of sanity to an area that's got out of hand."
Alison Ruoff, a prominent member of the church's governing body, the General Synod, added: "Making something positive of Hallowe'en is a good idea but it's just a rather odd way of putting it. It needs to be spelled out."
The roots of Hallowe'en date back almost 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the gathering of the harvest and the start of a new year.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Headline should read:
Church of England To Emphasize "All Saints Day" In Place of Halloween.
From the article:
In recent years, the Church of England has become increasingly concerned about children following the practices of American children on Hallowe'en, who wear "gruesome" fancy dress and go from door to door playing practical jokes on those who do not reward them with sweets.
The church wants people to mark All Saints' Day as "a celebration of heroes and saints and the ultimate triumph of good over evil".
Sorry Halloween is a fun holiday.. I find nothing wrong with that..
Reformation Day?
It’s pretty sad how ignorant the public is if someone actually has to run an article to explain that All Hallows Eve is a Christian holiday.
It is also sadder that some people thinks that All Hallows Eve must be abolished..
Neither Xmas or Halloween are scriptural, and amongst the many deviations that present churchianity has made from the Bible, these are the easist to prove.
Church of England claims Hallowe’en is ‘similar’ to Christmas Eve
****
The title should be “Church of England is similar to Clown College”.
Yes, very bad headline. Most Christian traditional days have pagan precursors, as in a great marketing decision they slowly replaced pagan holidays with Christian ones, easing the cultural move into Christianity. Halloween is the only one that seems to have survived in the mainstream.
Yeah, I mean, they don’t believe in God and if they can summon up enough faith to even believe that much they don’t believe in the devil, so what do they care? Make it a Harry Potter Halloween, for all I care. I don’t buy the candy, I don’t answer the door. I haven’t gotten pranked yet. Not too much trickrtreating in my hood. Too ethnic. People go to the rich people’s neighborhoods to trt.
I think that part ought to be abolished. Having costume parties, bobbing for apples, T&Ting among friends, that’s one thing, but going out to collect sweets from strangers is jes plain stoopid.
Yep. 4th of July and Labor day not in the bible yet practiced by many Christians.
So Christmas is not in the Bible...but Easter is?
Eve of All Halloes
The night before All Saints Day
In fact, the imposition of “Easter” makes a great google study. There is plenty of information on how this transformation took place that proves beyond a doubt it has no scriptural basis.
Of course people are free to worship as they please, but there are many scriptures that make it plain that God only honors worship that is done according to His instructions.
>>
Most Christian traditional days have pagan precursors,
<<
There are an increasing number of Christians who have stopped observing the post-Biblical pagan holidays and have returned to observing the Biblical Holy Days.
In fact, there is an article in today’s World Net Daily about one of those Holy Days:
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
What secret does Feast of Trumpets hold?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75345
Other examples abound, such as
http://www.thercg.org/books/ghdoph.html
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