Examp: Christmas was originally an Egyptian winter feast, Halloween comes from Celtic beliefs. A festival was held on November 1st to celebrate the dead, honoring Samhain--pronounced "Sowen"-- the lord of the dead. Christians changed it to "All Hallows Eve" then it became "All Souls Day" a Christian Holiday. Why do Christians do this? There are many more examples, too many to list.
2006-10-06 14:24:47 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because I've yet to see a better answer.
2006-10-06 14:27:34 · update #1
Catholics are included in this question, technically they're Christians. They believe in Christ. Christ-ians
2006-10-06 14:29:44 · update #2
"ALL SOULS DAY" is a Christian Holiday.
2006-10-06 14:31:04 · update #3
Yours Rev!
2006-10-06 14:34:27 · update #4
Not everyone MOM.
2006-10-06 14:37:12 · update #5
I am NOT calling foul to anything, I never claimed to be Christian or otherwise. I just want other points of view.
2006-10-06 14:40:17 · update #6
Every Christian sect has their own beliefs, some like dancing with snakes, some protest against our troops and some lay hands just like Christ himself. Catholics believe that when taking the Communion they are accepting the actual body of Christ, and drinking his actual blood. But other churches substitute the wine/blood with Koolaid & crackers.
2006-10-06 14:47:04 · update #7
While I agree that Pagan holidays were adapted and changed to enchance conversion, I would like to point out the Samhain is not the lord of the dead. Samhain means summer end.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_sa.htm
Blessings )O(
2006-10-06 14:49:37 · answer #1 · answered by Epona Willow 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
farcas nailed it. This is an excellent question and i wish more people knew these facts. After the death of Jesus' apostles, many apostates moved in to take leadership and subvert the faith. Over time it was easier to convert pagans into christians by adapting the same customs , beliefs, and traditions and putting a holy face on them. What many people don't notice today, is that when people throw a halloween , easter, or christmas celebration , at work for instance, everybody attends , not just the christians or people who attend church. When a person doesn't attend, then they're strange or different. The apostle Paul said at 1 Corinthians 10; 20 that the things the nations sacrifice are to the demons , and not to God, and I do not want u to become sharers with the demons. Jesus Christ at John 17; 14 " I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them,becausce they are no part of the world , just as I am no part of the world."
2006-10-06 14:41:45 · answer #2 · answered by jaguarboy 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Since you obviously dont know your history, I can educate you on this. Halloween came from a Celtic ritual of giving sacrafices to the dead on all hallows eve. The Catholics adopted this as their own, because they had their own saints (which really originated from Christians altering the religeon by adding their own mini gods to appease the pantheistic converts that were being initiated into the relgieon, hence the word Catholic meaning "universal truth") and worshippped them on this day. This is by no means a true Protestant belief. Protestant meaning Christian. Please do not conintue calling Catholics, Christians because they both do NOT UPHOLD the same beliefs. Catholics hold a modified belief of Christian morals. Hopefuly this has somewhat answered your question, and showed you that we arent all bad people. Some of us are just trying to live the right way, and by no means are we perfect, but we try. And trying is a whole lot better than just giving up,just becuase in the end it will mean more, whether we rot in a coffin, dead and gone, or live in eternity with God. We are willing to take the chance to live life rightly instead of simply letting go of all good we may have once had.
2006-10-06 14:38:58 · answer #3 · answered by lapuertoricana1658 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, Samhain does not mean "lord of the dead"... that was debunked several yrs ago. All Hallow's Eve is the Celtic/Gaelic term for it, translated into English.
But, the reason why they do this is because the general Christian population is ignorant of the origins of many of their holidays and beliefs. Their retorts of "you need to read the Bible" proves they read nothing about the history of it or the culture(s) it came from, as well as their traditions.
2006-10-06 15:30:15 · answer #4 · answered by Kithy 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
because they have given up the perfect instruction of God for the traditions of men.
Jesus celebrated the feasts of god (not Jewish feasts, but the Feasts of the Lord!) These feasts are rehearsals for the marriage feast of the Lamb, sorry but there will be no painted eggs or jolly elves in heaven and none of these glorify God in any way.
If one were to recognize the true origins of Easter, Christmas and Halloween and how much the traditions stayed the same and what those traditions really represent- one might question whether or not to continue to celebrate.
2006-10-06 14:30:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Some people believe it is important to redeem the days.
Others believe it is to make Christianity more acceptable to people of other faiths.
I don't know what to believe, either way it's important, to a Christian to celebrate Christ every day.
2006-10-06 14:42:24 · answer #6 · answered by M. K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why does it really matter? Regardless of who came up with the idea of any holiday, we all celebrate it for basically the same reason right? And if different people celebrate a holiday differently than other people, it's still a holiday and it's still there to celebrate. The origin of the holiday isn't important, just what we do with it and how we spend it.
2006-10-06 14:38:16 · answer #7 · answered by oceanchic66 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You're correct.
But, what's wrong with taking a day dediciated to idolotry and sanctifying it to the glory of God?
It also seems like non-Christians have taken a day of remembering Jesus' birth and turned it into a day filled with the worship of materialism.
My point is that there's only 365 days per year. With all the days worthy of rememberance among different belief systems, there's bound to be holidays overlapping holidays.
If we are doomed to overlap holidays, then someone will always claim foul."
Just like you seem to be doing.
2006-10-06 14:37:32 · answer #8 · answered by Bob L 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It was a way to integrate other belief systems into their own. Another control tactic. Hundreds of years ago, they figured if they could compromise and share some key dates, they could convert the majority. Seems to have worked. Did you know that Jesus was actually born in June?
2006-10-06 14:29:13 · answer #9 · answered by leafrogger 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Simple: It was to make the conversion to Christianity easier. That's it.
Most Christians realize that December 25th isn't REALLY the day Christ was born. No one really knows.
2006-10-06 14:27:03 · answer #10 · answered by The_Cricket: Thinking Pink! 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋