Does anyone know why Witnesses don't celebrate Halloween?

Question

I want to go Trick-or-treating, but I first need to know why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Halloween because I forgot why.

Same thing for Christmas, and birthdays. If you could include all of these, you get 10 pts.!

Please, no opinions. I would like real facts, thank you. Halloween is in a few days, so I need to know.

Answer 1

We don't celebrate Halloween because
1: it involves in spiritistic activities and the Bible clearly states to stay away from spiritism.
2: It's a celebration of the dead. We believe the dead are DEAD they become lifeless and there is no immortal soul "that passes on"

Christmas & Birthdays: there's nothing in the Bible that states when Christ Jesus was born.
1: If he was born in December, it would be cold for the shepherds to go out with their flock.
2:The celebration of Christmas is a pagan abelief dating back to roman times (ex: during the time of thanksgiving, christmas, and new years the romans held a festeval marking the "birthday of the unconquered sun" (encyclopedia Britannica) During winter, the sun seems to be at it's weakest so they held cermonies to get the source of warmth and light and the 25th of December was thought to be the day when the sun returned) and that was adopted by Pope John Paul II (Explanation: He aknowledge it to be a pagan celebration, but regarding the date he addmitted the antiquity, the birthday of the invincible sun was celebrated to coincide with the winter solstice. So to him it seemed logical for Christian to replace the pagan feast with the celebration of the only true Sun, Jesus Christ.
3: When Jesus was born King Herod sent astrologers to find The newborn Jesus Christ (Matthew 2) so he could kill him
4: There is nothing in the Bible that states Jesus Celebrating his birth. The birthdays celebrated in the Bible were by those against Jesus and his teachings (Genesis 40:20; Mark 6:21) They were also held in honor of pagan deities (Ex May 24, romans celebrate the goddess Diana, on the following day..Apollo.)
5: Birthdays revolve around superstition (ex: the person blowing out the candles, if done in one breath they were granted safety from evil spirits for one full year).
6: It wasn't until several hundred year that people started "celebrating christmas"
7: Jesus never took pagan worship/festivals and made them ok for true Christians to celebrate. Therefore true christians don't celebrate holidays
8: The Christmas Tree: In Europe the Scandinavian customs of decorating their houses and barns with evergreen at New Year to scare the Devil away
9:Wreaths were used for decorating temples during the mid-winter festival devoted to the god of agriculture (and was know to be very out of hand (to put it nice)We were told to commemorate
10: Kissing under a misletoe comes from the Middle ages. The Druids believed that Mistletoe had magical powers and was used as a protection against demons and spells. They also believed that kissing under a mistletoe would lead to marriage.
11: Again, back to the spiritism. A man who is a ghost (the spirit of Saint Nick) goes around the world entering in peoples houses to give gifts????

The only "holiday" we celebrate (it's actually commemoating, not celebrating) is Jesus' Death (NOT easter) and the night he spent with his disciples (Matthew 26:26; Luke 22:19)

Giving gifts are fine (If they were out of love there shouldn't be a specific day to give gifts) (James 1:17; Luke 11:11-13; Job 42:11)
Family gatherings are encouraged, so is enjoying a good meal (John 2:1-10; Luke 15:21-25; Genesis 18:6-8; Ecclesiastes 3:13; 8:15) It's just when there are false practices linked to them, then it's wrong

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate holidays because of their origin. All these rituals have there roots in the worship of false Gods. The witnesses take very seriously the principle of the First commandment. You must not have any other Gods against my face.Exodus 20:3. The origin of Christmas is connected to worship of the sun. Easter has its roots in the worship of a Goddess of fertility thus the rabbits,chicks,eggs etc. Celebration of birthdays is also a practice started by people who were in opposition to God thus Jesus and his disciples never followed their example. In fact John the Baptiser was beheaded on King Herods Birthday at the request of his step daughter. Halloween was adopted by the Catholic church to supplant the pagan holiday with a Christian observance from the Celts who burned animals and people alive to ward off the wrath of a God named Samhain and it is involved with worship of other False Gods such as Baal as well. It is basically worship and fear of the dead.

Answer 3

Basically Jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate any holidays that have origins that are contrary to what the bible teaches.

So as for halloween..

The Encyclopedia Americana says: “Elements of the customs connected with Halloween can be traced to a Druid ceremony in pre-Christian times. The Celts had festivals for two major gods—a sun god and a god of the dead (called Samhain), whose festival was held on November 1, the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The festival of the dead was gradually incorporated into Christian ritual.”

Such holidays honoring “spirits of the dead” as if they were alive in another realm are contrary to the Bible’s description of death as a state of complete unconsciousness.—Eccl. 9:5, 10; Ps. 146:4.

So that is why they do not celebrate halloween.

Also although christmas is a 'christian' celebration, it is actually a roman festival rebranded as christian, all the usual things associated with it are pagan in origin - santa, trees, tinsel, etc etc - the date is incorrect, jesus was born around october. December 25th is the date of the original pagan celebration.

Birthdays also are pagan in origin, The keeping of birthday records was important in ancient times principally because a birth date was essential for the casting of a horoscope.” This direct connection with astrology is a cause of great concern to any who avoid astrology because of what the Bible says about it.—Isaiah 47:13-15.

And The World Book Encyclopedia says: “The early Christians did not celebrate His [Christ’s] birth because they considered the celebration of anyone’s birth to be a pagan custom.”

It is important that we make sure that we do not celebrate holidays that are pagan in origin, because although they may not have the same significance as they once did for most people, god has seen where they began and does not approve of them.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Why would any true christian want to have anything to do with a pagan holiday that advertises witches and devils and every immaginable thing of darkness, just for some candy that may have glass, poison, or needles in it , or germs. It is better just ot go buy your candy if you want it . Would Jehovah be pleased with you doing rituals that are not christian? I don't think so . Imagine Jesus going trick or treating.
Was Christmas really Jesus birthday? How would they know exactly when it was, with a change of calendar. And would they be travelling to do taxes in the cold of winter?

Answer 5

Christmas and Easter: Jesus was not born on December 25. He was born about October 1, a time of year when shepherds kept their flocks out-of-doors at night. (Luke 2:8-12) Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to memorialize, or remember, his death. (Luke 22:19, 20) Christmas and its customs come from ancient false religions. The same is true of Easter customs, such as the use of eggs and rabbits. The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas or Easter, nor do true Christians today.


Birthdays: The only two birthday celebrations spoken of in the Bible were held by persons who did not worship Jehovah. (Genesis 40:20-22; Mark 6:21, 22, 24-27) The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. The custom of celebrating birthdays comes from ancient false religions. True Christians give gifts and have good times together at other times during the year.

Halloween,Fear of the Dead: The dead cannot do anything or feel anything. We cannot help them, and they cannot hurt us. (Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) The soul dies; it does not live on after death. (Ezekiel 18:4) But sometimes wicked angels, called demons, pretend to be the spirits of the dead. Any customs that have to do with fear of or worship of the dead are wrong.—Isaiah 8:19.

They say~~It may be very hard to abandon some of these beliefs and customs. Relatives and friends may try to convince you not to change your beliefs. But pleasing God is more important than pleasing men.—Proverbs 29:25; Matthew 10:36, 37.

I DONT BELIEVE IN JEHOVAH"S WITNESSES!!!

Answer 6

Many Christians reject Halloween celebrations, since these tend to glorify Satan and the occult. Frankly, Halloween traditions seem to be the opposite of godliness and Christianity.

Holidays such as Halloween derive from false religion, and so are incompatible with pure worship, since they work to adulterate true religion. For example, Easter derives from the pagan god Oestre and celebrates "rebirth" and "fertility" instead of commemorating Christ's Last Supper and death as Jesus commanded:

(Luke 22:1-22) [Jesus] dispatched Peter and John, saying: “Go and get the passover ready for us to eat.” ...14 At length when the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them: “I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it becomes fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”

Since such celebrations are not required in true worship, and can easily become a distraction, so Jehovah's Witnesses focus their attention elsewhere. In particular, they are focussed on the preaching work which *IS* a requirement for Christians:

(Luke 10:1-17) [Jesus] the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/w/2005/1/1a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/w/2000/12/15/article_01.htm

Answer 7

They don't celebrate Halloween because it's considered demonic.
Christmas- They don't believe that baby Jesus was born in December
Birthdays - It's considered to be like any other day, you're just 1 year older

Answer 8

Halloween is probably for the same reason that Christians dont celebrate it. It is a pagan holiday.

Answer 9

my friend is a Jehova's Witness and he explained to me that Christmas, for them, is not accurate. December 25 was not the precise birth of Christ. as for all other occassions, they don't celebrate it because they don't feel the need to participate in such celebrations, and that includes Halloween. they do celebrate Holy Week though.

but just to clarify any misunderstandings with their religion... they're still considered Christians. they're not Catholic or Protestants though, and they also have their own Bible, perhaps constructed from a differently analyzed set of scriptures. we must remember that our own Bible underwent hundreds of thousands of revisions due to translation problems and lost scripts.

Answer 10

"justIQQkin" is on the right track.

In a nutshell, all of the holidays mentioned are from pagan origins.
Study of their historical origins would answer your question completely and give you some "smart".

I learned all this while studying within a fundamentalist church years ago.

Easter, (the day) is of pagan origin also, not just the eggs and rabbits etc. We should observe Christ's death, (Passover) and not his Resurrection, (actually on Saturday night, not Sunday a.m.)

One other day, of pagan origin, is Sunday, so designated by Constantine during the Council of Nicea, 325 AD, (in order to amalgamate the Christians into the extant Roman church).

Most "Christians" have been observing it ever since, not having the sense, (pardon the pun), to learn its true origin, historically.

(Any ranting, raving, etc is totally acceptable by those of you who care to; the truth is unwavering).