Absolutely not! I feel like we do have to let our kids be kids and have a good time, but there is nothing about Halloween that a Christian child should have a part in. It's just a bad idea from a spiritual/moral view and even from a safety view.

Also, a lot of churches are providing safe and Godly alternatives. (Raleigh First Assembly for example is have a Fall Festival this Saturday).

We chose not to have our children participate in Halloween nor to have Santa Clause be part of their lives at Christmas. If we were to do it all over again, I would change nothing about Christmas. We have a real battle to make sure our children know what Christmas is supposed to be about, and that gets harder every year. But I would change our prohibition on Halloween and allow them to dress up and go trick or treating. We bought all the hype about Satanic activity at Halloween. No doubt it is out there, but I think we can pretty easily protect our children from that, while still allowing them to have fun dressing up and going around so the neighbors can tell them how cute they are and bless them with some candy. We missed a chance to have some good fun, make some memories, as well as another chance to interact positively with the neighors.

Our feeling on this matter is that you must know your child.
Some children will be very influenced by the worldly witches and such while some will just have fun dressing up and eating candy. Our children love to decorate and dress up for Halloween at home. They hand out candy and love the other children. They do not become demon possessed by enjoying Halloween. They are able to judge between fun and evil in this as well as all other aspects of secular life. If they cannot judge, then the parents should decide what for them to participate in.

What do y'all think about encouragement by a church to dress up for their fall festival? Does this cross the line too much into the worldly halloween with wearing costumes, or is it harmless since hopefully everyone will use discretion in the costumes?

Of course parents should allow their kids to participate in Halloween. The fact that this is even up for debate makes Christians look ridiculous. Celebrating Halloween is fun and games for kids and not a celebration of Satan as many misguided Christian believe.

Moreover, there are so many issues that [we] Christians actually ought to be focusing our attention on. Our culture is literally losing its moral compass, and most Christians just sit around and complaining about it rather than actually taking real action (e.g., getting politically involved). The other side is winning the war for the hearts and minds of our children and trivial matters like Halloween and Harry Potter occupy our time and energy!!

Focusing on Halloween demonstrates and true lack of depth, and what I believe to be an outmoded superstitious tendency that remains in the Christian community. Again, I urge the Christian community to focus on greater threats and allow your children to have some fun.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

I just don't think Halloween falls into the category of things we should teach our children to focus their minds on.

I do not let my kids do any of the halloween stuff like trunk or treat. I think Christian's as usual try to imitate the world with all of these different parties but all they are doing is opening the door to thier kids to Evil.

I think that parents should be smart and use some rules(don't let children go up to houses by themselves, only go to neighbors' houses that you trust and know well, etc), but I think not allowing any sort of participation is a little extreme. My friends and I used to love dressing up and getting together! My parents always took me and my siblings to our church's "Fall Festival" which was full of fun games and activites you could do to win prizes or candy or just have fun(and usually with some sort of Biblical theme). To me, it was just like going to a birthday party and spending time with your family, nothing more. Also, it was fun to go stop by a friend/neighbor/family member's house so they could see you all dressed up. It's a day in one's childhood that, if the parents handle it correctly, can remain innocent and sweet.

Halloween is an open invitation to the Occult and Demon worship!
It is the celebration of a pagan festival and a multi-million dollar industry for merchants selling candy, costumes and cards.
It has to be difficult for children of Christians but the celebration of a pagan holiday leaves the door to the occult wide open. 1 Cor 10:20 and Ps. 106:3. We are to avoid the occultic practices of Halloween.
Unfortunately, I grew up "trick or treating" and believing it was something exciting. After becoming a Christian, I realized the TRUIH.

Our church and many others celebrate a Fall Festival with appropriate costumes. There is plenty of candy and fun. Plus a special message for the children, Worship God, shun the Devil. Have fun at the Fall Festival!!!!!!

The local churches are providing an excellent alternate. Kids love playing "dress up" and some adults love it too. This creates a great outlet for that and lets the kids get the candy that they crave. Last night Bay Leaf Baptist had one like that and every room had a different game or entertainment that was related to a Bible Story. Great idea.

We do have to be careful to avoid the evil of the day. This evil is around every day, but is ramped up during this time. I hate all the spooky, evil TV shows that surface during this time. I also never took my kids to "trick or treat" even though I did that as a child. I remember one house that was scary to go to and they freaked all the kids out. I don't think it is good to do that.

I think that whatever you're going to decide should be because that's what you decide...either celebrate or don't, but don't celebrate and just put a sweet label on it, like 'fall festival'... we're still celebrating on that holiday. Isn't that how Christmas and Easter became 'christian' holidays? Weren't they originally pagan holidays, and to compromise, we decided to celebrate with a different 'reason' to our celebration? We all know that Jesus' Birthday was not December 25th, right? I think that a true believer would not have a desire to dress their child up as a demon or a witch or something that we consider to be demonic...but if they want to celebrate life in the way of dressing up and going from door to door to collect candy...? I don't see a problem with that...or if they want to go to a fall festival... but let's not fool ourselves and think that just because we are going to a fall festival instead of trick or treating, then that saves us from the damnation associated with celebrating halloween. My belief is that whatever you choose, choose based on your own convictions and not because of what someone else tells you is right. (Unless they can back it up with scripture our of The Holy Bible)

Occult & demon worship, really?

Life is better without paranoia - trust me.

I put all the scary stuff up at my house, it's all in fun and has no association with the occult whatsoever. Kids have fun, I have fun, enjoy seeing their costumes, and I be sure to get candy they will enjoy. The little ones enjoy the sweet tarts and junky candy while older ones like the chocolates.

That's what it's about. A community having fun for an evening, kids having fun, people sharing a little fun. The bats, witches, and ghosts are just silly play things, no occult meaning whatsoever. They are not taken seriously.

Do you really think people like me go into a dark room and worship the occult?

I'm sure there are a few rare exceptions (mental disorders) but you are really paranoid.