For Christian parents: If you don't celebrate Halloween (what to do instead in tending to children)

Many parents in the United States are Christians. Some of us take special opposition to certain holidays which have no Christian basis whatsoever. Spanking is an idolatrous ritual of Greco-Roman mythology, and Halloween is also a pagan ritual I eschew. Quite a few of us Christian conservative folks don't like Halloween. Religious tolerance, however, is a Christian tenet, an American value, and a value of my home state of Pennsylvania.

So you don't want your child trick-or-treating? There is no fool-proof way except to model your values to them as a good Christian example, by not partaking yourself, and maybe finding ways to complain about the pagan holiday except when children are around. Punishment for trick-or-treating anyway is a form of religious entitlement leading to abuse, meaning punishing a child for making their own religious choices is religious entitlement.

Religious entitlement is denoted in the New Testament by the Greek root word πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and refers to wanting children to oppose Halloween like parents do, to the point of seeking to impose said want onto a child, leading to offense perceived, which is child abuse. If a child sees no problem with Halloween in my household, they become a prodigal son (or daughter), meaning I allow them to schism from my theology, and even defend their religious rights, even while opposing them on a religious issue. I'd just hope and pray that they come back home, saying nothing to them, and everything away from them or maybe in earshot. But, only in earshot if you want debate, in which a child can choose their own religious path, as we are a free society...It is okay to want your child to hold your values, but if you force your values on them, that is a form of entitlement, and abuse when the child perceives offense based on your coercive teaching.

However, most children who aren't punished end up taking up the theology and convictions of their parents. Many of us in the fundamentalist community don't believe in spanking or punishing children, and children in attached fundamentalist homes tend to stick to their parents beliefs even more, and see parents as their first religious teachers, usually looking up to parents for all the answers, with parents encouraging children to find the answers for themselves (Eph. 6:4). Trust is denoted in the doctrine of mutual submission between parent and child. It says in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: as this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest and trust in the love and grace of parents, coming from sacrifice for children, in the spirit that Christ sacrificed for children; taking up the cross for children, in the spirit that Christ took up the cross for His children; martyring oneself in everything in parenting, with children resting in the sacrifice of parents, with children showing gratitude and thanksgiving for respectful and loving treatment by way of keeping the religious traditions of parents, including any opposition to idolatrous and pagan holidays. Parenting in the biblical context was attachment based, in a policing way. In homes attached in a policing way, the child sticks by parents on their views and traditions, at least to a large degree, if the parents don't punish. Children feel close enough to parents to possibly bark orders at them like the righteous servants that parents are, and also close enough to lean heavily on, and impress as they get older by shaking them off, and carrying on religious traditions themselves. Blood is thicker than water, and that is especially true in securely attached homes, where children are motivated strongly to please parents amidst the brutal honesty to parents, and the mess of toys all over the floor when they are younger. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stirring up" upset and resentment in children, referencing the Jewish adage of "stirring the pot", with the command being intended by the Apostle Paul, thus by God, as a prohibition of all corporal punishment, or any other punishment and control from parents. Punishing children for observing Halloween is just as bad as observing it, as the Early Christians saw punishing children as a pagan ritual, and was something that was considered kidnapping under Jewish law, with punitive parents in the Old Testament being put to death. Just recommend to your children not to go with the crowd and go trick-or-treating, and if you have a good relationship with your children, this shouldn't be an issue. In a good, attached home, a child sticks with their parents over anyone else, and rebellion isn't about peer pressure, but shaking off the closeness and warmth of parents, saying "I can do this myself, mom and dad", and this can include religious adherence.

What is the solution? Spend time together with your child during the holiday, to distract them from the holiday, meaning plan an activity of some sort that builds a parent-child bond while replacing Halloween with something morally meaningless, such as a fall roadtrip. Tell them the whole reason, when they are older, why not to celebrate Halloween, and if they believe in your beliefs due to exemplary teaching, remind them of their beliefs by clarifying what idolatry meant in biblical times. Loving, gentle parent-child talk, geared towards an older age group, namely pre-teens and teenagers. If they don't believe, they are prodigal sons, and you hope for the best. Same if they come to a Christian theology that allows for Halloween.

It is not Halloween yet, but it is right around the corner. I won't be handing out candy, as I don't want to encourage that in children, but that is because I adhere strictly to God's Law, meaning shun all that is possible that comes from idolatry. For good reason, and that is that spanking and corporal punishment of children are idolatrous adages to our faith. The pagan cultures were horrible to children. The Anglo-Saxons whipped children and raped them, all which was customary, and they were influenced by the Roman legal concept of patrias potestas. The Roman Catholic Church was ultimately responsible to pandering to pagan cultures, which legalized spanking and punishing children in Christendom by way of pandering to traditions of corporal punishment in European pagan cultures. Some of these pandered traditions of the church are harmless, namely Christmas and Easter, but that is because they have Christian significance, but only when Christ is kept in these holidays. Halloween does coincide with a Catholic holiday, meaning All-Hallows Eve, before All Saints Day, but an Anabaptist Christian like me would have no business celebrating a Catholic holiday like that, so ditch Halloween altogether

The depraved and entitled parents who punish children for their religious choices will not inherit the Kingdom of God, being the entitled religious abusers that they are! Let them suffer in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!