Here’s a thought I had on Halloween. Yes, I am calling it Halloween and not Harvest Day. But that’s not really the point. Neither is the candy, but it really comes in a close second. Especially chocolate.
The point is this. There are Christians who are bashing Halloween and the people who celebrate it. How about instead of saying how horrible and wrong and evil Halloween is, we give people a good alternative instead. We show them a better way. A lot of churches are doing this and it really is a great opportunity to love people and point them to the truth.
Christianity in this culture has come to be synonymous with boycotting and condeming and bashing whatever we don’t agree with. We’re known for what we’re against. Here’s a no-brainer. How about showing the world what we’re for? Isn’t that way better than what we’re against?
I mean none of the things we’re against will last, but what we’re for (and that’s Jesus and the Kingdom of God and the love that showed itself on Calvary) is what is everlasting. I haven’t come close to figuring it all out, but I think I’m siding with Jesus on this one. How did he act? He loved people, especially if they were the outcast and downtrodden. He dined with sinners and whores and even those tax-collectors. He didn’t bash them, but loved them and showed them a better way. Actually, He showed them that He is The way.
If we’re going to be extremist and radical, why not show extreme grace and radical love. Not by condoning sin and sinners, but by hating the sin for what it does to people and loving the sinner. After all, love covers over a multitude of sins.
I’m not sure how this works in everyday life, but I do know that you don’t fight hate with hate. You fight hate with love. Hopefully, you can see God turn your enemies into friends and lost people into saved people and sinners into sons and daughters of God. Love does that, not hate.
So go grab some of that candy. While your eating your Mr. Goobar, remember that God told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He told us to expose darkness, but we do that not by cursing the darkness, but being lights in that darkness.
So go out there and shine!
Ragamuffingospelfan's Blog 
Fantastic…I agree with this wholeheartedly. Why make a big deal out of whether or not someone celebrates Halloween as a holiday? When you said Christians are known by what we’re against (not what we’re FOR), you hit the nail square on its round head. That irks me to no end, because it contradicts everything Christianity is supposed to be about…love, not hate…compassion, not condemnation…etc.
We could talk all day about practical ways to celebrate Halloween without taking part in any sort of *gasp* “devil worship.” For example, we Christians could be handing out gospel tracts with candy (or those mini-Bibles for the rich folks who can afford to, but in either case you still have to give the kids some candy), or decorating our yard with a scene of the resurrection of Jesus instead of the fictional resurrection of zombies, or something else crazy we might come up with, but like you said, that’s not the point.
The point is that some Christians have gone nuts about Halloween the same way some Christians have gone nuts about the funerals of our dead service men/women, yet for some reason they don’t see the correlation between the two. It’s not our place to judge one another…in the same way nutcases protest at a funeral for a military member who might have been a Christian who devoted his entire time in the armed forces to spreading the gospel to his fellow service members, other nutcases are bashing Halloween and those who celebrate it, when in fact there are Christians doing everything they can to shine light in the darkness. I say we stop bashing those brave enough to venture into the darkness – and join them.
And yes, I admit to being slightly judgmental toward those judgmental Christian nutcases I mentioned. I guess I should work on that…