Christians and Halloween

With the annual celebration of Halloween just around the corner it is important, as Christians, to respond in a balanced way. Too often the public Christian response to things like The Da Vinci Code, The Golden Compass, or Halloween is imbalanced and reactionary.

The balanced view of anything that is not explicitly listed as a sin in God's word should be a redeeming view. When I say, "redeeming view," what I mean is to assume an attitude of undaunted hope in Christ's ability to redeem not just people but the culture. An example of the church having a redeeming view is when thoughtful books and discussions were had in response to The Da Vinci Code. Rather than overreact and respond in fear, some Christians responded in hope knowing that Christ could use the popularity of Dan Brown's book to edify his body and make his name known. Having this attitude shows the gospel in a practical way. The church looks at something that is not giving God glory and redeems it so that it can. This is what the gospel does to sinners. It comes at someone who is not giving God glory and redeems them so they can.