Halloween As A Christian

Last year I wrote an entry where I defended Halloween from a Christian perspective.  It was the first time I really sat down and made my thoughts coherent and even did a little research on the origins of certain holidays.  Recently I went back and re-read that post, and I have to say that I agree with myself even more.

If you know me or read through this blog, you'll know that I am a conservative, born-again Christian who believes in the truth and infallibility of the Bible.  I believe that faith in Christ is the only way to get to Heaven and the Bible outlines this path.  I have very mainstream Christian beliefs, even if I am quite a geek.

My involvement in the ministry of Fans For Christ has shown me that God loves people that the average Christian would probably turn away from.  In merging and balancing my love for Jesus with my interest in comic books, sci-fi, movies and so on I have learned that God's love envelops more people than most Christians probably realize.  Christianity is not a single outlook and can include many different "types", even while not straying one word from the Bible.

And that brings us to Halloween.  

I think that many Christians are unintentionally ignorant.  Someone tells them that Harry Potter uses real Wiccan magic and they then condemn the books as being anti-Christian without ever looking into it themselves.  Someone tells them that Halloween originated as a Satan-worshiping celebration and they take it as the truth, never checking out to learn that it was actually the opposite.  There is often a lack of real discernment amongst mainstream Christians.

So as a Christian I do celebrate Halloween.  My kids trick-or-treat, and we have pumpkins and decorations around our house.  Our concession to other Christians is that we avoid decorations that might seem "evil" or demonic, even though we personally see the separation between fun and what God tells us to avoid.  

I don't think it's wrong for a Christian to have fun with Halloween.  After all, in modern times that's all it's supposed to be....fun.