Children going around with their friends and/or families to their neighbors homes all on the same night, laughing and having a good time while households share treats and goodies, smiles, and kind words with those that come to their doors?  Shame on them.

How should the church respond to the one time of the year when nearly every neighbor family comes out of their homes to interact with their neighbors? Separate itself of course. Don’t interact with your neighbors and certainly don’t participate in the community activity. Turn off the lights, take your family to church, and be suspicious of any neighbors that enjoy decorating for and celebrating Halloween.

There was a period of my life when I responded to Halloween in similar ways. This is unhealthy behavior for Christians. We should be making the most of this opportunity to connect with our neighbors. This does not mean that we need to adopt the beliefs of our culture, or participate in satanic rituals. Frankly, I think one of the worst things that happens on Halloween is the acceptance and perpetration of consuming large amounts of sugar. But most Christians don’t care about that, and if they do, it too can be handled in an appropriate way to achieve moderation. Maybe we could display Christ-like character during this Halloween by being hospitable to our neighbors, not just handing out candy, but inviting our neighbors to join us for chili (or some other good Fall food) after they take their kids trick-or-treating.

What ideas can you come up with to display Christ to our neighbors?

Tags: Christian Living, christian response, halloween

“…in recent decades many Christians have responded to the moral and social decline in American society by embracing political activism.  Believers are running for office in growing numbers; churches are organizing voter registration; public policy groups are proliverating; scores of Christian publications and radio programs offer commentary on public affairs.  This heightened activism has yielded good results in many areas of public life, yet the impact remains far less than most had hoped.  Why?  Because evangelicals often put all their eggs in one basket: They leaped into political activism as the quickest, surest way to make a difference in the public arena–failing to realize that politics tends to reflect culture, not the other way around.” Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth. 18 (Emphasis mine.)

Tags: change, christian response, culture, Politics