I think I may actually offend every single church going person I know with this post. I’m not sorry. Just so we’re clear, you know – in advance.

So started a blog on Halloween by TroubleFace Mom last year.

And I agree to an extent. To a degree because Halloween is celebrated differently in the UK to the other side of the Atlantic. Here it is not such a family affair, children do not go house to house accompanied by their parents. instead those children who do trick or treat, some as young as eleven, go door to door without supervision. Costumes are different too, with more of the macabre, and very few innocent costumes such as Spiderman.

But differences apart. there is a lot I agree with on Troubleface Mom’s blog.

I agree that there are Christians who behave as if God is in control 364 days of the year, that on October 31 he has a day of and evil forces are stronger than God that evening. How can that be so? If God is in control it has to be 24/7/365. From eternity to eternity.

But is Halloween a pagan festival anyway?

A pagan, speaking on the radio a year or two ago said that what goes on that night has nothing to do with paganism. They light bonfires and have a hog roast. But no dressing up. That, he said, is a Christian thing.

It’s not the only thing that’s Christian about Halloween. The name is a contraction of All Hallows Eve, the dy before All Saints’ Day. There are some who believe that the dressing up is not originally is not the celebration of evil but rather a way of showing what the Ghostbusters would call “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts. Jack-‘0-lanterns are to scare off evil spirits.

So if Halloween has Christian origins, why don;’t we at least join in?