Osler's Razor

Halloween is neither satanic nor scary in our culture, anymore than Christmas is very Christian. My experience is mostly opening the door to find some adorable little moppet dressed as a princess looking up at me.

But... perhaps there is some loss in that? Our lives are so sanitized that some real, messy fear might be worthwhile now and then. What would a real Haunted House be like? What would the scary elements be? Probably, if it was really about our worst memories or fears, it would be too terrifying: The death of an innocent child. The room of the elderly alcoholic. The chamber of divorce.

Halloween; that's not scary.

Interestingly, Christ dealt directly and unashamedly with the scariest fears of his time-- leprosy, death, being scorned by society, crucifixion. It might be that a truly scary Halloween would be the most Christian of all, the bringing up of fears to confront hard truths through faith.