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What's with all the giant skeletons these days? 

You can tell Halloween is right around the corner with all the skeletons in people's yards. 

The variety seems endless with your classic white bone, fluorescent green bone, and blow-up doll skeletons. There are skeletons of chickens, cats, dogs, and even mini unicorns (maybe that is what happened to all the unicorns; they died, went extinct, and now are in people's yards!). There must also have been a race of giants that went extinct. Have you noticed all the giant skeletons recently?

All kidding aside, people seem to love their skeletons these days. In fact, many people leave them up year-round, and when a new holiday rolls around, like Christmas, they just put a Santa hat on their skeleton! They are called “Skellys,” and were introduced by Home Depot in July, 2020. During the pandemic, people needed a distraction. Plus, with close contact banned, it was necessary to have big decorations that could be seen at a distance (You can read more about this fad here). Over the last 5 years, the Skelly craze has only gained fervor!

I'd like to ask all these people why they are so fascinated with skeletons? Perhaps they are just excited about Halloween with the costumes, parties, haunted houses, and candy. Perhaps they just found a good deal online for cheap skeleton decorations? Either way, the truth is that skeletons represent death. I wonder if these people with skeletons in their yards actually spend time contemplating the significance of death? Do they ever wonder what happens to a person after they die?

The Bible says that when those of us who believe and trust in Jesus die, we immediately go to be with Jesus in paradise - Heaven (Luke 23:43). God’s Word is also clear that when those who have rejected Jesus die, they immediately go to a place of torment, anguish, and flame – Hell (Luke 16:23-24). Ultimately, those who reject Jesus will spend eternity in “the lake of fire and sulfur… [being punished with the devil and his demons] …where… they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Luke 20:10).

I don’t think most people contemplate the gravity of this situation. What is in story for everyone is either  paradise or eternal punishment. Imagine being burned alive, but you are unable to die or get any relief, forever! And I don’t think people really get the concept of “forever and ever.” Erwin Lutzer who wrote the book “One Minute After You Die,” gives this word picture: Take a tape measure and run it from earth to beyond the farthest star in the Cosmos; that represents eternity. A hair’s width line drawn on that tape measure then represents our lifetime on this Earth.

Our life is brief and eternity is incomprehensibly long, yet too many people don’t think at all about what happens after death, they are more concerned about the costume they will wear or the candy they will get Halloween night.

Choosing to ignore eternity is especially dangerous because our eternal destination comes down to a choice we make in this life, and our default destination (if you just choose to ignore that decision) is Hell!

Here is the decision. We find it in John 3:16-18:

For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life…  …Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

The decision is to believe, to trust, to put your full hope in Jesus. Believing the truth that though Jesus is and always was God, he came to earth as a man, and physically died on the cross to pay for your sins, to take your punishment. Believing in this truth means you admit that you are a sinner and ask for God’s forgiveness.

Sin is missing the mark of God’s standard of perfection. It is disobeying God and the authorities He has put in our lives. Sin is in the many ways we all have rebelled against God. We all have sinned (Romans 3:23 & 6:23) and that is why John 3:18 says we are “condemned already.” That is why Hell is our default destination. People think that they can get to heaven by doing good things but, this is not true! We can never be good enough; only Jesus was "good enough” or as the Bible says “Righteous.” That is why He had to die in our place.

So, I am glad that there are skeletons in people’s yards; maybe that will get them thinking about death and eternity. Maybe it will give those of us who know Jesus the opportunity to talk about death, eternity, and Jesus with our neighbors this Halloween.