I pulled the following comment from a blog I follow called Just Another Pretty Farce in which the blog owner posed a question about giving out Bibles for Halloween. Here's a comment she received:

Hi there…

I found your blog by googling “bibles for halloween”…I was just interested in knowing if anyone else ever gives them out.

I gave my life to the Lord 8 years ago, and one of the first questions that I dealt with was what to do on halloween night. I didn’t have children, and so I thought I’d just turn out the lights and go somewhere.

Well, God pierced my heart and led my husband and I to give out Bibles for halloween. We gave really nice ones, that were kid focused, and related to their different ages.

I expected the children to be bummed out that I didn’t have a candy bar for them…yet, we were both AMAZED at the overwhelming responses from the kids! One of the children who came lived in a million dollar home, and as he walked away from our door, he kept saying, “DAD! Look! They gave me MY VERY OWN BIBLE!”

We did it again the next year when we lived in another part of town, and that year children were knocking on our door saying, “Is THIS where I can get a Bible?!”.

That same year, a mother came to our door and asked me to step outside. She pointed to a huge group of kids standing in the middle of the street on halloween night, reading their new Bibles.

I disagree with the above poster. I don’t believe that our lives as followers of Christ are to be separated into “church at church” and all else as we please.

I have been humbled by what God has done through giving His Word to those who don’t have it.

We’ve seen 2 children come to Christ as a result, and won’t know until we get to Heaven one day what God did in the hearts of all of the others.

The Bibles we’ve given were the Adventure Bibles, and the Teen Study Bible.

Oh, yes…one year a teenage boy about 17 came by to ask for a Bible for his little brother. While he was at the door I asked him if he had a Bible of his own, and he said “no”. I then asked him if he’d like one, and he said, “oh, yes!”.

So, we took down his name and number, because we had run out of the Teen Study Bible and ended up getting him a nice Quest Study Bible in leather with his name on it.

When we dropped it off to his LARGE and BEAUTIFUL home, the young man had huge tears in his eyes. He said, “I can’t believe you did this for me.”

I responded, “It pales in comparison to what God did for my by sending Jesus to pay my sin debt. This isn’t from us, it’s from Him, and He wants you to know how very much He loves you.”

I say give them out. Pray hard and long and strong for each little soul that will come to your door.

You’ll be amazed by how thankful the children will be. The ones that have been MOST excited about them each time we have given them out, have been the pre-teen and teenage kids.

I can see how your posters above would think as they do, because I thought the same way…but was totally and completely surprised by the gratitude each time, and we’ve done it now 3 times.

Expect God to surprise you in a big way, because He promises that His Word will not return void.

If you want to share what happened, should you decide to give them out, please feel free to visit my blog and leave a comment…I’ll then send you my e-mail address.

Have a super day!
Jes

I thought that was extremely interesting but it falls right on the heels of my spending yesterday morning on the campus of Ohio State University along with about 100 other Gideons distributing Bibles.

This is the second year I have taken part in the OSU Bible distribution. Truth be told, it's the only thing I have ever done as a Gideon.

Both years, I have walked away amazed by the courtesy and friendliness of the students we encounter on campus. I would say that, overall, you give a Bible to about one out of every three students you approach. I was working at a bus stop yesterday with another Gideon and, together, we gave out about 260 Bibles in maybe four and a half hours. That would mean we talked to maybe about 800 students.

About another third of the students reply that they already have a Bible at home, or they have already gotten one from another Gideon that morning. Only about a third refuse the Bible without giving much reason.

I had probably a half dozen or so folks tell me they are of other faiths or atheists. Obviously, I am troubled by those encounters but I am also pleased that, at the very least, they are thinking about their spiritual side and trying to come to some decision.

I had one young man initially refuse the Bible but then go ahead and take one on second thought before running over to the trash can and tossing it in. This was at a busy moment at the bus stop. Other students were overheard to show shock at the "rudeness" (their word) of this young man's actions. Partly because of my surprise and lack and preparedness for this and partly because of things being so hectic at the moment, I had nothing to say in order to engage him in conversation.

A half hour later, I had all kinds of ideas for things I could have said ... I will be better prepared next year. I feel like I missed a real opportunity this year with him. I wish I would have said something like "I sense maybe you've had a bad experience with the church, is that true?" and seen where things went.

Next year I hope to be better prepared.

Yes, I expect to take part in the distribution next year. I hope the weather is warmer but, really, yesterday wasn't too bad.

Of the third of the students we approached who went ahead and accepted a Bible -- many of them seemed very appreciative. Some seemed to be taking it the way you give a few cents and accept a poppy in front of the post office -- so that no one will bother you again. A few could be seen reading their Bibles, leaving me again to wish that we were distributing something a little easier to read than NKJV.

Handing out Bibles is certainly not to my mind the best way to reach people but you can reach large numbers in a short period of time and I suspect that a few lives will be touched in ways that will bring them life eternal with Jesus ... and other lives were touched in ways of inspiration and encouragement for existing faith journeys. I do not know a final number yet but probably about 12,000 Bibles were given away at OSU yesterday.