Graham Fish, of Kingsbridge Family Church, writes:

Dear editor, I’m writing in response to last week’s letter about Halloween.

Whenever someone quotes the Bible out of context Christians get twitchy. I imagine Church leaders rushing to their laptops composing a reply, and I’m guessing you might get a few.

I don’t want to start an ­argument over the interpretation of scripture, but I think people are misinformed and sometimes confused about what it says. The message of the Bible is that God loves us, is on our side and wants to be part of our lives.

So we have to approach God and his word on his terms. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand it, and with some good teaching aids we can begin to get to grips with this amazing book. Even then we discover there are some ­challenging parts, and Leviticus in the Old Testament is one of them.

If read carefully, Leviticus is about our holy God who wants us to be a holy people living and worshipping in his ­presence enjoying life to the full. Unfortunately, we want to do things our way and therein lies the rub – we have little idea what ‘holy’ means. We need to be honest here and admit fault, because some choose darkness instead of light.

Darkness is described in the New Testament as coming from wanting to get our own way all the time and listed as repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; an accumulation of mental and emotional baggage; joyless grabs for ­happiness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming yet never satisfied wants; a brutal temper; the inability to love and be loved; and divided homes and lives. Sadly it is a long list that includes the occult and witchcraft, but it reveals how we have settled for second best.

Look what happens when we live in the light or when we live God’s way. He brings gifts into our lives in the same way that fruit grows. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. The fruit describe the character of Jesus and the ­character we can have when we choose to live in the light.

I would be happy to chat about any of this over a cup of coffee if the letter writer so wishes. I can be contacted on 01548 852770.