What the fuck? Fundies fucking up Halloween (again)

The BBQ Pit
21

I have never seen a church charge admission to one of these things. And what do you really thing you’re gonna see when you go to a thing like this at First Baptist Church, anyway? You’d have to be pretty dumb to expect a regular, run-of-the-mill haunted house at a church. Besides, the reality of Hell is much more scarier than what regular haunted houses come up with.

My church does this every year and it’s quite popular. This year, so far, we’ve had 4,000 people go through it. It was supposed to end last night but they’re having to do it 2 extra nights because so many people have been turned away this past week and still want to go through it (it runs from 7pm to about 1 or 2 in the morning). It’s no secret in this area what it consists of so it’s not like people are showing and going “What? They talk about the devil? I had no idea!!” I’ve actually never been so I hope to get in tomorrow night to see what all the fuss is about.

As far as manipulating people goes, you can’t make people do anything they don’t want to do. As someone mentioned before, some people “repent” and then 2 weeks later are back to their old life: guess what? Those who do that didn’t “repent” to begin with.

Avalonian, my friend felt the same way you did about this, however someone pointed out to him that he really had no right to judge unless he went through one himself. So he did. I suggest you do it sometime. My friend’s opinion didn’t change, and probably yours won’t either, but at least you’ll know firsthand what you’re talking about, right? And lest you’re worried about going in there and getting saved, if you go in there bent on not finding Jesus, trust me: you won’t. Think of it as a research project :slight_smile:

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I seriously thought this was going to be a thread about fundies, the underwear for two. I could see people wearing them for halloween. :smack:

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Yes, but how would those ruin Halloween. I think those would actually enhance it… :wink:

SnoopyFan, I hear what you’re saying, and I agree with you in part. I can’t really fully know what I’m talking about until I go through one myself, and if I ever find one, I may just do so. I actually enjoy haunted houses, what I object to is the agenda behind these Hell Houses. People jumping out to scare you and lots of gore… fun stuff. Aborted fetuses in jars, homosexuals (specifically and deliberately) burning in Hell, and an attempt to “save” the sinners at the end… not so much. Rather offensive, really.

On the flipside of what you’re saying, SnoopyFan, is that your Hell House obviously isn’t representative of all of them. You can’t judge them all based on what you do in yours… you say yours doesn’t charge admission, for example. According to the link in the OP, some do, and MidnightRadio also described one that does. You say yours makes it clear what’s inside. According to the link, some deliberately deceive their patrons into going in (I’m guessing that not all of them are held at a church). Does your Hell House show gay people being tortured in Hell, late-term abortions, or other such lovelies? The point is, whatever yours does or doesn’t do, it’s as unfair to judge all Hell Houses based on only your own.

And as for “the reality of Hell”… well, if it existed, I seriously doubt a “Hell House” would be an accurate representation of it. I don’t know how anyone can claim to know what the reality of Hell would be, even if it was real. I’ll just leave it at that.

I don’t object to scares in the name of fun. Heck, my first “date” with my wife was when we went to a haunted house with a bunch of friends. I love haunted houses. What I object to is the preaching of hatred and intolerance through such means, particularly when it is done deceptively. I don’t like deception, I don’t like propaganda, and I really don’t like pushing hatred in the name of “religion.” Hell Houses seems to wrap all of the above up into an ugly little package.

Then again, I suppose that’s just why I disagree with fundamentalist Christians in general… this is just a microcosm of a particular egregiousness, and it got to me last night.

And yeah, gobear rocks. :slight_smile:

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I love gobear’s idea.

I’d love to go to a Hell House too, just so afterward I could say to my friends “I’m off to that gay orgy, but I’ll meet for the Satanic sacrifice after you have that abortion. I’m bringing the heroin, but remember, it’s your turn to bring napkins.”

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Just an observation, and things might have changed drastically since I was a fundamentalist, but back in the late 70s, I attended a regular ol’ spooky haunted house at a Baptist church here in Texas. Now, I understand how long that’s been, but man, could they pack a wallop! They had one segment from “It’s Alive!”, lots of gore and ghoulies, and even a live huge snake of some sort.

So, although I realize Hell Houses creeped up some time shortly after that (or at least that’s when I first started noticing them) and that’s been my only experience with the above mentioned anomaly, I simply wanted to point out that it could happen and people don’t necessarily expect to have their soul preached to or redeemed if they attend one at a church. YMMV and all that.

Oh, and Fionn, YOU rock! For that party, I’d so love to attend. Making sure, of course, that I definitely brought along the cups, some animal porn and the Necromonicon. You just never know what you’ll need to be a good guest. :wink:

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Should human flesh be served with red or white wine?

Ooooh, I’m goin’ to Hell for that one…

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Dunno-is human flesh red or white meat?

I think it’d be easier just to serve red wine with everything. It would just be tacky to offer up chardonnay to Lord Satan.

Don’t forget the candy, hopefool. What’s Halloween without mini Snickers?

28

Well, it probably depands on the cut you’re serving. For instance, unless Hannibal Lecter is a big phony-baloney poseur, liver should go well with a nice chianti.

Keeping in mind that human flesh has been alleged to have been called “long pig” by some alleged cannibal cultures, I would imagine that a roast loin might be suitably accompanied by, say, a chenin blanc, or if you’re too tradition-bound to actually serve a white wine with anything that is neither fish nor fowl, a blush such as white zinfandel.

I’m inclined to just go with beer, myself.

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Just FTR, ours is called Judgment House. I think it’s kinda silly to call something like this Hell House … I mean, isn’t the point to try to talk people into choosing to go to heaven?

Anyhow, let’s see.

No aborted baby jars or late term abortions. No gays burning in hell specifically, the people in the hell room, AFAIK, are sinners of all varieties, I suppose. From what I understand, there’s some kind of play that’s going on and you end up going to both heaven and hell in the middle of it. From what I’m told, the hell room is pretty darn scary; they don’t sugarcoat it. (Nobody under 10 is even allowed to go to this thing.) As I’ve never been, I have no idea what they do for the heaven room and while I’m sure they do a good job, it’s nothing compared to the real thing. Same with the hell room too, I guess. I think the idea is to offer just a peek of what eternity can hold. Don’t think that this is a wussed-out version, it’s apparently very powerful, but maybe they don’t go as far as some other churches do. I don’t see the point in singling out just one group of sinners to go to hell, and what does a bunch of bloody babies in jars have to do with the plan of salvation?

Trying to save the sinners at the end? Yes, absolutely. So far we’ve had 500 people make decisions this week. I think some come in, and before they even come in God is already dealing with their hearts … and then some, like my friend, go in just to see what’s going on and walk out unchanged. (He wanted to tell those in charge “I didn’t get saved. Can I have a refund?”)

30

I thought my memory was playing tricks on me too, cuz I remember going to our baptist church in the (then) rural outskirts of Seattle in the early 70s. Hadda vampire at the end made me pee my pants…I was 4…and a fortune teller as well who correctly advised I would be getting a red toy truck for my birthday 8 months away!

Funny what becomes unholy in such a short time. Maybe the Christians are becoming uneasy about their loosening grip on society and are now grabbing at straws?

That was wrong. Shouldn’t have posted it. But I still wonder.

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Maybe the Christians are becoming uneasy about their loosening grip on society and are now grabbing at straws?

Oh yes. That must be it.

We’re worried we’re losing control so we’re gonna take over the world by changing the tradition that is the haunted house! That oughta bring the sinners in!

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Well, from what you were bragging about, it did save people, Snoopyfan.

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It’s all part of our plan for world domination, KFL …

BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

34

I live in a small town in rural Oregon. When I moved here from Phoenix Arizona, I came across a flyer for a rock concert playing here in town. I was frankly surprised, but was bored and decided to go.

Well it turns out we have a fundy church here in this town, and they regularly redeco their church into a sort of nightclub and do a bait and switch on anyone they can.

I showed up, and once I realized what was really going on, it took me 30 minutes to cover the 50 feet to the doors. I was slowed alot by the churchies who were stationed so as to keep us unbelivers from our legal escape.

So if anyone happens to pass through Roseburg Oregon, and you come across a flyer for a place called “City Lights” DO NOT GO!

35

If your church’s scare fest is called “Judgement House,” then your church probably bought a kit from New Creation Evangelism, Inc..

Ask whomever is in charge of your financials, and they’ll probably tell you that the church paid about $325.00 for one year.

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As an addendum, “Hell House” is also a kit, and can be purchased (as of article’s date) for 200 clams.

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Predesigned Hell-House kits for sale… wow.

Like my brother said, we’ll never get rich because we’ll never get over how silly the really good business ideas sound at first…

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I looked at the link, Skip, and it must be a coincidence they’re named the same thing. From what I’m told the skit my church does is about some kinda woman who lost her husband in a war or something.

And Rizree, that’s just wrong to do that to someone. Nobody should be tricked into going to something like that. What would be the point? Maybe the intentions are good, but as soon as someone finds out they were lied to, they’re gonna be so ticked off that you’ve killed ANY chance they might actually listen to what you have to say.

39

Call me crazy, but I just don’t get how fundie’s can think it’s a good thing to scare people into joining their religion.

Who wants to be a part of a religion that’s based on fear? And why the hell would I want to worship a god who would send me to a place like that if I wasn’t towing the line well enough? Or didn’t worship him? What kind of “father” would send his “child” to a place like that under any circumstance?

If someone gets “saved” just because they don’t want to go to hell, then that’s not much of a “save” IMHO. Tricking (in the case of those houses that aren’t upfront about what they are) and bullying (those houses that depend of scaring the bejeezus out of someone with their “hell” room) someone into choosing Christianity is wrong on so many levels, I can’t even fathom how some people can defend them with a straight face.

40

My thoughts exactly, and it’s a big part of the reason I posted this in the first place.

Of course, for some Christians (a vocal minority, I would say), fear is a big part of their faith. Fear of what might happen after they die, fear of a vengeful Gawd, et cetera. For these few, fear is why they believe in the first place, so scaring others into believing, even through dishonesty and extreme tactics, is par for the course.

Also, there are those who believe that any “save” is a good save, no matter the method. The end justifies the means, and all that… an idea with which I disagree strongly, by the way.