Hell Houses- Where Churches try to Scare People into Believing

a reply to: CB328

As in the days of noe so will it be again. Only eight people believed then. I'm sure when the time comes. The earth will be down to a handful of people again. No reason to worry the worse that can happen to you, is that you'll burn in the lake of fire everlasting. So no need to worry.

I laughed out loud at first reading the link, then realized how sad it is there are people manipulated by this evil stupidity.

Yes, because only "churches scare you into believing" stuff. Them old evil churches! Shame on them! What a maroon! Keep focused on them side shows.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

What does your prostrate have to do with it?

a reply to: CB328

I went to a Christian school....... Ruined my life

Jesus can die again. I will help when he returns to put him on the cross ... I have a hammer

Got nails??

a reply to: zazzafrazzWhen I moved with my young teenagers from my Congregational Church in Minnesota back to my Southern Baptist Church in Georgia, my teenagers called me one evening after dropping them off for a Wednesday night youth fellowship program begging me to pick them up. They said all the kids were screaming and crying and they wanted to leave. They told me of the torture and fear while experiencing "Hell House" and I was shocked. I couldn't believe anyone would do this, especially without telling or asking the parents. That pushed me even further away from Christianity "religion."
Ever since that awful experience, my now adult children are extremely distrustful of churches and the Christian doctrine in general. I have always wanted my children to make their own spiritual choices by providing open mindedness and respect for others' beliefs but this awful experience effected them for years and they do not attend church and are very mistrustful especially of evangelicals.

a reply to: Informer1958

I agree with you in that it is always about money - otherwise how could these (mostly men support themselves without proper jobs£) Freudian typo!

But its also about some men wanting power over others and seeing what is basically the 'easy option'. Religion gives a man a job and unparalleled power because he doesn't have to get himself elected and as we have seen recently can just about get up to anything he wants.

Its about power over others and nosiness to pry into their lives that motivates many of those who pontificate - regardless of what religious bus they ride.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

I understand your valid point...but I see this differently. As a parent, one of my jobs is to educate my children which includes what things to avoid. Drug addiction can kill you...unprotected sex can kill you...having a child out of wedlock can be devastating to both the mother and child...and doing things that are bad/evil/etc. result in bad things happening to you.

I know the church recruits and tries to explain itself often in awkward ways...but I see this as their attempt to warn people about their actions. Much the way a parent warns their children.

We live in a society today that basically preaches "do whatever you want and accept no responsibility". It has really gotten that bad in my opinion. I don't have a problem with saying, or someone else pointing out that your choices in life, your actions, your addictions and society's modern attitude can and will lead you down a path that is more dangerous than other paths. While I don't support nor follow a religious path myself, I can't argue that if you do...you are safer.

If you don't do drugs, get pregnant, have an abortion, engage in unprotected sex, etc...your life will likely be better. I don't and I doubt any sane person would WANT any of these examples for their child, and the church sees everyone as God's children. I see them offering parental style suggestions in what they consider a modern manner.

I don't see this as something bad. While even my children don't often take this advice, I do say "follow in my footsteps and learn from the lessons I've learned" to them. This is just the church saying the same thing for a God that doesn't speak to them.

a reply to: CB328

Why do you care? People have a right to what they believe, and no one is forcing anyone to go through one of these houses. Those that go choose to go, and they also choose what to do with what they see there. You might not agree, 'but personal freedom means they have that right.

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

I don't blame the parents at all, they are only doing what they believe is in the best interest of their children, but I do blame the church because I believe it was instituted with fear mongering and indoctrination in mind.

How is it bad in your eyes? Their methods may seem silly to you but would you rather browse the net in front of them to show them how the evil works in the world? I mean things like beheading vids, mexican cartels' chainsaw quartering, ugly porn etc?
This would leave a holes in them. Many young people have temptations to see bad stuff and it is able to poison their innocent minds. Movies are programming them to accept violence and immoral life without any fear from consequences. If a clever, good theatre can TEACH their minds some good psychological barriers it's a good thing.
You won't show your little child anything poisonous but you will rather read them a fairytale which were always meant to teach the children some good principles.
Well, these kids seem a bit old for this but I haven't been to the show to be able to judge. Hell could be such a fairytale but living without God is hell on it's own and dying without God could mean just death which is enough. BTW many Tibetan lamas and Indian seers described lower worlds as well as higher worlds. Don't be silly to be anti- without a research.

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: CB328

Those that are drawn to God's love through His Grace will never leave .Those that have used the wrong door were never in Christ .....

So it basically doesn't do any good to raise kids in the belief. They have to be drawn in. Gotcha, so can we stop abusing kids with these kinds of horrors, because yes, taking a child to one of these is very traumatic. Traumatic in a way their christian parents don't think.

This would be scary if there really was a hell, but no such place exists and what is mentioned in the bible is not what most people make hell out to be.

This is yet another lie that has been passed down by the church for centuries in order to maintain control over its followers. Same as tithing.

originally posted by: CB328
Yes they have the right to do it,

are you nuts? no, they dont have the right to do it! what makes you think they would? bull like this makes me glad to be agnostic! you have a choice to enter that church or not and be subject to their fear tactics!

a reply to: CB328

To be honest, I started to read this thinking to myself that I really didn't care what Christians wanted to do to each other to scare each other, but then I got to this:

“May I join the girls now?” she asked God. “I’m sorry, Carol,” he replied, “but you will not be allowed to enter heaven.” Though she had many qualities, she had not accepted Christ before her death. “You must now pay for your own sins,” said God.

Carol did not see this coming. “I volunteered at the soup kitchen! I’ve won awards for my good deeds! You’re God. Can’t you make an exception?” Then she was dragged away screaming by two black-hooded denizens of the underworld, which was about as definitive a “no” as it gets.

So I still don't have a problem with how Christians want to go about scaring each other, but this is by far the most hypocritical part of the whole Christian account. The lady in this story went to hell JUST because she didn't worship god. The fact that she was a good person had nothing to do with it. Ugh... Such a sad tale...

Oh well, it's just Christian fear porn. It won't make any non-believers believe and believers will just agree with it.

originally posted by: jon1


But what if it were true....think about that for a moment...

Christians ALWAYS tell us to think about if it is true. However they refuse to ever consider that it may be false.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: jon1


But what if it were true....think about that for a moment...

Christians ALWAYS tell us to think about if it is true. However they refuse to ever consider that it may be false.

It's called a "lottery Christian". There's an old saying, "you can't win if you don't play!" -- and the same applies for some people regarding religion.

If Christianity is correct, they'd rather have been a church-going person than not. Once again, there is an innate fear that is prompting them to go along with being Christian; as the uncertainty/fear of the afterlife is the prime motivating factor.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Yea, I know. That was one of the driving factors that lead me away from Christianity. I just couldn't accept that someone could be a super awesome and nice person yet still go to hell JUST because they didn't worship god during that life. That seems HIGHLY petty for a being that is supposed to be all loving. Usually I define all loving as someone who loves something no matter WHAT the other party thinks about them.

Then after I left, I had to battle that VERY same idea for a long time. It's really a rather insidious form of mental programming... It is HIGHLY hypocritical when considering how god is described, yet the fear of letting go and that maybe it will be a bad idea to stop believing is VERY strong because of the fear of hell. It took a LONG time to overcome this. Though, luckily for me logic and reason prevailed and I stopped believing.

Even Dante seemed to have a problem sending non-believers to hell. In The Divine Comedy, all the good people who didn't believe in god or went unbaptized (like Buddha or the Greek philosophers like Socrates) end up in the first circle of hell (Limbo). But this circle is basically described as heaven-lite and not so much hell. It's a nice place with a cool castle and no one gets tortured for being there. The people there just can't experience EVERYTHING there is about heaven (namely being with god).

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I firmly believe that God will save ALL....just as HE said HE would. Somehow, early Christians took the constant fire of the garbage pit outside of Jerusalem and twisted it into a literal hell. There is no such thing.

a reply to: CB328

I would add to Hell Houses the Jesus Camps where they brainwash little kids (as seen in Jesus Camp) as well as the teen "rehab" centers that were the focus of the documentary Kidnapped for Christ. The latter is of highly questionable legality as some of these kids are kept beyond their 18th birthday against their will.

The indoctrination I had as a kid was fairly light compared to some of the abuses that go on. I can remember being a teenager and worrying incessantly that every lustful thought, every dirty joke, every thought that I didn't take "Captive to the obedience of Christ" was going to come back to haunt me when God returned and judged the world (which was always portrayed as imminent). Hell was very real, as were demons, and all you had to do was THINK the wrong way and they could find their way inside. Demons were under every rock. They were behind the music and film industry, they were embedded in games like Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and the always insidious Dungeons and Dragons. Such is the paranoid delusional thinking of some sects of fundamentalist Christianity.

It is my opinion that teaching children about a literal eternal hell and pumping up their fear and guilt about natural human experiences/states of being (such as sex, masturbation, swearing, drinking, or being gay) is child abuse. Teachings kids that their thoughts can be sin (thought crime) and that they are all born broken and worthy of eternal torment just for being descendants of Adam is immoral. I understand that many parents/churches have really drunk the kool-aid so they actually think what they are doing is right in trying to keep kids out of Hell but hell houses and other tactics really really cross the line.

Those Christians who genuinely believe in hope and love and who reject the literal idea of Hell need to denounce the "extremists" who are screwing up the minds of millions of children around the world.

Let's say a parent sits their kid down and explains that if they do something wrong, anything, no matter how small, a celestial policeman is going to come and light them on fire. He will melt the flesh from their bones until they are dead and then bring them back to life and do it all for eternity... and you tell your kid that they deserve this eternal punishment just by virtue of being born a flawed human being. But thankfully there is a way out, just ask the policeman to spare you and repent whenever you sin and you will not be punished. I think most people would denounce the idea if it were couched in any other language other than if GOD is the one doing it, it is a powerful message of fear to those who already have some semblance of belief.

Another example I give is what if we replaced burning in a Lake of Fire with an eternity of rape. People would immediately recoil in disgust and admit that such a God CAN ONLY be evil. I think such a thing would even give the most deluded believers pause for thought. But suddenly when it is eternal torment in a lake of fire it can be somehow excused as just.

Enough rambling, star and flag!!