nearly enough judgement passed on themselves lately.

I grew up in a "church" that was so "fundie" that they wouldn't use music during church services because the bible says raise your *voices* in song, and didn't say to use music too.

They were that strict on following the bible to the letter... But, even they had an annual haunted house filled with ghosts and witches and scarecrows without any "religious" symbology. And, they thought the places like this were "going too far," and "weird."

But now... This kinda crap seems to be the mainstream.

The annual Xmas sermon was also usually about how December 25 probably isn't really the day Jesus was born, since the bible never says what day that was and there's just a 1/365 chance it's right, but it's the day the secular world has chosen to celebrate.

Usually some heartbreaking story of two teenagers killed in some horrific accident, which they gleefully gore up like a real haunted house, then a hell and a heaven scene where one teen “knew God” and goes to heaven, and the other is doomed to eternal damnation. It’s a really fucked up way these fundy churches attempt to indoctrinate new members.

But I’ve only seen these types of “judgement houses” in our southern states. I thought that it had reached its peak in the mid/late 90’s but clearly I was wrong!

I read about it in the paper. Haven't seen it in person, don't care to.

Unless you want an evening of being “witnessed to”!!

It's amazing that humans are still so gullible.

put on by Guts Church. Now, as churches go, it's one of the better ones but they just can't seem to help themselves when it comes to going overboard for Halloween. The worst part comes at the end where you are practically held hostage for a sermon.
Still, it's better than what we had when I was a fundie kid in the 70's.
We had a big truck that came and the inside was stuffed with pictures of advanced sexual diseases, junkies, battered women, people about to be executed, hookers and strippers in Time Square, drunks on skid row and <gasp> hippies! Near the end they showed aborted babies, babies with severe birth defects, diseased livers and lungs off in big jars of cloudy fluid. The grand finale took place in the basement and was a 15 minute VERY graphic film of a junkie dying in the ER.

<Yawn>

Nutsos on top of nutsos.

Her daughter wants to be a witch for Halloween but she said her church explicitly told them that they were not allowed to let their children dress up as witches so she has to be something else. They are also not allowed to visit Salem, MA which has a lot of fun and festivities this time of year. The church forbids it.

I didn't ask her what kind of church it was, but I imagine it is some kind of fundie christian sect. They moved here from Cincinnati where there are a lot of those types. She is actually Chinese, so I thought she would be a Buddhist or non-religious. She doesn't really seem all that into it, so I think her husband is the one who drives their attendance.

My church youth group put on a Halloween party, complete with a Haunted Trail.

It was just a classic Halloween Haunted Trail.... no BS "Salavation House" or "judgement" or anything like that. Just a "corpse" with chitlin guts and lots of fake blood.... a Werewolf, a mad scientist. The kids loved it. Inside, we had bobbing for apples, ghost stories, costume contest... classic Halloween fun.

The same church is still there, but is now Fundie, and they do a "Hell House."

Ah well, I'm an atheist now, do maybe they had a point! LOL!