Hell Houses (AKA: Hallelujah Houses, Heaven or Hell, Christian Haunted House, etc.)

[Strider]

The difference in the Hell Houses being, of course, that parents take their children there to present them with what they consider the truth, not just a short horror show or Halloween distraction.

Pointing to a teen burning in hell in front of your 5 or 6 year old and telling them with pure conviction that they will end up there too if they consider having an abortion (or any 'sin' being depicted at the Hell House) can be pretty fucking damaging.

Yes, absolutely fucking psychologically damaging. A kid would go to any lengths to avoid such a fate, including mindless submission to an imaginary tyrant.

Re OP: Wow. I'd heard tell of these xtian fapfests, but never had the misfortune to encounter one. You kept your cool far better than I might have done.

If I'd been older and more outspoken at the time, it would not have been a pretty scene.

I've never been to one or have I heard of one, but it sounds pretty sick. It doesn't surprise me in the least, coming from that lot. Scare them young and they're yours for life. It's physiological rape and abuse at its worst.

They are completely sick. The same one I went to is still in operation every October. It was about 15 years ago when I visited. They've had 15 additional years to march unwitting children through their horror show. How many people have their lies damaged psychologically and emotionally in all that time?

Never heard of these before, since I'm from Europe. Our branch of crazy usually doesn't go the extra mile.

That said, I had my own experiences when I was 6 or 7. It was at school and I have a little explaining to do, for you to get what I'm saying. Here in Austria, when you're baptised into a certain faith group, you automatically get mandatory religious "education". It isn't as mandatory as it may sound, since your parents can at any time pull the plug and you're out. Also, once you're 14, you can pull the plug yourself. That's what I did at that age.

But I was in. Not that I blame my parents for it, since they were mild catholics and didn't know what was going on. I certainly didn't talk about it. We had our own version of the hell house, so to speak. I remember vividly that elderly woman teaching the religious stuff saying, that if you misbehave, if you sin, god will take what's dearest in your life. Can you imagine what that means for 7 year old kids? I virtually was in tears, fearing for the lives of my parents and it's still haunting me to this day. It was implanted in me at a very early age and it's oe of the superstitions I sometimes can't get rid of, even if I take my joy in blaspheming.

In short, we learned about all the ugly things, religion had to offer. Hell, punishment, that heathens, jews and muslims are excluded. It was only to instill fear and for me, when I grew a little, it was the first stepping stone to leave religion behind for good.

Interesting. I'd never heard of the education you mentioned. I can certainly understand the terror you must have felt, threatened as you were with a vengeful god taking your parents and eventually casting you into hell. I have no doubts that if I'd been a bit younger - say six or seven - I might have begged to be "saved" by the end of my experience.

Learning all of the ugly things that you mentioned lead people like you and me to question these vulgar assertions and forever leave the superstition and ignorance behind. However, those ugly things have the exact opposite effect on some people. Those dreadful admonishments, which are continually pounded into their heads, keep a psychological hold on them because those represent what their loving god will do to them if they dare disobey.