Scaring the Hell Out of Them

I guess it is that time of year. I just received one of several mailers for local "Hell Houses." I'm not sure if this is a phenomenon outside of what used to be the "Bible Belt," but for those not familiar, Hell Houses are like haunted houses, but the scare in these is intended to get them to choose heaven or hell. The flier states that the Hell House is a "tool designed to help people face the reality of eternity by presenting different 'real life' scenes which portray death, demonic control, heaven and hell." The scariest part of this is, as it appears from the content, that Christianity is reduced to making a decision not to go to hell. I can see kids taken through, scared to death, packed into a room where they are invited to make a decision to go to heaven or hell. Who wouldn't choose heaven in such a setting? I wonder what if anything is said about what it means to choose to live for Christ on this earth.