Seven Reasons Halloween Judgment Houses Often Miss the Mark
— Monday, October 24th, 2011 —
1. They’re not scary enough. To speak of hell, Jesus used the imagery of a garbage dump overun with worms, a place where babies were once sacrified to demons (Mark 9:43-48). Teenagers in plastic red devil masks and styrofoam pitchforks usually don’t convey what it means to “fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). The answer isn’t better technology, though, since nothing we could conjure up can convey the anguish of the damned walled off from relationship with God.
2. They assume people’s problem is that they don’t know about judgment. But the Bible says they do. All of us have embedded within us a conscience that points us to the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:15-16). We have a “fearful expectation of judgment” (Heb 10:27). The problem is we block it out of our minds, diverting ourselves with other things. The problem isn’t that lost people don’t hate hell enough. It’s that they don’t love Christ. Hell is the Abyss they run into in their flight from him.
3. They abstract judgment from the love of God. I know most “Judgment Houses” present the gospel at the end. But in the Bible the good news doesn’t come at the end. The prodigal son leaves the father’s house, but the father is eager to receive him back (Luke 16:11-31). The awful news of God’s judgment is always intertwined in Scripture with the message of the gospel of a loving, merciful God. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).
4. They abstract judgment from the glory of God. The prophet Isaiah doesn’t see that he’s “undone” first by the horror of judgment. He sees it in light of the glory of God’s presence (Isa 6:1-6). The Apostle John tells us the glory Isaiah saw was Jesus of Nazareth (12:41). When we preach Jesus, the glory of God breaks through (2 Cor 4:6). Some people recoil at that light; some people run to it (John 3:19-21).
5. It’s hard to cry at a Judgment House. But Jesus does when thinking about judgment (Matt 23:37). And so does the Apostle Paul, pleading with sinners to be saved (2 Cor 5:20). These evangelistic tools though are meant to take on the feel of a “haunted house,” a place of thrill-seeking and festivity. It’s hard to convey the gravity of the moment in such a way.
6. The Holy Spirit doesn’t usually like to work that way. Pop quiz: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through the witness of a friend? How many do you know who came to know Christ through faithful parents? How many are in Christ due to the week-to-week preaching of Christ in a local church? Probably a lot, right?
Okay, now answer this: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through a Halloween “Judgment House” or “Hell House”? If you know one, you’re outpacing me, and everyone I’ve ever talked to about this. The Holy Spirit tends to work through the preaching of Christ (Rom 10:17). That’s how he points the world to sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).
7. They’re easier to pull off than talking to people. Can people be saved through Judgment Houses? Sure. I have a colleague who was saved at a Stryper heavy metal concert in the 1980s. Are the intentions behind them good? Absolutely. If you have a Judgment House and it’s enabling you to share Christ, have at it with blessings on you.
But the fact remains that most lost people in your neighborhood are going to be saved the same way people have always been saved, by Christian people loving them enough to build relationships, invite them to church, share the gospel, and witness to Christ. The problem is that for many Christian’s that’s scarier than a haunted house.
This commentary was originally posted on October 31, 2008.
32 Responses to “Seven Reasons Halloween Judgment Houses Often Miss the Mark”
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When my husband was going to Southern Seminary, we went to a church that did a judgement house and there were at least twenty people that came to know Christ through that the first year it was done. My husband had led a few of them to Christ personally.
I don’t like them anyways, though, because I have a concern that they are being emotionally manipulated. (Lots of people cried, by the way:)
I remember our home church back in the 90’s that went to Power team demonstrations and the youth, (especially the girls) would go ga-ga over the muscle-bound men and give their life to Christ for the fifth time. Again it was an emotionally hyped event that promoted sensationalism.
Almost all those girls have walked away from faith in Christ since then.
Jesus always spoke Truth and it was enough. All the miracles, (truly sensational) just left a taste for more, yet they did not bring about a genuine repentance in the hearts of many people.. Do we really think we can out-do Jesus in the sensational and get different results than He did?!
I think reason #7 resonates with me the most. So much of what passes for evangelism and missions is really just a creative way of avoiding personal contact all the while “getting the gospel out.”
Reason #8: They are just weird. I mean, who thinks this stuff is good? It seems to me that it is yet another poor attempt at marketing the church during a holiday. Like you said in Reason #5, it’s supposed to cater to the haunted house crowd, but it’s not a haunted house. I’ve seen videos of them and pictures, but I have never been and that is the main reason why. The whole idea is off-putting to me.
Your point that events are easier to pull off than talking to people about the gospel is exactly the problem with event evangelism. Are people saved through events? Absolutely. But even after the event, one-on-one discipleship is critical to establishing the new convert in faith.
I often recall the Billy Graham movie “Gospel Blimp” pointing to this very issue. A group of neighbors gather to discuss how to witness to their unsaved next door neighbor. Rather than walking a few yards to the neighbor’s home, they organize a ministry organization to fly a blimp over their community “hoping” that all their neighbors would see the message of the blimp.
Too often, a Christian’s growth in the Lord will parallel the way he or she experiences the gospel. If the only experience with Christ is centered around events, then the Christian will only think of Christ as an event. But, if a Christian experiences Christ through personal relationship with real people living as Christ, then the saving grace of Christ will be experienced and shared the same way.
If one finds building a one-on-one relationship with strangers (or friends) is difficult, then I would argue perhaps a closer look at one’s own commitment to Christ needs take place. Even if social skills are difficult, one’s passion for Christ will overpower any fear of social interaction.
Interesting read. Thank you for sharing. I think the point on your list that resonates with me the most is #3. The intentional scare tactic sell that offers fire insurance at the end works for selling one-time-purchase products, but its an emotionally abusive way to start the ‘relationship’ that Christianity is supposed to be imo.
I helped a church do one last year and around 15-20 people were saved. The big news though is about five still go to church there over a year later and one wants now has a calling and wants to go into full time ministry. The 99 which was a hell house reached thousands of lost people and hundreds came to know Christ through this event. I do understand most of your points but God can and does use these for his glory.
I had honestly never heard of such a thing before reading this. Are they one of those things you rarely see outside of certain areas of the country?
Paint me naive… I’ve never heard of a “judgement house”, so this post completely lost me. Off to Google…
I first heard about these on NPR (not the best source, I know, but an interesting view from the secular world).
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/213/devil-on-my-shoulder?act=1
All these are very true. I just wrote about about Christian haunted houses on my blog last week. It’s funny that many churches find Halloween the best time to try to scare people with the thought of going to hell. I especially think the point about judgment houses being easier than talking to people is one of the biggest reasons churches do them. Thanks for sharing.
http://tom-farr.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-best-time-to-scare-people.html
I prefer to think of sin as our inherited, default condition with condemnation the pronouncement and judgment the penalty.
This sets the foundation for the truly Good News of salvation by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone, to His glory alone. We failed to live up to the righteous requirement of the Law, we have seen our total inability to provide our own remedy, and we are utterly dependent on the love of God that was provided for us in the work of Christ, to free us of our slavery to sin.
The fear of judgment, if these houses are trying to instill that, is yet insufficient for conveying the root issue of our guilt before God, and God’s eternally planned grace.
Russell,
I am surprised that you did not mention the most egregious problem being the theology presented. Most, if not all, judement houses present hell as a place where Satan and his demons rule, torturing the lost. This idea is not biblical and is perpetuated through these type events. Hell is a place reserved for the devil and his minions and where those whose sins are not forgiven will experience the wrath of God for eternity.
And another reason against them, from my experience, is that they provide mock-worthy fodder to universalists. I used to be one, and we used events like these to point out the ridiculous lengths those who believed in hell went to scare people into faith in Christ… without realizing it was the medium that was flawed, not the intended message. (Well, in this case, the message is flawed too, by the medium as you describe above, but the *intended* message that hell is real isn’t wrong.) I am grateful that God - through his word, through other believers, and through the Holy Spirit - did steer me from universalism and to sound theology, despite the stumbling block set out by the silliness of judgment houses.
It’s interesting to read this article as I prepare to take my youth group to a Hell House this Saturday. I don’t take a group to hell houses/judgment houses every year, but have heree and there in the past and will continue to do it in the future.
I think this article is looking at the hell house through one lens and disregarding another. In one sense, you’re right on all accounts: hell houses can be ways to sidestep true evangelism, they’re cheesy, they don’t convey the true ultimate reality of hell, etc., etc. And therefore, for a Christian who sees the hell house as a catch-all place to take lost souls and expect them to receive the full measure of Scripture and the Gospel so that the Christian doesn’t have to do the work himself, shame on him! Hell houses are not a substitute for a Biblical, clear, undiluted, unpolluted presentation of the Gospel, followed by growing discipleship once someone accepts the grace of Christ.
In the other lens, the hell house presents a unique opportunity in today’s culture. As a youth pastor teaching my students to share their faith in creative ways, and seeking to encourage them to venture out in being bold for Christ, a trip to a hell house is a good first step for them and for their friends. I’ve got a girl in my group who is BOLD for Jesus daily! She invites her friends to church continuously, but has seen little fruit from that. She invited them to go to hell house with us this weekend, and everyone of them are going. Does that mean it’s the only time we’ll present them with the Gospel? Absolutely not! We don’t see hell house as a get-em-saved evangelism strategy. Hell house is one element of our student ministry “foryer.” It’s an introduction. It’s a non-threatening open door. It’s a good part of the strategy. God forbid I take these students to hell house and leave it at that. If I do that, shame on me and my ministry! But, if I take this open opportunity to bring clarity to the Gospel and the purposes of God for the lives of these lost students, then they may see the need for the grace of Christ, not because we “scared the hell out them” but because they caught a glimpse, albeit imperfect, of the reality after death, and a door of conversation has been opened. We’ve seen students accept Christ at Hell houses and begin growing in their relationship with Christ as they became involved in the ministry. We’ve seen students come out of the doors of the hell house with a renewed vigor for sharing their faith with their friends. We’ve seen results, but NONE of these results are because of a solitary moment called “THE HELL HOUSE.” It was because a trip to a hell house was a part of an overall solid, Biblical student ministry strategy that didn’t rely on the imperfect presentation of people, but relied on the perfect soveriengty of the Holy Spirit working in and through imperfect people.
So: I challenge you to see hell houses for what they are rather than what they are not.
See you at Hell House!
I wanted to look up the following in point 4:
“The Apostle John tells us the glory Isaiah saw was Jesus of Nazareth (12:47). ”
Would you please tell me what the book reference is? I looked up John 12:47 but I don’t think that is the right verse…?
@Sabine Leppanen, it was, I believe, supposed to read as 12:41. It’s fixed now. Thanks!
Thank you, Robert!
“Are the intentions behind them good? Absolutely. If you have a Judgment House and it’s enabling you to share Christ, have at it with blessings on you.”
I agree, except with this last paragraph.
“The 99 which was a hell house reached thousands of lost people and hundreds came to know Christ through this event. I do understand most of your points but God can and does use these for his glory.”
Which I think is mirrored somewhat in this comment. Both reflect a level of pragmatism that I reject. Christ uses all kinds of things to bring about his purposes, including evil (cf Genesis 50). That doesn’t justify those actions. Numerical success should not be the measure of whether we should engage in an activity.
I would argue that people who get saved at Hell houses do so in spite of them, not because of them. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than our often ridiculous methods of “creative” evangelism; however, that does not negate the fact that we should think more critically about our mediums. Thanks Dr. Moore for some excellent thoughts.
I’m surprised to hear that these events are still going on. Our church did a few of them back in the 90s — problem was, we were in a college town so we’d get a lot of students coming through to gawk or laugh at us. Our hell house was mostly staffed by townies, so the rich college kids treated the whole thing like “let’s go check out the uneducated hillbillies and their naive superstitutions’ — it was cheap entertainment for them. Occasionally we’d get some philosophy students who’d pose logic questions or ask our people to explain conflicting Bible verses, then snicker to show their intellectual superiority. I find it hard to believe that any church group could really pull off something like a hell house without having it treated like a spectacle for the simple-minded.
Let’s be fair, the most egregious problem is with the name itself: “JudgEment” houses. I don’t know how many times I see it written that way. But apparently bad theology and bad spelling make good bed fellows :)
But I agree with the fact that these things are more akin to Dante than the Bible.
Ok, maybe this isn’t done in our area (I live in the frozen north), but I have NO idea what a “judgment house” is??? We have people who don’t participate in halloween…but I’ve never heard of this. Is it common?