Tulsa, OK

One of the funniest things about living in Tulsa is seeing how hard some Christians try to be “cool” to appeal to the younger crowds.

Like this dance school in south Tulsa, Momentum Dance - Dance Classes in a Christian Based Dance Studio
I found a video of them on youtube:

Then theres GUTS and their NIGHTMARE, which is their way of “saving by fear”. How crazy is that. Of course, they make tons of money by scaring kids straight. I found an old review from 2005 of GUTS’ NIGHTMARE here, and it is much kinder than anything I could write. A short excerpt:

“The line takes so long because the first experience inside The Nightmare involves joining a group of other attendees on a school bus being driven by a drunk driver. Everyone goes through the nightmare as part of a group limited by the number of seats in the school bus. You proceed through a number of stage set spaces that each involve a horribly depicted experience of the suffering involved in drunk driving, gambling, sexual exploitation, and violence. We were relieved that the latest version of The Nightmare does not have a room depicting the “sin” of homosexuality. Each room includes live actors and lots of fake blood and gore. Wayne was not happy about getting fake blood sprayed all over his Dockers during a brutally depicted “scourging” scene involving whips wet with blood.

The big climax is a final room with a particularly gory Jesus on the cross that tops the worst medieval church depictions of Jesus’ suffering that we encountered in Italy . Then you are finally released into a room with video screens where the senior pastor of the church invites you to accept Jesus into your heart. Then the door opens to a room full of happy compassionate young adults who want to pray with you and urge you to say the right words that will convinced them that you have been saved.”

I personally think you should be 18 to see this stuff, but they think twelve is mature enough. My twelve year old is not going to be experiencing that haunted house anytime soon. Unless I’m dead.

I don’t have a problem with Christianity per se, but some of the behaviors and tactics of its practitioners are less than Christ-like. I still think if Christ came back today few of His “followers” would recognize him, and he’d probably be killed by his own people all over again.