AngryFemme
2004-09-06, 15:46
Any Pentacostals in the house?
I was exposed to that religion for a time when I was just young and spook-able enough to have it leave a lasting, terrible taste in my mouth that I fear will never go away. I was 10 years old, and living with an aunt and uncle while my parent got his shit together.
The women are pretty much second-rate in the household. Weekly beatings by father to offspring was like a scheduled chore, no matter if there was a sufficient lack of reason behind it. All kids were Bad and "had the devil in them". Boys and girls were kept segregated. They were strongly encouraged to not interact with other non-Pentacostals at school. Arranged marriages, especially in small towns and tight communities, wasn't at all unheard of and was highly practiced. They stuck with their own kind, and there were hardly any exceptions to that rule.
Not altogether different from the required Burkha of the Muslim faith, the women were required to cover as much skin as possible, and long-sleeve, high-collar shirts and ankle-draping skirts was the fashion norm. Makeup was unheard of, and the hair was never to be flowing, or framing the face - never cut and pulled back into a severely tight bun was how most women wore it. Perfume? I don't think so. That would be considered lascivious and whore-like. Jewelry was for harlots and fingernail polish would probably get you banned from your own family.
The Sunday, Wednesday and Friday night in-church sermons was the most frightening experience I can remember. It started out somber and with much goodwill fellowshipping with one another, the women always bunching up in groups and not speaking too loudly so as not to be heard. Scripture was taken literally and in the context of the present. They seemed to focus on the Book of Revelations alot, and the only time I ever remember the preacher cracking a smile was when he talked about hell, fire and brimstone. He'd usually end up screaming and flailing about. There was usually a band present. Not just an organist and a few hymnists, but an all-out seven or eight piece band. The elderly women who walked slowly with a stoop would arch their backs in impossible angles when the Holy Ghost possessed their body, and would be dancing and jerking about like they had been mildly electrocuted.
The first time I saw someone catch the Holy Ghost and appear to speak in tongues, I nearly fled. Yes. It freaked me out that bad. Here was a 65-year old southern, illiterate, stuttering old woman who barely said 10 sentences in a week spouting off an unrecognizable dialect that sounded something like Hebrew. Her hands were moving up and down and her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. People around her, including the pastor, did a "laying of hands" on this old woman, and after a spell she finally snapped out of it and fell exhausted in her pew.
Afterwards, the congregation would have pie and cake and juice and would engage in small talk, like none of that weird shit had even gone down.
I had nightmares, for years.
There are other backwoods sects of Pentacostals who do bizarre rituals such as snake handling, where they pick up poisonous rattlesnakes in complete confidence that the holy ghost will protect and shield them from death. I saw another documentary about a Pentacostal church who would ritually drink poison and not die from it, another example to be given to the congregation on how the Holy Ghost would protect firm believers from harm. How much of this is real and how much of it is smoke and mirrors to instill fear into the sermongoers is unclear.
Anyone else ever witness this type of extreme worship?
I was exposed to that religion for a time when I was just young and spook-able enough to have it leave a lasting, terrible taste in my mouth that I fear will never go away. I was 10 years old, and living with an aunt and uncle while my parent got his shit together.
The women are pretty much second-rate in the household. Weekly beatings by father to offspring was like a scheduled chore, no matter if there was a sufficient lack of reason behind it. All kids were Bad and "had the devil in them". Boys and girls were kept segregated. They were strongly encouraged to not interact with other non-Pentacostals at school. Arranged marriages, especially in small towns and tight communities, wasn't at all unheard of and was highly practiced. They stuck with their own kind, and there were hardly any exceptions to that rule.
Not altogether different from the required Burkha of the Muslim faith, the women were required to cover as much skin as possible, and long-sleeve, high-collar shirts and ankle-draping skirts was the fashion norm. Makeup was unheard of, and the hair was never to be flowing, or framing the face - never cut and pulled back into a severely tight bun was how most women wore it. Perfume? I don't think so. That would be considered lascivious and whore-like. Jewelry was for harlots and fingernail polish would probably get you banned from your own family.
The Sunday, Wednesday and Friday night in-church sermons was the most frightening experience I can remember. It started out somber and with much goodwill fellowshipping with one another, the women always bunching up in groups and not speaking too loudly so as not to be heard. Scripture was taken literally and in the context of the present. They seemed to focus on the Book of Revelations alot, and the only time I ever remember the preacher cracking a smile was when he talked about hell, fire and brimstone. He'd usually end up screaming and flailing about. There was usually a band present. Not just an organist and a few hymnists, but an all-out seven or eight piece band. The elderly women who walked slowly with a stoop would arch their backs in impossible angles when the Holy Ghost possessed their body, and would be dancing and jerking about like they had been mildly electrocuted.
The first time I saw someone catch the Holy Ghost and appear to speak in tongues, I nearly fled. Yes. It freaked me out that bad. Here was a 65-year old southern, illiterate, stuttering old woman who barely said 10 sentences in a week spouting off an unrecognizable dialect that sounded something like Hebrew. Her hands were moving up and down and her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. People around her, including the pastor, did a "laying of hands" on this old woman, and after a spell she finally snapped out of it and fell exhausted in her pew.
Afterwards, the congregation would have pie and cake and juice and would engage in small talk, like none of that weird shit had even gone down.
I had nightmares, for years.
There are other backwoods sects of Pentacostals who do bizarre rituals such as snake handling, where they pick up poisonous rattlesnakes in complete confidence that the holy ghost will protect and shield them from death. I saw another documentary about a Pentacostal church who would ritually drink poison and not die from it, another example to be given to the congregation on how the Holy Ghost would protect firm believers from harm. How much of this is real and how much of it is smoke and mirrors to instill fear into the sermongoers is unclear.
Anyone else ever witness this type of extreme worship?