I recently returned from the Wild Goose Festival, where one of the highlights was a sneak preview of the feature length documentary "Hellbound?" which will be released in select theaters nationwide this Fall. The film picks up on the recent media buzz generated by Rob Bell's controversial book "Love Wins," taking that debate into new levels of intelligence and depth. Like any good documentary, we have the entertaining attention grabbing parts, which aren't hard to find when your topic is hell and damnation: We meet people at a death metal concert, take a tour through Hell House where actors attempt to traumatize teens into the kingdom by reenacting scenes from Columbine. Then there are the street interviews with the rather obviously mentally unstable and angry folks from Fred Phelps' church, holding their "God Hates Fags" signs and screaming at anyone who passes by.
The movie quickly moves beyond this however, delving into the deeper issues at hand. Unlike so many other Christian films, "Hellbound?" is neither sentimental nor sensationalist. The word that comes to mind instead is depth. Through interviews with Brian McLaren, Greg Boyd, Mark Driscol, Franky Schaeffer and many others, we are not only informed about the issues and varying perspectives involved in the debate, but far more, we are taken into a complex and rich discussion that challenges us to ask fundamental questions of who God is, and what justice looks like.
For me, the movie stirs up all sorts of emotions and questions. Over the years I have been increasingly troubled by the doctrine of hell. As my love for God and my neighbor increased, the horror at the thought of many of those I loved suffering eternal punishment increased with it. I was shocked at how nonchalantly my fellow Christians accepted the idea that the majority of the world was going to hell. How could they believe this and not be deeply broken and grieved over it?
Some would say we need hell to motivate us to be moral. But what does it do to a person's soul to be motivated by fear? How can you love and feel safe around a God like that? Others seem to need hell for people like bin Laden and Hitler. But if you believe that all non-Christians are going to hell, then that means that not only would Hitler be there, but so would most of his victims. How could it be just for someone to go from the fires of Auschwitz to the fires of hell?
These are really disturbing questions, especially if they are not abstract and theoretical, but connected to the fate of real people who you know and love. Yet I know there will be many people reading this who will feel the need to defend the idea of hell. Indeed, in the documentary in addition to those who question the justice of hell, we also hear those who say that to doubt hell is to deny the Christian faith. When Rob Bell raised the mere question in the trailer for "Love Wins," hyper-Calvinist John Piper famously tweeted "farewell Rob Bell," as if Bell had fallen from grace merely by asking the question.
In the end, what "Hellbound?" succeeds in doing is setting the stage for some very important and needed discussion. To be sure, these are vital and important questions that will stir up lots of emotions. One of those questions is why is it that we are so afraid to ask?
For more info on the film, and to request a screening in your area, checkout the official 'Hellbound?' website.
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Eliza Wood: 'Hellbound?': How Will Christians React?
Do you believe it when it says there is no way to eternal life except thru Christ?
Then ask yourself, using the logic that god gave you, that if you are to be LITERALLY, and KNOWINGLY, tormented for eternity, have you not found a form of eternal life without accepting Christ?
If I fail in the end, my God has said he will lay me down one more time and my eternal punishment is I will never have another chance. That's all
not once as a child or teenager did i hear, read, or know anything about hell. god was not something to be feared, but something that is good to know and know about. it wasn't until an adult after going through the usual agnostic-atheistic road did i hear about hell as a belief in the church.
most people i think believe a fairy tale hell - that is, a fiery eternal place where god sends you for punishment. for what? for not believing in him. that's hogwash.
i do believe that if you have no need for god in your life why would you want to be with god after death?
if heaven is that "place" where i am in the direct presence of god as a personality, then yes, that place where that doesn't happen is hell and yes, that would be indescribable torment. torment because i would not be with god - the creator of the universe.
i just believe (know) that if you love - as a part of who you are. then you have learned jesus' lesson, and you are now like him. god would gladly welcome you to his home. not for what you have learned or done, but for who you are. god gives you what you want. if you don't want god, that's ok. i want god.
If hell goes, then there isn't really any penalty for not believing in God. Pascal's Wager isn't so simple. All bets are off, so to speak.
And if people don't need to believe, they don't go to church or give any money.
I think the power base of the Christian Church knows this. And has always known it.
That is why Bell is such an enemy of the Church.
$$$
Now to the next point you make: that there would be no need to believe in God. That is not true. We will always have a reason to believe in God, because God is the one who made us, not we ourselves. This places us under the obligation to learn who is this one that made us, does he want us to know who he is and does he want anything from us or for us? Those of us who have studied his word and have received the answers to these questions have infinite reasons for believing in him and loving him and we do! In fact we look forward to our future that he has in store for all of us who love him, peace, security and future unveilings of his purposes for us. No morbid fear is needed to serve our Grand Creator, just healthy respect and love of him and his Son and for those who we call our brothers and sisters.
Those who don't believe in the "concepts" of God or hell have nothing to worry about. But that goes without saying.
The sick part is, murderer's, rapists, child molesters, thieves, and genocidal maniacs can all get a 'get out of hell free' card just by accepting Jesus. The only requirement to avoid this lake of fire is to apparently being gullible enough to believe such a horrific, infantile god exists with absolutely no evidence for it. THAT IS NOT LOVE, that is madness.
The 600 plus laws that make up the Mosaic Law Code were no constraint on free will. They were a hedge that protected the Israelites from the nations of pagan believers who worshiped everything except for the 'true God' of the Bible. This may sound like a lot of laws, but when you put it into perspective consider this: "By the end of the 20th Century, the federal laws of the U.S. filled over 150,000 pages of legal books. Every two years at least 600 more laws are added. So in terms of sheer volume, the mountain of human laws dwarfs the Mosaic law.
Besides, the people agreed to abide by the laws within the Mosaic Code willingly. They were instructed who the true God was, as opposed to the mythological gods that others worshiped.
None more prominent was the Advent movement here in America in the early 1800s were they showed form the Bible "soul sleep" until the resurrection and immortal life or destruction after.
Many groups were spawned from this movement after the failed dates prophesied for Christ,s return, namely ;
Christadelphians, Advent Christian Church, Seventh-day Adventis, Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement, Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association, Church of God (Seventh Day), Church of God General Conference, Worldwide Church of God, and the international Bible Students who are more recognised as the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society.
All came form the Advent movement, adopted new light on Hell, but some like the JWs went overboard with date setting of Christ's return and built salvation around its failed dates.
But for those who took an interest in the Bible, and the Bible being available in so many languages, the laity got to see for themselves what was in it. And hellfire and brimstone is not there. The hellfire doctrines existed in Babylon, Buddhists had a hell, Hindus had hell, but the Jews did not have a burning hell, it did not exist in the Hebrew Scirptures. Sheol is the grave, not hellfire. And the Greek Hades corresponds with the Hebrew Sheol. The Greek Scriptures are no different. Hades is not a burning abode. Jesus spoke in parables, illustrations, where he explained things in symbolic terms, You have to dig in the Scriptures to understand them. And hell is not the same as what Dantes Inferno portrayed. Hades is also the grave and hell and death are thrown into the symbolic "lake of fire" symbolizing they will no longer exist.
Most of his doctrine he brought to JWs, is NOT unique to him, except the continued propagation of false prophesy on Christ return, which he believed occurred in 1874.
I would advise anybody who gets a knock on the door from religious organisation to ask for a history lesson on thier church FIRST and then fact check with Internet....
Continued to read the Bible ONLY to avoid false ideology and false prophesy through isogeses based literature.
A Christadelphian salamander would probably poop bible tracts.
http://www.truechristianityevangelism.org/hell.html
I just want to clarify your list:
"Hades" and "Sheol" are the same thing. Acts 2:27: "because you will not leave my soul in Ha'des, neither will you allow your loyal one to see corruption" is the same as Psalm 16:10: "For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, You will not let your loyal one to see the pit".
Clearly Sheol and Hades are the same thing. Both mean the common grave of mankind. KJ renders Sheol 31 times as "hell", 31 times as "grave" and 3 times as "pit".
The "lake of fire" mentioned at Revelation 20: 13-15, however, is something different. How do I know? Because among things that are thrown into the lake of fire is death and Ha'des (hell). The book of Revelation is symbolic (Rev. 1:1) Lake of fire symbolizes "complete destruction". Hell cannot be thrown into hell, so the lake of fire is symbolic of the destruction of hell (as well as the destruction of death, the false prophet, the wild beast and those not written in the book of life). If at some point no one dies anymore, then the grave is not needed anymore.
"Gehenna" is also symbolic of "complete destruction" (not eternal torment). Dead carcasses were thrown into "Gehenna", as it was a dump site where dead bodies were thrown.
How could a loving God or Jesus ever consign a soul to an eternity of horror because of a lifetime of mistakes? Why would God or Jesus ever give up on a soul? Humans deeply need this belief because we need some sense of fairness.
its not like this sort of think has not played out many times before in many cultures and faith systems...
at the time of Human Kinds Spiritual Salvation Redemption and being handed The New Covenant of Love " LOVE EACH OTHER AS OUR SAVIOR BROTHER LOVES US" about 2012 the jews were suffering under a mercantile religious class called the sanhedrin / priest class supported by and supporting there pagan roman over lords.
it is important to note that no one is in hell my mistake-
any and every once human soul that dwells there in dose so because they made there own covenants in there life with the father of all lies and the king of hate-
its what they wanted.
its the same way with every human being that has followed The Path of faithful love into Heaves Perfection.
as all others simple blink out into nothing following there biological lights shut off.
yours truly
peter the romin american
>p
it matter not that any person come to understanding and acting upon that understanding after a lifetime of wickedness or as a youngster.
becouse unless and until that understanding and personal convertion happens no spritual evolution for the better can happen.
thanks for you question and reply.
yours truly
peter the romin american
>p
I'll never understand why any grownup person would ever believe this stuff. Back in early America, when people didn't know any better and a lot of people did believe it, it drove a lot of people crazy, and they ended up in asylums for years with "religious mania."
I don't know why you would blame atheists for it though, since atheists don't believe in it. In fact, none of the ones I've known love to hate either.
Jude 8 "Likewise also, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities"
Jude 13 "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever"