Right off the bat let me confess that what I find irresistibly appealing about Kevin Miller's new documentary Hellbound? is that I was supposed to be in it. At the time Miller was planning his movie my blog posts on hell were hotter than Satan's sauna. (Those pieces have since been collected into Hell, NO! Extinguishing Christian Hellfire, a short e-book that via Nook is its regular price of $4.99, but which Amazon Kindle now has on sale for $2.99. It does not displease me that Hell NO! is listed on the resource page of the Hellbound? website.) 
Alas, by the time my scheduled shoot came around Miller thought that he already had enough footage for his movie, a shocking miscalculation that I can't help but believe doomed "Hellbound?" to be half as good as it might have been otherwise.
Stupid Kevin Miller. What does he know about making documentaries, anyway?
Quite a bit, as it turns out.
The bottom line on "Hellbound?" is that it's a smorgasbord of astute authors, interesting intellectuals, thoughtful theologians and rabid white trash talking about hell. (The movie's opening sequence features a clutch of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church members at the site of 9/11, vociferously screaming, "Thank God for September 11! Whoo-hoo!" and jauntily waving their trademark colorful signs proclaiming GOD'S WRATH = 9-11; THANK GOD FOR 9-11; FIRE FIGHTERS IN HELL; SOLDIERS DIE FOR FAG MARRIAGE and so on. Subsequently throughout "Hellbound?" we are subjected to watching Kevin try to reason with Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper, the leader of the protesting Westboronians, which is like watching a dance instructor trying to teach a great white shark how to waltz.
"Hellbound?" teaches us that generally speaking there are two views of hell: that it's real and that it's not. Joining the Westboronians in defending the reality of hell are the likes of bloggers Kevin DeYoung and Justin Taylor (who at the time of the movie's filming were making waves by roundly criticizing Rob Bell's then-just-released sensation "Love Wins"), and most notably the poster boy for the Christ Had Balls Like Boulders movement, Mark Driscoll, the only Christian in the world scarier than Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper.
Making the case for hell not being real are a wide array of thoughtful and articulate people, the stand-outs of which include the brilliant and infectiously effervescent Greg Boyd, and most especially Frank Schaeffer, whom I think delivers this movie's money quote:
Evangelicalism [by which he means reactionary, conservative evangelicalism] is to America what the Pharisees were in ancient Israel. These guys wreak vengeance on the people who bring the good news of a loving God who cares less about theology than the content of your character. Because in essence that message puts the gatekeepers out of a job.
"Hellbound?" is a vitally important movie. More Christians than you can shake a trident at are convinced that to believe in a literal hell is more Christian than to not: that hell as a place of eternal torment is clearly biblical and something in which Christians have always believed. But that is not true. As "Hellbound?" makes so perfectly clear, there is equal scriptural support for the radically differing models of hell known as Eternal Torment (good people: heaven; upon death bad people and all non-Christians: eternally barbecued), Annihilationism (the lucky make it into heaven; everyone else is instantly vaporized into nothingness -- but at least aren't eternally tormented) and Universalism (eventually through Christ everyone is redeemed and ushered through the Pearly Gates).
BEHOLD! this screen-save from the movie:
At different times in history each of these theories of hell has enjoyed prominence; it's just that the one off which it's possible to make the most money, since it can be used to instill deathly fear, has now become so dominant that the other two are widely considered to be, of all things, less Christian. But that's absurd. It's like saying that because today is Monday Friday and Saturday don't exist. But Friday and Saturday do exist. They always have. And it's a certainty that they will come around again.
If you are a Christian harboring the idea that a literal hell is incompatible with an all-loving and all-powerful God, and would like ironclad evidence and testimony from a wide variety of sources and experts in support of that idea, then you must see "Hellbound?" You will come away from the movie knowing two things: that your instincts about hell are not just morally but biblically right, and that the day is dawning when more Christians than not will agree with you.
'Hellbound?' opens this weekend in Pasadena, Orange County, San Diego and Grand Rapids. Visit hellboundthemovie.com for details on theaters, etc. The film's director and writer Kevin Miller will be doing a Q&A in Pasadena on Sept. 28, Orange County on Sept. 29, and San Diego Sept. 30. I have assured Miller that at his San Diego appearance I will keep my heckling to something reasonably near the minimum.
Follow John Shore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnshore
Kevin Miller: Why Americans Care So Much About Hell
Eliza Wood: 'Hellbound?': How Will Christians React?
Derek Flood: 'Hellbound?' Documentary Questions Fiery Faith (VIDEO)
Andrew P. Klager, Ph.D.: 'Hellbound?' and the Simulation of Divine Violence as an Obstacle to Peace
Dan 12:2, Phil 2:9-11, 1 Tim 2:4, Titus 2:11, these verses doesn't reflect which one of these views is right, any of them could be and these still be true.
Acts 3:21 is being misinterpreted and also isn't speaking to this question of the saved v/s the lost. I don't think the 1 Corinthians text is saying what they're implying either but that's more debatable. The 2Cr 5:19 text is definitely not saying what they're implying just look at the next verse 2Cr 5:20. If all were to be saved in the end then there's no need to beg them to convert. Before you think 1 John 2:2 supports Universalism read the rest of the chapter, especially 1Jo 2:17 and 2:26, there's no need to worry about being deceived if everyone's being saved and no point in worrying about sin passing away and sinners with it if everyone is made perfect. 2 Peter 3:9 is being taken out of context read the whole chapter especially verses 7 & 10, both of which point to Annihilationism.
Matt 7:13, Matt 10:28, Matt 13: 38-50, These verses also fit better with annihilationist view of hell.
There is a heaven that God created for humans that accept his Son and a hell for those who reject him. People who reject God (the Son and therefore according to Jesus, are also rejecting the Father) are saying they dont want to be around him for eternity.Why would God force them into something they find so distasteful? . The last place Christopher Hitchens wanted to be was in heaven with Jesus.
Once you arrived at the Egyptian Judgment, you face the King of Gods, Maat, and Amemait, from your mummy animation in the hall. Your heart was taken and laid upon the scales; if you passed, it was returned to your mummy and you passed into heaven. If you did not pass, Amemait ate your heart and you were annihilated.
From the time of Cleopatra VII of Egypt, there had been a theological war between Ancient Egypt and Rome and their differing POV of life after death. Christian theology dependence of quotes from the Gospels of Christ, and his time (just a bit later than Cleopatra’s) predominate the collection while leading to the later authors advocating for universalism. Especially considering that, Isis the magical mother victorious of life over death, rose out of Roman occupied Egypt and travelled across the evil world of Imperial Rome only to submit later to the rule of Christ.
In meantime, for more on the concept of Hell re-considered, check out:
http://www.jesustheheresy.com/hellreconsidered.html
(2) It is within God's power to achieve his redemptive purpose for the world.
(3) Some sinners (people) will never be reconciled to God, and God will therefore either consign them to a place of eternal punishment, from which there is no hope of escape, or put them out of existence altogether.
It is logically impossible for all three of the above statements to be true. If God is both willing and able to reconcile with all humanity, then by definition this reconciliation is bound to happen. If some people end up not being reconciled with God, it is either because God is unwilling to reconcile with all people, or is unable. Since I believe God is willing and able to reconcile with all people, I believe #3 is false.
The three statements above are direct quotes from Thomas Talbott's "The Inescapable Love of God," a book I highly recommend.
Maybe youre a Calvanist.
Ive read and studied and shared the entire Bible beginning to end, for many years. So I am coming from the original source in conjunction with the Holy Spirit who
Hades might be a better term but even that expression is misleading.
Like attracts like on the other side so someone full of hate and fear will attract those that are also full of hate and fear. We see this like attract like in political parties.
As I have stated often there are two places not to look for evidence into these mysteries of life. Religion and scientific materialism. Both have agendas to protect at all costs.
To put it simply the Hitler’s of the world don’t go to paradise but neither do they go to an eternal hellfire.
The good news is that the Christian pews are clearing out and fewer children will be taught such fear and hellfire nonsense that may affect them adversely for the rest of their lives. I.e. our prisons are overflowing with such fear and self-judgments.
How a parent can allow religious leaders to teach their children such fearful things tells us much about the human ego and how beliefs overwhelm evidence 99.9999% of the time. Think for one moment how the belief that one can spend eternity burning in a hell fire and how that could have a horrible affect on a child’s mind.
What is this is not an either / or but rather a sequential statement? In other words, we all die because of our sin (even our righteousness is as filthy rags). Then, after dying we all experience the gift of eternal life (for all - including the good, the bad and the ugly).
At some point some religions, like the growing cult of Christ, needed a reason to keep people in line. Eternal life as promised was nice, but if you turned away, or sinned, the existing alternative was pretty bland, but doable for many people. Enter a Hell of damnation and torment, eternally so.
And the sins that one could commit to get there started to grow. The only real problem with this was that life itself was pretty bad for most people. So hell had to be much, much worse than even life could provide.
Hell is, unfortunately, a collection of ideas and creations designed to scare people into submission, created by people who may have meant well, but instead created evil.
In this sense what 'preach is in the BIble.
2 Tim:42-4
" 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths"
"These guys wreak vengeance on the people who bring the good news of a loving God who cares less about theology than the content of your character. "
Have you delved into the implications of this statement? Look what the Bible has to say about our character apart from the righteousness of Christ. It is anything but good news.
It is good to see advocacy of the opposing images of what hell actually might be or not be, but where you see the other ideas coming back around in their due time, Mr. Shore, I am just left with more questions from it, as it is just three more examples for the list of how the Bible contradicts itself repeatedly yet people are somehow supposed to follow all those different views and traditions.
And, though I'm sure it's not exactly the purpose of the movie placing these people in it, it is good to see exposure of the fact that religion does not matter when it comes to extremists, they are always dangerous:
"The movie's opening sequence features a clutch of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church members at the site of 9/11, vociferously screaming, 'Thank God for September 11! Whoo-hoo!' "
Those words and signs could have been placed in hands and mouths halfway around the world on 9/12/2001 and fit right in.