"Hellbound?", The Best Theological Film I have Ever Seen!

If you haven't heard of it yet, you will. Releasing this fall is the new documentary by Kevin Miller called "Hellbound?" tackling the issue of weather hell exists, and if so, is it eternal. Now you may think that this is just beating the same old drum as Rob Bell's "Love Wins" and Francis Chans "Erasing Hell". And you'd be right. But this film portrays all of the Christian views on hell better than Love Wins or Erasing Hell ever could.

Now to be clear, the film does have an agenda. It seeks to present universalism as a viable and historic option of Christian doctrine. Kevin Miller, the director of the film, greatly influenced by the work of Brad Jersak and Rene Gerard, is a Christian Universalist and seeks to convince us in this film to join him as such. And he does a fantastic job. Now, that's not to say that after watching the film I became a universalist. I didn't. But, I do now consider universalism to be a historic Christian perspective and I have found myself being convinced, along with Jerry Walls and Peter Kreeft, whom present this notion in the movie, to pray for all souls to be saved. While I can't personally accept the ideas of universalism due to my understanding of the Biblical texts, I still realize that universalism could end up being right. And if so, I will rejoice! Because of that possibility, I have adapted the practice of praying that God would save the souls of all humanity. Weather he will do that or not is yet to be seen. Peter Kreeft, Catholic Apologist, points out that the Roman Catholic Church has always had this practice, even though there is a clear Catholic theology of hell and damnation. But enough about me.

The all-star cast of the film includes everyone from Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll, Frank Schaefer, Kevin DeYoung, Ray Comfort, Hank Hannegraf, Westboro Baptist, Greg Boyd, Michael Hardin, Brad Jersak, Robbin Perry, and many others. Every major view on hell is represented in the film from the Reformed Calvinistic view, the Evangelical View, the Arminian view, the "almost" Universalist view, and the Christian Universalist View. And while this sounds like it could be incredibly dry and boring- it's simply not! The film has a flow and a unique witty style that will keep you deeply intrigued and on the edge of your seat the entire time.

The only criticism I could give of the film is when it comes to the reformed view. Kevin Miller intentionally streams together the theology of Mark Driscoll, Kevin DeYoung, and John Piper with that of Westboro Baptist. In Kevins defense, he shows footage of Mark Driscoll clearly stating "God Hates You!". Now, it is true that based on this footage, Driscoll does, in fact, preach the same message as Westboro Baptist. But by default, the whole reformed community is thrown into the same pit with Driscoll and Wesboro. I don't believe that all of the reformed community agree with Driscoll, mainly because a year ago, I was running in the same community and know the mainstream views. But in reality, this is a small issue that takes nothing away from the overall film. But, we can expect that Driscoll and the Gospel Coalition will be blogging defenses as soon as the film releases.

I had the honor of sitting down and interviewing Kevin Miller, Brad Jersak, Michael Hardin, and Steven Berry about the Hellbound movie at The Wild Goose Festival. The conversations were amazing and will appear in August on my podcast, (Re)vangelical.

All of this to say- you need to see "Hellbound?". It is the best theological film I have ever seen and I know you will think so too!

For more information, visit http://www.hellboundthemovie.com/