Otherwise Known As Kevin Miller (XI)

Get a sneak peek at the "Hellbound?" teaser trailer in Vancouver this weekend

We'll be screening a trailer for Hellbound? at a live event in Vancouver at 2:30pm on Sunday, January 29. Email for details.

Impress your friends! Provoke your adversaries! All with our new "Hellbound?" web banners

In the interest of pushing a few buttons--and enlisting you folks in helping us promote Hellbound?--over the next several days we will be releasing some new web banners that you can put up on your blog, Facebook page or the Westboro Baptists' web site. (If you can figure out how to hack into it.)

As you might guess from our first version, our banners will feature a rogues gallery of terrorists, mass murderers and dictators who would make almost anyone's list of the "Five People You Meet in Hell." All except the last one, that is. But more on that later...

Incidentally, the idea was inspired by news coverage of Osama Bin Laden's death last spring, which gave rise to several news stories like the one below, which expressed absolute certainty that Osama is in hell.

I'm not saying Osama isn't in hell (Who knows? And whose version of hell would he be in anyway?), and I'm certainly not condemning the all too natural feeling of elation and relief that people who were directly victimized by him felt upon news of his death.

However, I do want to provoke us into re-thinking our tendency to rush to judgment about anyone no matter how heinous their crimes. As my friend Archbishop Lazar Puhalo says, "It's always someone else who's going to hell."

Best of all, we're offering the banners in three sizes. Hint: The horizontal one should work just perfectly with Facebook's timeline layout. Just a thought...

To use a banner, all you have to do is right click on it and then choose "Save image as." And if you do post one, please let us know!

Want a sneak peek at the teaser trailer for "Hellbound?"

If you live in or near Vancouver, BC, you'll have a chance to watch an exclusive screening of our Hellbound? teaser trailer at a live event with the filmmakers on Sunday, January 29th. If you'd like to know more, just email us for details.

It's not Rolling Stone, but we made the cover!

Faith Today, Canada's answer to Christianity Today, has just released its latest issue, which features a photo from the production of Hellbound? on the cover.

I was interviewed for an article called Writing for Hollywood: How Canadians in the film industry bring their best to the big screen. In the article I champion the films of P. T. Anderson and sound a note of caution about buying in to myths of redemptive violence, among other things. (And BTW, I have no idea what Anderson's faith position is, contrary to how I'm quoted in the article.)

Give it a read!  

What's your position on hell? Take a quick survey

Even though hell is largely associated with Christianity, images of hell have a firm grip on the broader public consciousness. A recent study has shown that over 80% of Americans believe in some form of afterlife, and 71% describe hell as either “a state of eternal separation from God’s presence” (39%) or “an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death” (32%).

So that's what the pollsters think, but what do you think? Let me know by voting in this poll.

How does your view of hell affect your experience of Christmas?

A few facetious thoughts. And yes, I realize the categories below aren't mutually exclusive...

If you're an Atheist, you feel conflicted, b/c as much as you resent Christianity for threatening you with the horrors of hell, you have to admit that taking a few days off to spend time with family and friends isn't such a bad idea--neither is that iPad 2 you just found under the tree.

If you're an Agnostic, the struggle to reconcile the horrors of hell with the joy of Christmas is just one more reason to keep your options open--and to pour yourself another hit of egg nog.

If you're Catholic, you simply embrace the mystery.

If you're Eastern Orthodox, relax--you have an extra two weeks to think about it.

If you're a Calvinist, Christmas is a time to thank God you're one of the chosen.

If you're an Arminian, Christmas is a time to remind everyone to do some choosing.

If you're an Annihilationist, you're probably known for putting the Christmas fire log on TV and quipping that hell is where you go to make an "eternal ash" of yourself. (Thanks to Peter Kreeft for that one.)

If you're a Universalist, your guest lists and gift lists are probably far longer than most.

Finally, if you're making a documentary called Hellbound?, you know it's never too early to remind people that the Hellbound? DVD will make for a great Christmas present in 2012!

What's my position on hell?

Throughout the production of Hellbound?, one of the questions I get asked most often is, “How is the film going to end?” By that, I assume what most people really mean is, “What’s your position on hell?”

Of course, I’m no Rob Bell (Who can afford the smart guy glasses?) But like him, I’m far too cagey to give a direct answer. Instead, I typically respond by saying we’re taking a critical look at every view on hell in order to provoke informed discussion. I’m not interested in telling viewers what to think. Rather, my goal is to help them learn how to think about hell and other contentious theological issues.

Apart from a desire not to alienate anyone until they’ve given the film a fair hearing, part of my caginess stems from my suspicion that most of my inquirers have an oversimplified view of hell. They tend to think there are only two sides to the story–the “official” version, where Christians go to heaven and unbelievers go to hell, and the “other” version, where Hitler ends up in heaven right next door to Mother Theresa.

And they’re only too eager to file me away in one category or the other. If I could give the categories a name, they would be: “One of us” and “One of them.”

In reality, both of these views are mere caricatures. They also don’t begin to take in the full range of possibilities when it comes to interpreting what the Bible and church tradition have to say about postmortem judgment.

So to help people get a better sense of the landscape, I thought it might be helpful to sketch out a rough map...

To read more, check out my blog over at the Hellbound? official site!