Idle Thought about Hell

It seems to me that the real objection to Calvinistic predestination has not to do with free will as such, and everything to do with hell.

Nothing is as hilarious as free-will a-millenialists, who maintain that Jesus can return at any time and bring up the believers and condemn the rest to hell - who then turn around and claim that the Calvinist God is cruel and unjust. Their own God is equally cruel and unjust.

Randy Klassen wrote a book called What Does the Bible Really Say About Hell? A good book, but leaves out the full context of Jesus and "Hell" - Gahenna, the "eternal fire" of Jerusalem's garbage dump, which is the fate of unbelievers. For a preterist like me (see sidebar), the conclusion is inescapable - the entire idea of hell is historically literally and poetically metaphorical - the Jewish Temple religion and most of its followers was practically cast into Gahenna - but doesn't suggest much by way of the fate of souls.