The conversation happens between Bill O’Reilly and Pastoral Counselor Jack McKinney. I’m not familiar with Jack. But he handled himself pretty well, considering he’s on The O’Reilly Factor.

Hell is such a weird topic to discuss, whether it’s being preached from behind pulpits or discussed between two people over coffee. But when it’s engaged on national television for 5 minutes between a host who is Catholic and in New York City and a theologian/counselor whose criticizing an evangelical hell (and he’s in North Carolina), the topic turns almost chaotic.

A few observations:

– It’s impossible to discuss hell (or the absence of hell) fairly when the first question involves Hitler and others like Hitler.
– The hell that Jack McKinney argues against is not the hell that Bill O’Reilly believes exist.
– It’s difficult to believe that O’Reilly is really that unfamiliar with the hell that the average Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, or Reformed thinker believes in.
– The conservative evangelical would probably believe that both of these individuals–Bill and Jack–were going to burn in a literal hell.

But what do you think: Is the preaching of hell psychologically damaging?

Via