The issue before us is a matter of what is the meaning of the cross of our Lord from the perspective of the New Testament writers. They clearly believed that Christ bore the guilt and punishment for our sins. The apostles did not believe in the eternal pains of hell fire either but they DID believe that God holds all mankind accountable for their sins and that there will be a just day of reckoning for all sin. Christ clearly taught this in all of His parables. He clearly taught that God will justly require punishment for every sin and every act of evil that men commit.
Judgment is real in the Bible.
The real terrible evil of the views of Dr. Maxwell is that in his effort to present a gracious loving God, he has removed the very foundation of God's government, justice and judgment and moral accountably on the Last Day. Dr. Maxwell's view of forgiveness is amnesty for sinners. The biblical Christian view of forgiveness for sinners is propitiation and atonement. God did not merely waive the punishment we deserve. He in His own person BORE our just punishment for our sins.