God's Not Dead is a movie that I recently watched. Since then, I have been meaning to write about my reaction. This is not a movie I would pay to see nor did I pay to see it. Somewhat miraculously, I was able to borrow it from the public library (for FREE) despite there being several holds on it by others who requested to borrow it. (A couple weeks later, there are still holds on it).
Although this movie was apparently released in the Spring, I was not aware of it until one of the blogs I follow (Catholicism on the rocks) posted an entry about it consisting of links to several reviews. I was intrigued by the premise of a (young) person being cornered to defend a core belief. At the time, I was reading the Books of the Maccabees (in the Bible) which centers on a similar premise of how far would you go to defend your beliefs.
I was delighted to find the DVD was available from the library. To my surprise, an email arrived a few days after my request to inform me that I could pick up the DVD. By then, my initial enthusiasm and curiosity had waned and I was hesitant about subjecting myself to 90-some minutes of modern Christian evangelicalism.
I watched it over two (2) weekday evenings (and even kept it overdue 1 day) in order to see the whole thing. The verdict? I enjoyed it tremendously! This is a movie similar to the western and war movie genres. The "good" people are clearly drawn and differentiated from the "bad" people. There is no doubt who is going to "win." It is not a spoiler to say that the Indians (or the Axis or the Blue Meanies, take your pick) do not win this battle. And there is a rousing, feel good ending. All mindless, campy entertainment.
One thing I like about these kinds of movies is that it stimulates the curious and probing mind. The arguments in the movie are shallow and inadequate to actually sway any person that has a firm belief. Initially, I was intrigued with several of the debates about God within the movie but this passed quickly. This subject is an endless debate with a myriad of perspectives and arguments.
Since I became a seeker/pilgrim/theist, I have been curious about the concept of God_is_dead and the Death of God movement. I don't know enough about these to really make an argument one way or another. My understanding about these is that they speak more about how society or culture views God rather than the actual divine existence.
There is a lot I could write about regarding this movie. A more title for the movie might be "gods not dead" since the lifestyles that the so called Christians in this movie espouse appear more like neo-paganism to me. But that is probably my overall criticism of modern western "Christianity": it has idea what Christ is truly about. I strongly reject a Christianity that is mere commercialism and supports secular lifestyles (e.g., concerts, tweeting, Disneyland, etc.). I don't think attending a Newsboys concert is a requirement of being a Christian. If so, I'm glad I don't belong to this tribe.
Finally (so I can stop writing), the movie was sadly lonely. All the main characters end up alone: Josh (the main character) breaks up with his supposedly "Christian" girlfriend, Kara; Ayisha is (literally) tossed out of her house for converting from Islam to "Christianity"; Professor Radisson and his girlfriend Mina split up; Amy's boyfriend, Mark drops her after she finds out she has terminal cancer; and Josh's classmate, Martin, is estranged from his (Chinese) father due to Martin's interest in "Christianity." The "happy" ending consists of several so called conversions to "Christianity." It's rather ironic that a movie supposedly about GOD rejects any belief in a divinity other than Jesus.
There is a also something of latent homosexuality churning underneath this movie. At the end, Josh ends up at the concert with Martin instead of Kara; Pastor Dave and Pastor Jude are together the whole movie; Ayisha is alone but the only solace and comfort she receives during the movie come from other females (I thought she might hook up with Josh at the end during the concert but he literally turns his back on her and continues with Martin).
When Amy announces her cancer to Mark, he shockingly and cruelly dumps her on the spot. However, his explanation regarding the transactional nature of relationships should be paid attention to since it essentially is how things are today (within marriage and employers/employees, etc.).
I could go on and on about the issues this movie has raised. Unfortunately, many so called Christians will cheer for the stereotypes and totally miss the deeper more important ideas because they are too busy celebrated the demise of the "bad" people while patting themselves on the back for being good "Christians." Don't get caught in that trap.
Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love). God is bigger than the boogie man..
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Links:
http://godsnotdeadthemovie.com/
http://catholicismontherocks.blogspot.com/2014/08/atheist-reviews-of-gods-not-dead.html
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09495a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_God_theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jd4qnxj7D0
Written Sunday 28 September 2014
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