Superb new Movie - "God's Not Dead"

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***“God’s Not Dead” - Releasing In Theaters Nationwide March 21

Spread the word, and fill the theaters on opening weekend
We need more good Christian movies like this. ***

This is possibility one of the best made films since “October Baby” was released two years ago (but with a totally different topic) . The script is excellent and the acting is superb.

God’s Not Dead is a movie about a present-day college freshman and devout Christian, Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), who finds his faith challenged on his first day of Philosophy class by the dogmatic and argumentative Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo). Radisson begins class by informing students that they will need to disavow, in writing, the existence of God on that first day, or face a failing grade. As other students in the class begin scribbling the words “God Is Dead” on pieces of paper as instructed, Josh find himself at a crossroads, having to choose between his faith and his future. Josh offers a nervous refusal, provoking an irate reaction from his smug professor.

Radisson assigns him a daunting task: if Josh will not admit that “God Is Dead,” he must prove God’s existence by presenting well-researched, intellectual arguments and evidence over the course of the semester, and engage Radisson in a head-to-head debate in front of the class.

Watch the trailer at:

godsnotdeadthemovie.com/

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjEwNDQ3MzYyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDE0ODM3MDE@.V1_SX640_SY720.jpg

content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/8881/347039_017.jpg
 
I love seeing all these Christian movies starting to hit theatres. Seems like a lot of pretty decent stars are getting involved as well. I am looking forward to Heaven is Real as well. Here is the trailer!

youtube.com/watch?v=mydh4MEo2B0

I loved the book and had my girls read it. Gives people so much hope! My daughter helped cast the movie and the newcomer boy they found to play Colton. He’s never acted before. Stars Greg Kinnear who I’ve always enjoyed.

I don’t see the post as advertisement! I see it as informing everyone as to what a powerful movie is coming out! We have to share as much information about these kinds of movies so they keep getting made. In Hollywood it’s all about the bottom dollar so support it, share it and see it. That will get his word out to the masses.
 
I completely disagree that this movie is SUPERB.

I think that this movie does more harm than good.

The premise of the movie is this: A Christian is in conflict with his militant athiest professor and sets out on a quest to prove the existence of God scripturaly.

Not only does this movie present an ignorant view of education, it presents a hyper-emotionalized process of understanding God that is based entirely on the emotional level.

Here’s the honest truth: We cannot exhaustively prove the existence of God. St. Anselm
couldn’t do it, and neither could St. Aquinas. These great philosophical minds couldn’t make it happen, why would an 18 year old undergrad be able to do it? This movie shows him using the power if Sola Scriptura to defeat the evil and misguided professor.

Faith alone is the message of this movie but faith alone is a weak way to "prove the existence of God. In fact, faith is the final factor in the Catholic idea proofs of the existence of God. It is the last piece of evidence that our theologians used when trying to logically prove God to the faithless.

This movie isn’t absurd because of its reliance on faith as an example, it is absurd because of the way it portrays the culture of a secular university. One trip to the academic dean would have solved all the problems in this movie.

This movie is a bad example of Christianity and a horrible lesson in philosophy.
 
kmuestwin said:
I completely disagree that this movie is SUPERB.

I think that this movie does more harm than good.

The premise of the movie is this: A Christian is in conflict with his militant athiest professor and sets out on a quest to prove the existence of God scripturaly.

Not only does this movie present an ignorant view of education, it presents a hyper-emotionalized process of understanding God that is based entirely on the emotional level.

Here’s the honest truth: We cannot exhaustively prove the existence of God. St. Anselm
couldn’t do it, and neither could St. Aquinas. These great philosophical minds couldn’t make it happen, why would an 18 year old undergrad be able to do it? This movie shows him using the power if Sola Scriptura to defeat the evil and misguided professor.

Faith alone is the message of this movie but faith alone is a weak way to "prove the existence of God. In fact, faith is the final factor in the Catholic idea proofs of the existence of God. It is the last piece of evidence that our theologians used when trying to logically prove God to the faithless.

This movie isn’t absurd because of its reliance on faith as an example, it is absurd because of the way it portrays the culture of a secular university. One trip to the academic dean would have solved all the problems in this movie.

This movie is a bad example of Christianity and a horrible lesson in philosophy.
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kmuestwin,

You make some excellent points. I think that the movie accomplished what it set out to though.

I see the benefits of the God is Not Dead movie from several different angles. First, the fact that Josh followed what the Lord was leading him to do and not his girlfriend, friends, family or fear of what it would mean for his academic or professional future. This, in and of itself, shows a powerful testimony to God’s existence in his life to those watching.

Second, he addressed the very first thing that God did to reveal Himself…creation (See Romans 1. The second thing He did to reveal Himself was sending His Son to earth). You always have to start with creation as that is God’s ‘calling card’ per the bible. There is a reason why it was the first thing Darwin went after when he wanted to prove God didn’t exist. I agree that defending creation from a philosophical angle isn’t the way to go. Yes, that does wind up getting convoluted and emotional. Words can be twisted so many ways to prove one’s own point.

It really must be from a scientific angle. We even have to use that term loosely though. By definition for something to be scientific it must be observable and repeatable. We know the creation of the world is neither of those.  I took a great class in bible school a couple of years ago called Prove It! where we studied the latest science and compared it to scripture! Wow! We also looked at all the creationists who now believe in intelligent design. What stumps them…DNA and our spirituality. Anyway…sure, there are a lot of known facts that tie ‘science’ to the bible Josh could have used in his arguments in the movie and didn’t. I don’t think that this movie was meant to actually equip believers to defend the existence of God via creation though. I was in a class for four months and still feel there is so much more to know. 

Lastly, look at the girl who lost her family, the atheist turning back to God, the way the Lord detained the pastor to be available for a crucial moment. These are all things that we as believers see in real life all the time. They also speak volumes for God’s existence as well.

Sadly, some of this does go on in secular universities. One of my favorite teachers actually taught a series to help college kids be a ‘Christian on Campus’ to be better equipped to deal with some of this. As for God is Not Dead there is a long list of actual court cases shown in the credits. Actual situations that the movie was drawn from.

Josh could have gone to the dean to save his neck but saving his neck wasn’t his priority. He just wanted his classmates to see God work in his life, present them with what scripture said, poke holes in the logic used by the men the professor based his position on and give them an opportunity to choose for themselves. He accomplished that.
 
I AM going to pass on this one, it’s far from Catholic. One of the stars is Willy Robertson of Duck Dynasty. The whole family belongs to the Catholic hating ‘church of Christ’ Campbellites. They share the Apostacy/Restoration dichotomy with the Mormons. I bet you can guess which church they consider ‘apostate’.

They came to town for a fundraiser for ********* ‘christian’ school and they believe they are the only Christians to exist. Members of other churches they call "non-Christians. Seriously.

I should know, I was raised and dunked in the sect. They are a hotbed of hatred. I left the second I got away from my parents and converted.

And the Newsboys? …please. :rolleyes:
 
It’s not the most Catholic-friendly movie - i.e., it promotes the Protestant “OSAS” view of salvation throughout the film - most notably when (SPOILER) gets the OSAS schpiel before he dies. It’s also thoroughly anti-Muslim - the dad beats his daughter and kicks her out of the house for converting? Really? Keep in mind that the Catholic League is currently supporting (not opposing) a Muslim couple who is suing the Empire State building for infringing upon their faith. The whole anti-Muslim sub-plot was wholly unnecessary.

And the big reveal that (SPOILER)'s mom is the one with Alzheimer’s, that’s a plot twist straight out of “Magnolia,” which is one of my favorite movies. Not cool. Don’t rip-off “Magnolia.”

I had understood that proper Catholic faith teaches we have a good likelihood, but not a guarantee, of being “saved”, if we persevere to the end. It’s one thing to simply believe in God. It’s an entirely different matter to conclude that simply believing in God is a guarantee of salvation - which seems to be the “message” of this movie.

So, for those keeping score: “Son of God” and “Noah” aren’t incompatible with proper Catholic teaching - however, “God’s Not Dead” certainly is.
 
I actually don’t find this movie to be good at all.

First off it seems like the kid’s “logical points” will be nothing logical at all.

For example-“Science supports his existence, you know the truth.”-Wheaton

First off science neither supports or doesn’t support God’s existence because God is not a materialistic god. If God was materialistic then it would undermine God’s power. Let’s say God was made of rubber. Then we could simply freeze God and God would be powerless. Therefore God would not be the all mighty and powerful.

Second it seems like the kid will spew away some fundamentalist answers like “Well there’s a book for that.” or “Why do you hate God!”

Third this is an evangelical movie not a Catholic movie. So there will definitely be some promotion of OSAS.

Fourth the portrayal of atheists is rather inaccurate. There are many types of atheists. Some try to find God, some don’t care at all, others hate God or religion (not all).
 
Saw it today and had hopes for it. So many kids go off to college and get challenged this way, wanted to see if it was something I could take my high school students to see.

Nope.

The credits of the film were kinda interesting though. They listed a lot of court cases regarding persecution/infringement of rights on college campuses-- which they credit with inspiring this movie. That was kinda interesting/chilling to see, b/c it kept scrolling for quite a while.

The in class-scenes were the best part of the movie, but not nearly intellectually satisfying enough. And the ending was just stupid.
 
My wife took me to see it last night. I’m going to completely set aside sectarian grumblings for the time being and say that it was a very good movie.

The production values were definitely high for an independent film. I found the writing intriguing - inspiring me to take a step back and review everything I’d seen after the movie and reflect. That reflection helped me realize a few subtleties in the writing that had gone right over my head. I love it when a show or movie does that.

I think the part that really impressed me was that the movie turned my expectation on its head. I’ll give you a hint without being a spoiler - the summary / trailer is completely misleading. While the narrative is anchored by the young student, the story its telling isn’t about his journey or transformation. In that regard the antagonist and protagonist rolls are reversed, and I didn’t fully realize this until I had time to chew over the final act of the film. If you find the end of the movie jarring, step back and don’t look at it as a commercial movie anymore. Read Luke 15:11-32 and look at it again.

(Oh, and if the ancillary meet-up-at-the-end stuff just seems silly that’s because its a direct homage to classic 1980s movies.)

I saw a critic complain about the side-story characters not getting justice done to their stories. I agree that any and all of those stories could be their own novel to be told right. The point of including them wasn’t to treat them lightly. They provide contrast and grounding to something that’s otherwise a melodrama about rich white folk’s first-world problems. As bad as my wife and I have had it on campus (and as much as it is crucial not to roll over and concede academia and freedom to the enemies of the Church) there are Christians in other nations and communities that face ostracism, violence, economic punishment, prison, and death that make this look like tea-time in a cricket match. Those side stories provide the contrast to humble the melodrama of Josh’s struggles with his professor.

It’s not a movie to “convert the heathen from his wicked ways” - it’s a love-letter to kids and adults dealing with the angry anti-Christian kooks in our popular media, across the internet, and in academic settings. Those folks are only a sub-set of atheists in our society, but they are the ones that give all the grief. 99.9% of the anti-theistic attacks I’ve come across in my lifetime weren’t the stuff of elaborate theological debates between folks with doctorates in the field - they were the same stream of logical fallacies and ridicule presented in this film. It’s important to recognize them for what they are and move past them.

And the most important message in the whole film is the one that sneaks up on you in the ending of the movie: It’s important to always realize how much God loves those who persecute us, and how we’re called to love them too.
  • Marty Lund
 
mlund said:
My wife took me to see it last night. I’m going to completely set aside sectarian grumblings for the time being and say that it was a very good movie.

The production values were definitely high for an independent film. I found the writing intriguing - inspiring me to take a step back and review everything I’d seen after the movie and reflect. That reflection helped me realize a few subtleties in the writing that had gone right over my head. I love it when a show or movie does that.

I think the part that really impressed me was that the movie turned my expectation on its head. I’ll give you a hint without being a spoiler - the summary / trailer is completely misleading. While the narrative is anchored by the young student, the story its telling isn’t about his journey or transformation. In that regard the antagonist and protagonist rolls are reversed, and I didn’t fully realize this until I had time to chew over the final act of the film. If you find the end of the movie jarring, step back and don’t look at it as a commercial movie anymore. Read Luke 15:11-32 and look at it again.

(Oh, and if the ancillary meet-up-at-the-end stuff just seems silly that’s because its a direct homage to classic 1980s movies.)

I saw a critic complain about the side-story characters not getting justice done to their stories. I agree that any and all of those stories could be their own novel to be told right. The point of including them wasn’t to treat them lightly. They provide contrast and grounding to something that’s otherwise a melodrama about rich white folk’s first-world problems. As bad as my wife and I have had it on campus (and as much as it is crucial not to roll over and concede academia and freedom to the enemies of the Church) there are Christians in other nations and communities that face ostracism, violence, economic punishment, prison, and death that make this look like tea-time in a cricket match. Those side stories provide the contrast to humble the melodrama of Josh’s struggles with his professor.

It’s not a movie to “convert the heathen from his wicked ways” - it’s a love-letter to kids and adults dealing with the angry anti-Christian kooks in our popular media, across the internet, and in academic settings. Those folks are only a sub-set of atheists in our society, but they are the ones that give all the grief. 99.9% of the anti-theistic attacks I’ve come across in my lifetime weren’t the stuff of elaborate theological debates between folks with doctorates in the field - they were the same stream of logical fallacies and ridicule presented in this film. It’s important to recognize them for what they are and move past them.

And the most important message in the whole film is the one that sneaks up on you in the ending of the movie: It’s important to always realize how much God loves those who persecute us, and how we’re called to love them too.
  • Marty Lund
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👍
 
oneofmany said:
tpnn.com/2014/03/19/actor-kevin-sorbo-calls-out-reverse-racism-mocks-liberals-who-voted-for-obama-because-hes-black/

Here is the main actor’s interview on it plus on politics. very interesting. I’m just glad Hollywood is finally making religious movies, I don’t want to be too critical of it.
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This.

Plus I think it’s good that a movie will be taking the prestige that so many people have for a “college professor” out. A good chunk of them are hacks just like the professor in this movie, and use their position to brainwash naive 18-year old fresh men. The problem is though that students never “question authority” when it comes to their professor, they eat up everything they say like it’s a hot fudge sundae.
 
I saw the movie over the weekend and wanted to offer a few observations:
  1. I think it’s important to distinguish between militant/evangelical atheists and non-believers. The latter is just someone who has either never been exposed to God, or has not been convinced of the truth about God. I’ve known people like this, and they usually take a “live and let live” attitude about religion. The militant atheists, on the other hand, cannot abide for a person to hold religious beliefs, and will actively ridicule and campaign against anyone who does, using all kinds of pejoratives to try to make a point, and so on. They will be the sort that will lead an active persecution of the Church, when/if it occurs in America, because they HATE anyone who is a Christian and who will not renounce their beliefs. It is difficult, at best, to have any sort of dialogue with them, because they are so filled with hate. What was nice about the film was that it showed the fact that many of these people are actually angry at God, not just satisfied to state that they don’t believe God exists. Again, this doesn’t apply to all atheists, but it’s not as uncommon as you’d think, from what I’ve seen.
  2. I’d point out that trying to cover all the arguments for the existence of God in a relatively short movie, and still keep it entertaining (as opposed to educational), would not be easy. I do think that the high points were addressed. Moreover, it does show that Christians can actually engage atheists on a level playing field when it comes to reason and win. All too often, we get backed into a corner by someone who has some letters after their name and assume that they are brilliant and tenacious debaters. From my experiences in college, academia is filled with people who could never hack a real world job, who find themselves a niche and stick with it, churning out meaningless papers and engaging in petty turf battles in their department. Again, it’s a generalization, but we shouldn’t let ourselves be backed into a corner.
  3. It also shows the importance of knowing the faith inside and out. For far too many Christians, especially Catholics, their education in the faith lasts for about an hour a week. I know far too many Catholics who bookshelf of Catholic study materials displays the amazing property of invisibility. We have Truth and 2000 years of analyzing it on our sides. Don’t let that go to waste.
  4. I realize that this film was made by Protestants and is not Catholic in content. On the other hand, to paraphrase the pastor in the movie, “This may be the only meaningful exposure to Jesus Christ some people will ever get.” I would rather see someone be a Protestant than not be a Christian at all. Are they getting all of what the Whole Church has to offer? No, but they’re also (hopefully) not on the road to Hell anymore. I don’t have a lot of use for the “intramural” squabbles that go on, and I’ve seen more than a couple of Catholics get on a bigoted rant during study groups or general discussions, about Protestants. Likewise, I don’t have a lot of use for the hardshell Baptists who’ll take potshots at Catholics. In a culture which has gone down the toilet as fast as ours, there are more important things to worry about. We will all be persecuted together, if some parties get their way.
  5. The “anti-moslem subplot” was not as one-dimensional as it might’ve seemed. The father was simply trying to do what he thought was right and was deeply hurt by what he probably felt was a huge failure on his part. It was more sympathetic than I think is given credit for.
  6. The movie tended not to look for easy answers and tidy resolutions. At the end of the day, the problems of the people in the film have not gone away, and there is not a happy ending in the conventional sense. On the other hand, God is fully present in the lives of these people again and there is hope, not of perfection on earth, but of eternal salvation, as well as showing the need to be witnesses in our daily lives.
  7. I think it’s a minor miracle that such an overly Christian film made it into theaters. Just for that reason alone, it’s worth some financial support. Who knows, a film that actually portrays priests in a positive light might be next!
 
jc4751 said:
  1. The movie tended not to look for easy answers and tidy resolutions. At the end of the day, the problems of the people in the film have not gone away, and there is not a happy ending in the conventional sense. On the other hand, God is fully present in the lives of these people again and there is hope, not of perfection on earth, but of eternal salvation, as well as showing the need to be witnesses in our daily lives.
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FALSE. It’s all easy answers and tidy resolutions. The movie does not present a view that “there is hope of…eternal salvation.” That’s the Catholic Christian teaching. What this movie promotes is the view that one only needs to believe in God and then, voila! Saved. GUARANTEE of eternal salvation. That’s OSAS. Which can actually be harmful to one’s soul.
 
randomuser said:
FALSE. It’s all easy answers and tidy resolutions. The movie does not present a view that “there is hope of…eternal salvation.” That’s the Catholic Christian teaching. What this movie promotes is the view that one only needs to believe in God and then, voila! Saved. GUARANTEE of eternal salvation. That’s OSAS. Which can actually be harmful to one’s soul.
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I agree that from a purely Catholic standpoint, it’s problematic. I clearly note this in my fourth point.

I would ask this question, however – would you prefer a movie like this to be in theaters or one in which there is promiscuity, promotion of homosexuality, mocking of God, etc? We are living in times where the management of the mass media is openly hostile toward any expression of Christianity, even ones we do not wholly agree with. I find it hard to accept that we should not support something which is at least hitting some of the points that are seldom heard.
 
Estevao said:
This.

Plus I think it’s good that a movie will be taking the prestige that so many people have for a “college professor” out. A good chunk of them are hacks just like the professor in this movie, and use their position to brainwash naive 18-year old fresh men. The problem is though that students never “question authority” when it comes to their professor, they eat up everything they say like it’s a hot fudge sundae.
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Sorry but I spent 5 years in a public university and I can assure you that the quickest way to see professors people and not some type of demigod is to take a college course. The idea that students just eat up what a professor says isn’t applicable in the internet age. Professors can and are being instantly fact checked throughout their lessons.

Some of the professors I worked for seemed to think they were geniuses speaking from on high but they were few and far between. Any professor that would have pulled the “God is dead” stunt would have been explaining his actions to an academic dean by lunch on the same day.

The 18 year olds who are attending college today aren’t the naive sponges that college professors of years past had the privilege of teaching.
 
jc4751 said:
I agree that from a purely Catholic standpoint, it’s problematic. I clearly note this in my fourth point.

I would ask this question, however – would you prefer a movie like this to be in theaters or one in which there is promiscuity, promotion of homosexuality, mocking of God, etc? We are living in times where the management of the mass media is openly hostile toward any expression of Christianity, even ones we do not wholly agree with. I find it hard to accept that we should not support something which is at least hitting some of the points that are seldom heard.
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Bad theology is bad theology, no matter what format. If you are asking would I prefer a movie that purported to be the truth but had several incorrect theological items in it, versus one that did not purport to be the truth, I suspect I’d rather see the bad theology movie NOT made.

Bad theology will lead people to hell just as quickly. Maybe even quicker.
 
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