Superb new Movie - "God's Not Dead"

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If you are a Christian and are OK with this movie then I suggest you re-watch it after reading this review. I will try not to be overly negative but it will be hard for me.
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1st) Every character in this movie that was not Christian was either portrayed as an idiot (the reporter), a terrible person (the boyfriend), an abusive father (the Muslim), or a God hater (the atheist professor).
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2nd) The atheists professor was apparently only atheist because he was hurt over his mothers death and blamed God. While I will admit this is probably the case for some atheists it is not the majority. Further, being atheist does not mean you hate Christianity or would ever require students to sign an agreement that “God is dead.” Not to mention this character is hit by a car at which point the Pastor in the movie runs to him telling him this is his last chance to accept Jesus as his lord and Savior.
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3rd) the LONE Muslim man in the movie is a control freak dad who ends up slapping around his daughter when he finds out she is listening to the bible on tape. I know plenty of Muslims that are very accepting people and this portrayal only enforces stereotypes that are often wildly inaccurate.
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4th) The movie makes a point that without God nothing matters and you can’t have morals and everything is permissible. It further implies that without God there is no way to have hope in life. This notion is extremely ignorant and one that any logical Christian would reject.
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5th) The movie ends with a list of court cases proclaiming them as examples of this type of situation, but fails to give any detailed information. I expect that upon further investigation of these cases I will find them to be very very different. I will write in later once i research them.
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Overall, the movie is offensive to anyone thats not Christian and should be offensive to those Christians who have valid arguments for their faith. I do not wish to belittle anyones faith and do believe logical and intelligent discussions can be had without degrading one another. I am not an angry person and very rarely get worked up but by the end of this movie I was almost in tears at how offended and upset I was. Again, this is very uncharacteristic of me. I am not some but hurt atheist in fact I am not really sure what I believe at this point in time but I can guarantee you this movie only made me angry at the Christians who made it and participated in its production. Growing up in a church I have met many intelligent and insightful Christians who I love dearly. This movie was so disgusting in its execution that I almost asked the theater for a refund.
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imdb.com/title/tt2528814/reviews
 
Yeah, I can’t say I’m particularly surprised by the amount of internet trolling over this movie kicked up in IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Variety, etc. It’s pretty typical. The general mindset is that any sort of proselytizing or evangelism is too offensive to be permitted. Style points awarded for the IMDB PC-police being deliberately obtuse to allegory and misreporting details of the movie, though.
  • Marty Lund
 
There was a case on the news of a professor telling his class to write Jesus on a sheet of paper then put it on the floor and stomp on it. All the students did except a Mormon who refused. He said he would not show such disrespect. Some of the kids were Catholic so what does that say? Not all Catholics do the right thing.
 
sallybutler said:
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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I’ve heard plenty of bad theology in study groups at church (to the point where I never go to one without a catechism in hand, just to fact check). Doesn’t mean that I think they should be stopped. Again, I’ll just ask – would you rather have this film in theaters or another Brokeback Mountain? I guess maybe I’m in the minority that I think there is so little in the media that is pro-Christian, that anything which is should be supported, even if it doesn’t pass a strict litmus test.
 
oneofmany said:
There was a case on the news of a professor telling his class to write Jesus on a sheet of paper then put it on the floor and stomp on it. All the students did except a Mormon who refused. He said he would not show such disrespect. Some of the kids were Catholic so what does that say? Not all Catholics do the right thing.
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Do you have a link to the story?

This sounds too much like the chain email I’ve received about the professor who denied God.
 
jc4751 said:
Again, I’ll just ask – would you rather have this film in theaters or another Brokeback Mountain? I guess maybe I’m in the minority that I think there is so little in the media that is pro-Christian, that anything which is should be supported, even if it doesn’t pass a strict litmus test.
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There are more family-oriented movies in theaters right now than there have ever been - “The Lego Movie,” “The Nut Job,” “The Muppets” sequel (which got an “A-I” from the bishops film office), etc. At the “God’s Not Dead” movie, I saw trailers for even MORE family movies, including a remake of “Annie” - so, the fact that there are so many family-friendly movies out there kinda sorta runs counter to your observation. I don’t even think there has been an “R”-rated movie to top the box office in 2014 yet: they have all been G’s, PG’s, and PG-13. (Though I could be mistaken.)
 
sallybutler said:
Bad theology will lead people to hell just as quickly. Maybe even quicker.
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Exactly. Why can’t Catholic Christians rally behind the Kickstarter-funded “Niceaea: The Movie”?
*A project by Electric Avenue Radio

We are looking to fund a historical epic that traces the rise of Roman Emperor Constantine and his convening of one of the most important events in Western Civilization – the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.*
…
The Team:
NICAEA has a number of professional filmmakers attached. Award-winning international filmmaker Jamil Dehlavi (Jinnah, Infinite Justice) is our director. Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ASC (Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), line producer Enzo Sisti (feature films like Cliffhanger, Gangs of New York and The Passion of the Christ), production manager Vito Colazzo (The Passion of the Christ) and production designer Francesco Frigeri (The Passion of the Christ, Legend of 1900 and Don’t Move) demonstrate a vast experience in filmmaking.
Source: investors4charity.org/nicaea-project

But, no, we’d rather support Protestant-based films instead of those that support Catholic-based films? I don’t get the logic of that. 🤷
 
randomuser said:
Exactly. Why can’t Catholic Christians rally behind the Kickstarter-funded “Niceaea: The Movie”?
*A project by Electric Avenue Radio

We are looking to fund a historical epic that traces the rise of Roman Emperor Constantine and his convening of one of the most important events in Western Civilization – the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.*
…
The Team:
NICAEA has a number of professional filmmakers attached. Award-winning international filmmaker Jamil Dehlavi (Jinnah, Infinite Justice) is our director. Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ASC (Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), line producer Enzo Sisti (feature films like Cliffhanger, Gangs of New York and The Passion of the Christ), production manager Vito Colazzo (The Passion of the Christ) and production designer Francesco Frigeri (The Passion of the Christ, Legend of 1900 and Don’t Move) demonstrate a vast experience in filmmaking.
Source: investors4charity.org/nicaea-project

But, no, we’d rather support Protestant-based films instead of those that support Catholic-based films? I don’t get the logic of that. 🤷
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That might not be a good idea though. I already have Protestants on other web sites telling me Constantine was the head of the Catholic church.
 
oneofmany said:
That might not be a good idea though. I already have Protestants on other web sites telling me Constantine was the head of the Catholic church.
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I read a story about a mega pastor from Sweden I believe, and his wife who converted to Catholicism, and in the comment section the people who are absolutely convinced Constantine started the Catholic Church came out of the wood work. They are convinced that they as Protestants go back to Christ, and Catholicism is a late comer by 300 years.
I think that was started by Lorraine Boettner (spelling?). I don’t mean to derail the thread, but I was startled by the amount of people who not only believe this, but won’t be told otherwise because in their minds it’s historical, and true.
 
I would much rather go to this movie than to “Noah” which I read is just a liberal view of environmentalism. Noah even contemplates killing his whole family to save the planet. How non-biblical is that?
 
I did NOT like the Muslim-bashing. I thought it was unnecessary and more importantly, damaging, to the central point of the movie, which is that “God is not dead” and to promote Christianity. They didn’t need to put down the Muslim faith or mention it at all. Why make enemies when its not necessary?

However- The central message is a good one, and though the movie is not specifically Catholic and some other church is seen- its not as if someone who wanted to learn more about the Christian faith would automatically search for that Protestant church. It’s relatively non-specific.

As for “once saved always saved” (please drop the unnecessary acronyms- it took me a while to figure that one out!), maybe I missed it- but I didn’t see that explicitly mentioned. If it was, it passed me by even though I am aware of the argument. How many non-Christian would be in danger of falling into deadly error because of a sentence or two in the movie? Seriously?

And when one character is dying they were simply trying to steer him towards God. That would be a worthy endeavor and even though that doesn’t guarantee that he will be in God’s company after death it at least allows him a possibility since he let go of his rejection of God and is now allowing him in.

I thought the arguments were pretty good for a piece of entertainment. Some parts were cheesy or could of been better, but most movies have some issues like that. Barring the Muslim issue, I think its a worthwhile movie and its a bit silly (though predictable) that it would be bashed here by some members for not being explicitly Catholic.
 
Everything I could say has already been said. Except for one thing…

This movie was gay.

That’s about it.
 
kmuestwin said:
Here’s the honest truth: We cannot exhaustively prove the existence of God. St. Anselm
couldn’t do it, and neither could St. Aquinas.
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“Exhaustively” is a loaded word. We can prove the existence of God, Thomas Aquinas did it. If you mean exhaustively as in prove that a world exists outside your mind or that your senses are reliable, I guess everything is up for grabs.

The professor should seek to first provide proof for his own insistence on proof. And it’s absurd to have a professor force his students to denounce their faith. Surely someone like that would be doing something most inappropriate. What’s next? Photography students posing nude for their lecturers?
 
I just saw this movie. For our secularized culture is a GREAT movie to show how academia in colleges are teaching against God. I would add the same contempt of secular teachers, even “catholic” teachers toward faithful students are real. They make the students feel 'if they don’t agree with them, then they are close minded, shortsighted. Don’t concentrate on the theological accuracy but on the overall message. It is a great encouragement for young people to stand up for God. Also, this movie should be a motivation for Catholics to make more catholic movies.
 
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