By Jedd Francis De Luna
Wars. Terrorism. Famine. In today’s time, we are experiencing as what people would call it as “the worst of the worst” when it comes to natural disasters, unexplained phenomena, civil wars, beheadings, quickly spreading diseases and discrimination around us.
Another issue today is that “Christianity is under attack more than ever.” As a proud Evangelical Christian, or known by many by the term ‘Born-Again Christian,’ I have experienced being ridiculed, teased, cursed at, and the like. It’s as if when you use the Bible as your defense, it can be considered as a null defense. But that’s just a small breeze compared to the “super typhoon” that Christians experience in other countries, an example of that is the wide persecution of Christians in countries like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and China, to name a few countries where if you declare your faith, you can be tortured, ridiculed, imprisoned, or worse, you can be put to death.
http://www.facebook.com/GodsNotDeadTheMovie
The movie ‘God’s Not Dead’ is the first inspirational Christian movie that also tackles with Apologetics, where Merrian-Webster defines it as “the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity,” in their story board. When I saw the trailer last January 2014, my friends and I were excited because of the intensity of the content that we saw. For us, it sparked a sign of the rise of Christian awareness and a movement for a change for Christ in a global perspective. And finally, on one glorious day, I was about to watch the movie through an online streaming from the internet.
Based on my reaction, it’s a very feel-good inspirational movie for believers, and somewhat a good grounded movie for non-believers. My only issue with the movie is that they gave minimal time for the debate between the Christian freshman college student Josh Wheaton (played by Shane Harper, who also plays ‘Spencer,’ a recurring role in the Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie) versus his Atheist Philosophy Professor, Dr. Jeffery Radisson (played by Kevin Sorbo who is popularly known for his role on the television show Hercules). Instead of giving ample time for the little stories “that will tug the hearts of believers” and more time for the debate, they added more tear-jerking moments, where I have to applaud them for this, because many people will be able to relate.
But other than that, the movie was superb when it comes to its acting, compared to some other films. The way the debate was also presented was nice because not only did they include famous theists like Dr. John Lennox, C.S. Lewis, and Rice Broocks to name a few, they also settled with powerful statements from atheists like Stephen Hawking. The argument along with Josh’s visual aids are very astonishing (I want to know how to do that using Powerpoint!) as it can be a good eye-catcher to the audience. With the heart-quenching, tear-jerking, love-strucking moments that was shown in the movie, it can indeed “inspire and move Christians in a positive way, maybe encouraging them to risk their comfort for the sake of standing up for Jesus in their own life.”
You might think that everyone in the movie got “saved,” but that’s not true. In today’s society, many people, even if they see your claims and evidence, will still continue to reject God. After Josh’s third and final argument regarding God’s existence, when the jury (his classmates) was asked if God was real, there were a handful of students who did not stand up and speak the words: “God’s not dead” which is a good way to portray reality: not everyone you share the Gospel with will become equipped with saying “yes” to committing their lives for God. But as Christians, we strive harder to win hearts for Jesus.
So would I recommend this movie? Yes I would. This is a movie unlike any other inspirational Christian movie. This movie can be a start to non-believer’s curiosity about the existence of God and all His splendour.
RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars, five being the highest.
ON THE LOOKOUT 