Review of God's Not Dead (2014) by Aaron V — 26 Feb 2015

Great message and content, but like a tone-deaf performance of Amazing Grace the poor storytelling makes the good news painful to hear. Just because art is Christian-themed doesn't mean it's automatically praiseworthy. Not every "joyful noise" needs a microphone. As a Christian pastor and philosophy major, it is all the more like fingernails on a chalk board. Every character is a manufactured stereotype. The philosophy professor is a straw man, more uneducated and unprofessional than my college classmates. The Christians are always well-spoken, likeably caring and tenderhearted. The unbelievers are naive, unlikeable and aggressive. Just a 30 second talk and one Bible verse can instantly turn frowns upside-down. Real life is nowhere near this simple. This great premise for a film turns out to be a Christian fantasy world produced by Hallmark.

The message is certainly biblical. But this is just propaganda that happens to be correct. God's Not Dead actually shows Christian faith to be shallow, simplistic, and bringing instant results. Real Christians are not always so nice and polite. One-liners and 30-second arguments do not silence professors of philosophy. Actual atheist professors have massive and detailed arguments against faith-based beliefs that are difficult to engage. The Bible presents the messy world as it actually is, and the God who comes through in spite of our failings. It gives us deeply flawed heroes of faith who God uses in powerful ways. It gives examples of failure as much as success, and sorrow along with joy.

If a philosophy 101 student wrote a 4-page defense of Christianity and a freshman film student wrote a script for the purpose of presenting the paper, this would be the product. Christians have more depth than this. The public deserves better examples than this. Most of all, God deserves better.