Review of God's Not Dead (2014) by Rjoules — 22 Mar 2014

It seemed like a Hollywood A-movie and yet a Christian movie. Well-acted, produced and directed per normal Hollywood standards, I thought. Engaging from start to finish. I was not fidgety in my seat.

The movie was not just the debate. There was drama. If you are a father or daughter, especially from an Asian culture, and even if you are of Western origin, there is a moment in the movie when you will be moved with a surge of simultaneous emotions (intense sadness, compassion, suspense, hope, etc.), so much so that there is lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I write this. I can still see the torment on the father's face (an actor whom I have never seen before) and the daughter's anguish.

I would see this movie again if only to see that part again.

The debate is only about 20-25 percent of the movie. There is a bunch of other situations involving relationships, conflicts and life choices we all make, all smoothly and engagingly woven into the main storyline that moves at a very good pace.

For Christians in the habit of watching faith programs, studying the Bible, reading faith books and regularly attending church and Sunday school there won't be much new in the debate. Nominal Christians and non-Christians who are intellectually honest will find the debate interesting, enlightening, even persuasive, and a couple of unexpected twists in the story captivating.

I had never heard a particular Steven Hawking assertion (not mentioning it here because I don't want to spoil the movie for you) which the Christian student uses in the debate. There may be things like that many may not have read or heard before.

What should have struck me long before the movie is how atheists and progressives tend to fast-talk their arguments (apparently to impress the common man with their intellectual superiority by attempting to prevent the man's brain from catching up with what they are saying) while believers and conservatives tend to be slow and deliberative in what they say because they want people to truly understand what they are writing and saying.

Reminds me of a math major roommate I had in the Army who sent a girl a letter with the stamp deliberately affixed to the envelope upside down. He explained to me that the upside down stamp usually is a coded or subconscious message that the sender has romantic interest in the receiver. When the girl took the bait he went through this [faulty] probability reasoning to impress her, "proving" that the stamp was upside down merely by dumb chance.

I believe it will be well worth the time and money you spend on this movie. I hope you won't miss it. If you are a Christian it will help you help others. If you are not a Christian I believe it will indeed entertain you at a minimum or change your life in a way you now think is impossible.