God is Not Dead was a Dud

I recently watched the movie God is Not Dead, (or, God’s Not Dead). I’d heard a lot of people talking about it on Facebook, so I decided to give the flick a look-see…on Netflix.

Here are 5 reasons why I think God’s Not Dead was a dud…

Reason 1: Sloppy Stereotyping

Hollywood is often guilty of stereotyping, but this movie takes the cake. There was such a stark delineation between the good guys and the bad ones. With the bad being really obnoxiously bad and the good, nauseatingly neat, prim and proper. Sorry, but life just isn’t like that.

In short, the sinners were just too sinister, and the saved too saintly, to not strain credulity.

Reason 2: Detached Demonizing

I was especially taken aback by how much of a demon this movie makes out to be not only the poor and demented philosophy professor, but really the entire higher education system. It’s as if the movie tries to plant the idea that there’s an underlying motive to convince our sons and daughters to convert into evil robotic atheists hell-bent on destroying our “christian” American society.

They kill the evil professor off at the end in the most painful way (he was run over by a truck), only to have him repent and accept Jesus in a middle of the rainy road “death-bed” confession. I guess he got what was coming to him for trying to impose his faith on his students.

But isn’t that exactly what this entire movie attempts to do on its viewers?

Reason 3: Rachety Reasoning

I listened to the fresh and spot clean “pre-law” student deliver his argument for a living creator and saviour to his classmates, but for the life of me I couldn’t possibly follow his reasoning. Maybe I’m just not smart enough, or possibly it’s because none of it made the slightest lick of sense. He was of course able to sway the entire class to the embarrassing mockery of the evil prof, who after all only had the facts of science to go on.

Reason 4: a Tear-jerked Termination

Do all christian movies end with concerts? Seems so. And this one didn’t fail to deliver. Another of the non-christian evil doers, inserted into the plot haphazardly, makes a confession with the band backstage (she was a reporter of sorts, or a blogger, the movie didn’t really make that clear). That was motivated by an earlier terminal cancer diagnosis and resulting breakup with her evil capitalist pig of a boyfriend.

Why were all the non-christians in this movie so inherently evil, or screwed up? I know many who aren’t.

Also, I thought christianity and capitalism went together like Reagan and Robertson (Pat, that is)?

Reason 5: The Gaping Abyss

The thing that really left me wondering at the end is this: So let’s say there is a god (I do believe that, by the way). Why does he have to be christian and why is the bible the best source for explaining his doings? That question was not answered in the slightest way and to me is the greatest fault underlying this dud of a movie.

Perhaps because it’s a question that cannot possibly be answered.

You see I have this belief that faith is a personal issue and should not be used as a sword to divide. But in this movie that’s exactly what it’s used for.

Yes, it takes a great deal of faith to be an atheist…perhaps as much or more than it does to be a christian. Neither should be condemned, nor demonized.

Unfortunately this movie fails in that effort, miserably…

and really doesn’t prove a damn thing.

image credit: Chris Piascik via Compfight cc