This film weaves several plots around the main story of a philosophy student who is challenged by an atheist philosophy professor to give arguments for God's existence. The young man takes the challenge, which exacts a cost on him, including the loss of his long-term girl friend. Other subplots relate to people considering Christian commitment in one way or another. (There is spoiler alert. I'll let you see how the movie resolves.)
The best actor is the atheist professor. However, he does not act much like a professor, since he is overly arrogant and gives few arguments for atheism. The student ends up studying apologetics and gives some decent arguments for God, including the argument from the Big Bang and biology. I could quibble, but I won't. How many movies list "apologetics research" in the credits? Rice Brooks is listed. I had not heard of him before, but he has written a book called God is not Dead. (I kept waiting for the student to check out my book, Christian Apologetics, in his research, but he did not. I will get over it.)
The rest of the acting is fair to poor and the film is overly cheesy in parts. Some of the characters are pretty thin and predictable. Nevertheless, it deals with ultimate matters with some wisdom, so it is not a bad film for both believers and unbelievers.
Let this encourage us to enter the secular world with the Christian message through films, books, articles, poems, plays, and in ever other way. Time is short; eternity long; our task is great.
I am thankful that my prediction that the movie would contain no apologetics was false!
1 comment:
The best actor is the atheist professor. However, he does not act much like a professor, since he is overly arrogant and gives few arguments for atheism.
After staring in Hercules for 5 years I should hope Kevin Sorbo could act, and unfortunately I found his role as an arrogant professor with an axe to grind to be spot-on. (My professor's personal axe was communism rather than atheism however) I was subjected to that exact kind of academic abuse for an entire semester, and like the movie there was eventually a showdown, however in my case the professor chose a veteran rather than a believer as a target.
The outcome was slightly different, while Kevin Sorbo eventually found out that there is a God the hard way, my professor found out that if you're going to argue geo-politics with little more than bumper sticker philosophy don't pick on a 20 year veteran of the Strategic Air Command, especially one who has no problem speaking in front of a class or one on one with the Department Chair
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