Movie review: "God's Not Dead"

I would wholeheartedly give "God's Not Dead" two thumbs up. It's a movie that will boost your faith in very tangible ways.

Here are a few of the reasons why I liked this movie:

1). It was "real." For too long, Christian movies have been known for bad acting and bad story lines. Here's how it would have played out: You sat down to watch a wholesome, Christian movie. Minutes into the movie, you realized that the acting was so bad or the scenarios seemed so silly that you shook your head and turned the thing off.

Well, this movie suffers from neither (for the most part). The acting is more than good enough to bring you into the story and the story line is real and believable. In fact, this story did an incredible job of bringing you into the lives of many(!) different characters to show how the issue of God's existence/non-existence plays out in the real world. 

2). It illustrates the truth that "ideas have consequences." Whether or not God exists is not an idea/conviction that is held in a vacuum. It affects everything else in our life. It affects our attitudes, what we value, how we spend our time, our money, how we treat others, etc., etc., etc.

Two very powerful scenes in the movie occur when two separate characters are faced with death. Without giving anything away, I'll just point out that the one who did not believe in God's existence faced the reality of her demise with fear, anger, and overwhelming grief. She saw death as a merciless enemy and she hated it. Yet, when another of the characters who placed his trust in Jesus came to the point of his death, there was the realization that no matter how horrific death is, it is the doorway to eternal splendor.

3). It showed that people disbelieve in God/Jesus for various reasons. Someone who lives in a Christian bubble and doesn't mingle with folks who are lost may make very wrong conclusions about why folks don't believe the Bible and place their trust in Jesus. 

Ultimately, it is a heart issue. It's a sin issue. But, many times, folks don't want to trust the Bible or Jesus for any of the following reasons:
1) they fear it would be intellectual suicide, 
2) they fear being scoffed and/or rejected by their family/peers,  
3) they have experienced pain or evil and are angry at God,
4) they don't want to give up their self-centered lifestyle, 
5) etc.

This movie digs into the lives of its various characters and shows why they believe what they believe. It puts their belief systems in context so that we can understand the rationale for those beliefs. If you pay close attention, you can learn a lot by observing the mindsets of the individual characters.

4). It digs into apologetics. Apologetics is simply the defense of one's beliefs. The real reason why this movie was made is shown in the three 20-minute presentations that the main character gives in front of his college class. The purpose is to show that the Christian faith is reasonable. It is absolutely reasonable to believe that there is a God ... certainly more reasonable than to deny His existence.

Christians whose faith is a little shaky may go away feeling much more confident. Christians who want to share their faith with someone else will go away realizing that it may not be easy but the facts are on our side. Folks who are not saved may give their lives to Jesus (the Gospel is presented more than once).


There are many other positive points about this movie but I would simply encourage you to go see it for yourself.