“God is not Dead”; the Movie; the Debate; the Power
Spoiler alert.
My wife and I watched the movie “God is not Dead” via Amazon Prime on our Roku. It is a well made movie. The costs in taking a stand for one’s faith are well portrayed but a more positive, perhaps too positive, reality is the moral of the story.
There is a clear delineation of the secular verses the religious perspectives on life. The arguments in favor of the existence of God are strong and answer the strongest arguments against the existence of God, that is, when intellectual honesty is demanded. Science and scientists, philosophy and philosophers are all covered in the arguments. Astoundingly these arguments do not dominate the movie, the life of faith elements are their in a flawless flow. It is a really well made movie.
There is a subtle theme of alienation throughout. That is, how an appearance of alienation is created if you stand for your faith. It is contrasted with the true alienation one lives in when separated from God. Those in the supposed know, appearing to have it all, are revealed to be empty of any deep substance relationship wise.
Double spoiler alert.
A great movie, …and then comes the ending.
I spoke with several people who saw this movie and none liked the ending. It was too trite and in your face by most viewers standards. Okay, the man denied God the majority of his life but was saved in his last moments by professing his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It is a message that might appear controversial in a different context. The man was hardly a mass murderer. He was not ignorant of the Bible or a life of faith, he simply hated God for reasons some may sympathize with. Is he truly saved in the last moments of his life? Hard to believe he wouldn’t be. He held a clear understanding of Jesus and the Bible. But the scene hits upon an issue some people have difficulty in taking seriously when considering the heights of evil men have the potential of attaining.
Obviously the movie wanted this message of instant complete salvation as a powerful aspect of the movie. It is about the power of God to do anything. In this modern age it is this concept of the power of God that is the weakest aspect of the Christian faith however. The flaw is just as apparent in this movie as in any other profession of one’s faith with its current corresponding beliefs.
The movie addresses the wrong question in the debate; Does God exist? Or perhaps the movie puts forward the wrong answers to the question. Science and philosophy are not in contradiction to the existence of God in and of themselves. Why some people do not believe in God is that they cannot believe God would allow all this evil in the world. Why do people suffer if God is all powerful. And God’s power seems everything to the Christian. In the movie the power of God in peoples lives is apparent. It is filled with happy, prosperous and successful Christians; again in your face, but an undeniable truth.
The movie addresses the question of why evil and suffering exist. God requires man to respond with his freewill. Without suffering many may never understand that they need to be saved; they never recognize the prison of sin they and all mankind are comfortably trapped in.
All well and good but…
Where did evil come from? If God foreknew all that was to come (absolute predestination the ultimate power), even evil, then evil was a part of God from before the creation. Why then does evil keep us from God if He is just as familiar with evil as He is good? How can God be all good and, most important to this modern age, how can Christians say God is love if in all His power, omnipotence, He knowingly lets men suffer, apparently according to His plan? …unless God is a sadist.
If evil existed apart from God then we are speaking of a dualism and evil will continue on, just as God and all that is good, for eternity. How can Christianity profess the end of all evil, the victory of God and everything good if one cannot exist without the other? How could it be God is all powerful if He is not the sole eternal being; the Creator?
What is power? A Christian finds power in faith, but what does that mean? A Christian finds power in long suffering. A Christian finds power in perseverance, in loving his enemy. Some describe a life of faith as finding strength in weakness. A Christian finds strength in all these things when contemplating Jesus Christ and the example of His life. A Christian finds strength in all the great blessings, the fruits of the resurrection, that surround him when his eyes are opened through the love of Christ. We attribute these blessings in similar kind to the Holy Spirit.
But what of the “God” of the trinity? Does the Christian project these same attributes to God the father? Or does God the father, the all powerful, exist to condemn the unbeliever, those evil one’s, to eternal damnation. Does He exist, just as all the varied gods of old did, to show Himself more powerful then the gods of the enemy, the adjacent culture or city with whom one’s own people are in contention?
Okay, on those last days the true Christians will be vindicated. Those who persecuted them will be thrown down to eternal damnation, or in some doctrines simply cease to exist. All those God loved, supposedly as the all loving all forgiving God, and failed to repent of their own free will, will be cast down to eternal fire and oblivion. Ha ha ha? And all God’s good creation will be ripped apart and destroyed with them?
Now we are getting to the issues that drive many, especially the intellectual, away from a belief in the existence of God. It is not really the existence of God, but the supposed nature of God that brings them into contention. Perhaps those intellectuals are more feeling then they are given credit for. The movie addresses this exact scenario but fails to go to the root of the problem, which is where the true answers can be found.
Simply, the origin of evil in relation to God’s purpose is the issue.
In The Divine Principle revealed by Reverend Moon (a complete theology strictly adhering to the Bible) the real questions concerning God’s existence are answered.
The all powerful God created everything and everything He created was good. God never imagined evil. He never planned evil. Man was not created perfect but he was created good, and very good, and with free will. God’s intention was a world of goodness, nothing less. Jesus command; “You must become perfects as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. But the presence of evil was never required in God’s creation for man to exercise his free will in his pursuit to “become perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Free will was also given to the Angels. In the actions and proclivities developing amongst the angels, who eventually rebelled against God and tempted Eve, God foresaw the potential of what might go wrong between the angels and man. Therefore God gave man, immature man growing to maturity through the practice of his free will, the commandment. Man was free to believe in or disregard God’s commandment. That was man’s responsibility. Even then, God being all good, could never have imagined the extent of evil this world has/had sunk to with man’s failure to follow His commandment. And if free will is essential to our perfection God could not negate man’s free will without undermining His goal.
Therefore this world of evil was generated by man, and has nothing to do with God and has never had anything to do with God. It is why mankind is described as lost. If evil is given even the slightest recognition by God, it would be recognized as eternal. It is only God’s lonely commitment to His absolute existence and purpose of goodness, His absolute power, that ensures the eventual destruction of all evil; God’s absolute victory.
Jesus commanded man to be perfect. Under Jesus Christ we are no longer restricted to the position of God’s servants, we are called His children and He is called our Father.
God, in all His power has been absolute in His long suffering in His persecution by man, in His forgiveness and love. This is God’s absolute strength and authority, that he never gives up on His children nor recognizes the evil that we have manifested. He created us to live as His children, as families amidst His creation and will never give up until that is achieved. His kingdom will come to this earth. His original intention of goodness for all and every man and woman ever born will not be altered.
This evil world with all its sins and suffering is on us; mankind. And where God suffers unjustly from our sins, never having failed us, working to provide us with the messiah through which we can all return to Him, sometimes we suffer in ways that appear undue and unjust. Ultimately the child is to resemble the father in position and authority. God preserves this position and authority for His children by not taking away our free will; our responsibility.
All this, all God’s creation, was for God to achieve love as a Parent by establishing mankind as His children here on earth. And just as God holds authority over the creation as its Creator so must man. Can you not see it coming to pass?
The suffering that is a central theme to the movie “God is not Dead” is of our own making. God suffers far more than we can imagine and unjustly so unlike ourselves. And though we and all who have ever existed have free will, in the end all past and present will, of their own free will, eventually return to God. This is God’s omnipotence; an all powerful love.. This is the God Reverend Moon revealed clearly through the same Bible every Christian reads.
Many want to accuse the Unification Church of not believing in the Bible. Reverend Moon’s teachings are all clearly put forth, with passage upon passage from the Bible in a relatively short and easy to read book; “The Divine Principle.” It is a complete theology and is maligned only because it differs from traditional teachings; teachings that cannot hold their ground to The Divine Principle in honest debate.
You should read The Divine Principle yourself and not believe what other people claim it says.
For example, many will claim that we believe Jesus failed. On its face an unacceptable concept for any Christian. Let me put it forward this way.
Jesus’ birth was prophesied; “He will be great and called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give to him the throne of His father David,...” Luke 1:31-33 and the Jews were waiting for their King, their Messiah, their Anointed One.
God revealed to John the Baptist John 1:33-34 (and his family) who Jesus was. Matt 3:11
The Jews were waiting for Elijah to come before the Messiah. Jesus said John the Baptist was the Elijah for whom they awaited. Matt. 17:12-13
The Jews believed everything John the Baptist said and even thought that he was the Messiah; they asked him. They also asked him if he was Elijah and he said, in contradiction to Jesus, that he wasn’t. John 1:21 He doubted Jesus openly Matt 11:3-6 and his head came off.
Yet John the Baptist is admired. Why? Matt 11:11
See a problem? Jesus berated the Jews for their disbelief John 5:38-46; John 6:29, he cried over Jerusalem at the people’s obstinacy Matt. 23:37 and prayed, sweating blood, that he not have to go to the cross for the people’s sin, as his disciple’s slept. Then even his closest disciple denied Him three times.
It was not God’s intention that Jesus die though He foresaw the possibility.
Yes, we who follow Reverend Moon believe things should have been different but man has free will. If the people give themselves over to the devil, whose goal has always been to destroy man, how much more so Jesus, by acting in opposition to God’s will, just as Adam and Eve disregarded God’s commandment, God cannot intervene.
It’s all on man. God has bestowed man, His children, with that much power.
My wife and I watched the movie “God is not Dead” via Amazon Prime on our Roku. It is a well made movie. The costs in taking a stand for one’s faith are well portrayed but a more positive, perhaps too positive, reality is the moral of the story.
There is a clear delineation of the secular verses the religious perspectives on life. The arguments in favor of the existence of God are strong and answer the strongest arguments against the existence of God, that is, when intellectual honesty is demanded. Science and scientists, philosophy and philosophers are all covered in the arguments. Astoundingly these arguments do not dominate the movie, the life of faith elements are their in a flawless flow. It is a really well made movie.
There is a subtle theme of alienation throughout. That is, how an appearance of alienation is created if you stand for your faith. It is contrasted with the true alienation one lives in when separated from God. Those in the supposed know, appearing to have it all, are revealed to be empty of any deep substance relationship wise.
Double spoiler alert.
A great movie, …and then comes the ending.
I spoke with several people who saw this movie and none liked the ending. It was too trite and in your face by most viewers standards. Okay, the man denied God the majority of his life but was saved in his last moments by professing his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It is a message that might appear controversial in a different context. The man was hardly a mass murderer. He was not ignorant of the Bible or a life of faith, he simply hated God for reasons some may sympathize with. Is he truly saved in the last moments of his life? Hard to believe he wouldn’t be. He held a clear understanding of Jesus and the Bible. But the scene hits upon an issue some people have difficulty in taking seriously when considering the heights of evil men have the potential of attaining.
Obviously the movie wanted this message of instant complete salvation as a powerful aspect of the movie. It is about the power of God to do anything. In this modern age it is this concept of the power of God that is the weakest aspect of the Christian faith however. The flaw is just as apparent in this movie as in any other profession of one’s faith with its current corresponding beliefs.
The movie addresses the wrong question in the debate; Does God exist? Or perhaps the movie puts forward the wrong answers to the question. Science and philosophy are not in contradiction to the existence of God in and of themselves. Why some people do not believe in God is that they cannot believe God would allow all this evil in the world. Why do people suffer if God is all powerful. And God’s power seems everything to the Christian. In the movie the power of God in peoples lives is apparent. It is filled with happy, prosperous and successful Christians; again in your face, but an undeniable truth.
The movie addresses the question of why evil and suffering exist. God requires man to respond with his freewill. Without suffering many may never understand that they need to be saved; they never recognize the prison of sin they and all mankind are comfortably trapped in.
All well and good but…
Where did evil come from? If God foreknew all that was to come (absolute predestination the ultimate power), even evil, then evil was a part of God from before the creation. Why then does evil keep us from God if He is just as familiar with evil as He is good? How can God be all good and, most important to this modern age, how can Christians say God is love if in all His power, omnipotence, He knowingly lets men suffer, apparently according to His plan? …unless God is a sadist.
If evil existed apart from God then we are speaking of a dualism and evil will continue on, just as God and all that is good, for eternity. How can Christianity profess the end of all evil, the victory of God and everything good if one cannot exist without the other? How could it be God is all powerful if He is not the sole eternal being; the Creator?
What is power? A Christian finds power in faith, but what does that mean? A Christian finds power in long suffering. A Christian finds power in perseverance, in loving his enemy. Some describe a life of faith as finding strength in weakness. A Christian finds strength in all these things when contemplating Jesus Christ and the example of His life. A Christian finds strength in all the great blessings, the fruits of the resurrection, that surround him when his eyes are opened through the love of Christ. We attribute these blessings in similar kind to the Holy Spirit.
But what of the “God” of the trinity? Does the Christian project these same attributes to God the father? Or does God the father, the all powerful, exist to condemn the unbeliever, those evil one’s, to eternal damnation. Does He exist, just as all the varied gods of old did, to show Himself more powerful then the gods of the enemy, the adjacent culture or city with whom one’s own people are in contention?
Okay, on those last days the true Christians will be vindicated. Those who persecuted them will be thrown down to eternal damnation, or in some doctrines simply cease to exist. All those God loved, supposedly as the all loving all forgiving God, and failed to repent of their own free will, will be cast down to eternal fire and oblivion. Ha ha ha? And all God’s good creation will be ripped apart and destroyed with them?
Now we are getting to the issues that drive many, especially the intellectual, away from a belief in the existence of God. It is not really the existence of God, but the supposed nature of God that brings them into contention. Perhaps those intellectuals are more feeling then they are given credit for. The movie addresses this exact scenario but fails to go to the root of the problem, which is where the true answers can be found.
Simply, the origin of evil in relation to God’s purpose is the issue.
In The Divine Principle revealed by Reverend Moon (a complete theology strictly adhering to the Bible) the real questions concerning God’s existence are answered.
The all powerful God created everything and everything He created was good. God never imagined evil. He never planned evil. Man was not created perfect but he was created good, and very good, and with free will. God’s intention was a world of goodness, nothing less. Jesus command; “You must become perfects as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. But the presence of evil was never required in God’s creation for man to exercise his free will in his pursuit to “become perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Free will was also given to the Angels. In the actions and proclivities developing amongst the angels, who eventually rebelled against God and tempted Eve, God foresaw the potential of what might go wrong between the angels and man. Therefore God gave man, immature man growing to maturity through the practice of his free will, the commandment. Man was free to believe in or disregard God’s commandment. That was man’s responsibility. Even then, God being all good, could never have imagined the extent of evil this world has/had sunk to with man’s failure to follow His commandment. And if free will is essential to our perfection God could not negate man’s free will without undermining His goal.
Therefore this world of evil was generated by man, and has nothing to do with God and has never had anything to do with God. It is why mankind is described as lost. If evil is given even the slightest recognition by God, it would be recognized as eternal. It is only God’s lonely commitment to His absolute existence and purpose of goodness, His absolute power, that ensures the eventual destruction of all evil; God’s absolute victory.
Jesus commanded man to be perfect. Under Jesus Christ we are no longer restricted to the position of God’s servants, we are called His children and He is called our Father.
God, in all His power has been absolute in His long suffering in His persecution by man, in His forgiveness and love. This is God’s absolute strength and authority, that he never gives up on His children nor recognizes the evil that we have manifested. He created us to live as His children, as families amidst His creation and will never give up until that is achieved. His kingdom will come to this earth. His original intention of goodness for all and every man and woman ever born will not be altered.
This evil world with all its sins and suffering is on us; mankind. And where God suffers unjustly from our sins, never having failed us, working to provide us with the messiah through which we can all return to Him, sometimes we suffer in ways that appear undue and unjust. Ultimately the child is to resemble the father in position and authority. God preserves this position and authority for His children by not taking away our free will; our responsibility.
All this, all God’s creation, was for God to achieve love as a Parent by establishing mankind as His children here on earth. And just as God holds authority over the creation as its Creator so must man. Can you not see it coming to pass?
The suffering that is a central theme to the movie “God is not Dead” is of our own making. God suffers far more than we can imagine and unjustly so unlike ourselves. And though we and all who have ever existed have free will, in the end all past and present will, of their own free will, eventually return to God. This is God’s omnipotence; an all powerful love.. This is the God Reverend Moon revealed clearly through the same Bible every Christian reads.
Many want to accuse the Unification Church of not believing in the Bible. Reverend Moon’s teachings are all clearly put forth, with passage upon passage from the Bible in a relatively short and easy to read book; “The Divine Principle.” It is a complete theology and is maligned only because it differs from traditional teachings; teachings that cannot hold their ground to The Divine Principle in honest debate.
You should read The Divine Principle yourself and not believe what other people claim it says.
For example, many will claim that we believe Jesus failed. On its face an unacceptable concept for any Christian. Let me put it forward this way.
Jesus’ birth was prophesied; “He will be great and called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give to him the throne of His father David,...” Luke 1:31-33 and the Jews were waiting for their King, their Messiah, their Anointed One.
God revealed to John the Baptist John 1:33-34 (and his family) who Jesus was. Matt 3:11
The Jews were waiting for Elijah to come before the Messiah. Jesus said John the Baptist was the Elijah for whom they awaited. Matt. 17:12-13
The Jews believed everything John the Baptist said and even thought that he was the Messiah; they asked him. They also asked him if he was Elijah and he said, in contradiction to Jesus, that he wasn’t. John 1:21 He doubted Jesus openly Matt 11:3-6 and his head came off.
Yet John the Baptist is admired. Why? Matt 11:11
See a problem? Jesus berated the Jews for their disbelief John 5:38-46; John 6:29, he cried over Jerusalem at the people’s obstinacy Matt. 23:37 and prayed, sweating blood, that he not have to go to the cross for the people’s sin, as his disciple’s slept. Then even his closest disciple denied Him three times.
It was not God’s intention that Jesus die though He foresaw the possibility.
Yes, we who follow Reverend Moon believe things should have been different but man has free will. If the people give themselves over to the devil, whose goal has always been to destroy man, how much more so Jesus, by acting in opposition to God’s will, just as Adam and Eve disregarded God’s commandment, God cannot intervene.
It’s all on man. God has bestowed man, His children, with that much power.
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