God's Not Dead

God’s Not Dead (spoilers alert)

I recently went to see the movie God’s Not Dead. This is a fantastic movie. Perhaps the best I have ever seen. I’m sure you’re at least somewhat familiar with the premise: a college freshman (Josh Wheaton, played by Shane Harper) is in a philosophy class where the professor (Radisson, played by Kevin Sorbo) has made it clear to his students that God is dead. By that he, says, it’s not that God was once alive. No, the very idea of God is a myth. He does not and has never existed. In the first meeting of this philosophy class of the semester, he points out many atheist thinkers who agree with him. These include Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertram Russell, John Stuart Mill, and even Ayn Rand, among many others. He hands out paper to all the students and instructs them to write on the paper, “God is dead” and then sign it. Then they can get on with the rest of the semester having dispensed with the formality of getting over this God business. As he collects the papers, he sees that one student has written, “god is dead,” with a lowercase “g.” He toys with giving that student extra credit. Then he sees that one student, Josh Wheaton, is fumbling with admitting the premise. He challenges him. Wheaton says he’s a Christian and that he cannot agree with what the professor is saying. “Then you will have to defend the antithesis,” Professor Radisson explains.

So Josh does. And he is challenged on many fronts. His parents don’t want him to do this, although we never see them say this. But his girlfriend, Kara (played by Cassidy Gifford), who claims to be a Christian, tells him that this will be the end of his law school plans if he pursues this. And the end of their relationship. Sadly, it is. She leaves him because he won’t give up on defending God.

Josh convinces his professor to let him defend his view and let the class be the jury to decide if he’s right. The professor agrees. But he does not let up on giving Josh a hard time about believing what he considers nonsense.

As Josh goes before the class on three occasions, he gives very good evidence to prove his point. He quotes people like John Lennox (you’ll want to look him up) and even Fyodor Dostoevsky, who famously said, “If God does not exist, everything is permitted.” What that means is that if there is no God, there must be no morality. We can live like the animals. Murder and other crimes aren’t really crimes if there is no God.

As with any good story, there are several threads in this one. And you know they will all come together; you just don’t know how or when. I won’t give away how they do; you’ll have to see the movie to see that. But they all do intersect in terrific ways.

In addition to Professor Radisson, there are several other nonbelievers. Amy Ryan (played by Trisha LaFache) is a well-known blogger who loves to get interviews from believers and mock them. She gets one interview with Willie Robertson (yes, the Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame). Willie is not at all flustered by her questions. He makes clear what he believes. This is a good part of the movie. Some see this as a paper thin thread of the movie, but I don’t. Willie is a common man who believes in God. And nothing can shake his faith. He gives Amy a big smile and goes into a church with his wife after inviting her to come with them. She declines.

As I said, I don’t want to give away the subplots and how they intersect. There is one subplot in which a young Muslim girl is secretly a Christian. Her younger brother sees that she is listening to Franklin Graham on her iPod. She makes him swear not to tell their father. But he does. And when her father finds out, he kicks her out. That kind of thing does indeed happen. Maybe not as much in America, but it does happen around the world. Where will she go? Has she made a mistake? We’ll have to see.

There was only one part of the movie that I objected to. Near the beginning, there were several scenes where the camera angle shows a woman’s attractive legs or other body parts. I wondered what that was all about. It was clear that we were supposed to notice these physical parts of the women. I don’t think that was necessary. As I said, it was near the beginning, and it did not continue throughout the film.

Perhaps the best part of the movie is the end, where we see the Newsboys in concert. They have a special place in my heart. Although the group has changed a few faces from when I first started listening to them in 2002, they are still a strong Christian group and have a terrific presence in the movie. And they’re not bad actors, either. They sing the title song, God’s Not Dead, which honestly brought tears to my eyes. No, God isn’t dead. He is at work in my life and I suspect in yours too.

The very end of the movie is quite tragic. I won’t give it away, but it’s terribly sad. Yet it really demonstrates God’s amazing grace.

You have got to see this movie. In fact, this is a keeper. When it comes out on DVD, I will get it. No, God’s not dead. He’s surely alive!