Apologetics and Gods not Dead movie

[Goodbook]

Just wondering what you as baptists thought of the movie Gods not Dead?

In the movie, Josh looked like he was asking advice from a minister in a church but dont think it was baptist as it said st james.

Also, for the calvinists out there, Josh said in his presentation regarding the existence of evil that we have free will. In fact, the entire movie was about exercising ones free will to believe once presented with the facts or the gospel.

The movie wasnt overtly evangelisitic though, while mentioning Jesus there was no gospel preached. It was more of an apologetic film, but an interesting and thought provoking film nonetheless.

 

[The Portuguese Baptist]

Just wondering what you as baptists thought of the movie Gods not Dead?

In the movie, Josh looked like he was asking advice from a minister in a church but dont think it was baptist as it said st james.

Also, for the calvinists out there, Josh said in his presentation regarding the existence of evil that we have free will. In fact, the entire movie was about exercising ones free will to believe once presented with the facts or the gospel.

The movie wasnt overtly evangelisitic though, while mentioning Jesus there was no gospel preached. It was more of an apologetic film, but an interesting and thought provoking film nonetheless.

I watched it about a year ago, but, from what I can remember, I liked it.

I agree with you that the film was relatively poor in terms of evangelisation. No-one really preached the Gospel, giving instead greater emphasis on believing in God's existence. I personally think that they could have placed greater emphasis on that, but I do not condemn them, since different films have different purposes; if they decided to make one centred in apologetics rather than evangelisation, that is acceptable and comprehensible.

I did not notice the detail ‘Saint James’, but, if true, that would be something rather unreasonable for an evangelic film.

Calvinists (like me) do not necessarily reject free will; they just have a reduced view of it, believing that God's sovereign choice is primordial over everything and that God's election precedes our acceptance of salvation. However, even as a Calvinist, I do not reject free will; I just recognise that it is difficult to reconcile it with God's election, but I believe that both exist and that it is a divine mystery how exactly it is possible, but that, at the same time, God's election is the main cause for everything, not our free will. Nevertheless, I find it biblically unreasonable to reject free will. (I must note, however, that, when I watched the film, I was not yet a Calvinist, so I did not even notice that.)

All in all, I think it is a very good film, and I surely do recommend it. There is nothing in it that I condemn, except perhaps, if true, preceding James' name with the word ‘Saint’.

 

[98cwitr]

I liked it too. I think the free will is from the perspective of man, and without thinking past that perspective, one can see how it is viewed as "accepting Christ." The real truth beyond the perception is that Christ chooses us (John 15).

 

[JM]

I thought it was good entertainment.

 

[Goodbook]

Well of course. But we still have free will to accept or reject him. Jesus is choosing people all the time, but only the jewish ppl can say they were THE chosen ones (or elected) as referred to in the Bible.

I think calvinists get this point really confused. They try to make the bible say what it doesnt say. Anyway, carry on. Its not like those who say we have free will dont know that God is always drawing us first. In the movie, God was obviously drawing the atheist professor to himself. But he still made a choice to believe, or surrender his unbelief. Thats why people ask, do you accept Jesus christ as your Lord and saviour they dont just chuck water on people and declare them christians.

 

[Goodbook]

Nothing wrong with st james, its just the name of the church the pastor was pastoring. james was the lords brother, so I dont think anything wrong with that. I just mentioned it as it would seem the church would have not been a baptist as most all baptists churches i know of do not name their churches after saints.

 

[Goodbook]

I dont think every christian movie needs to be an evangelistic type movie.
Sometimes its just watching what other christians go through in life. Defending the faith is important and you can see the chinese guy made his own decision to follow Jesus after hearing Josh talk about God.

 

[royal priest]

I dont think every christian movie needs to be an evangelistic type movie.
Sometimes its just watching what other christians go through in life. Defending the faith is important and you can see the chinese guy made his own decision to follow Jesus after hearing Josh talk about God.

Without God, there is no hope. This is painstakingly clear in so many stories we watch or read. This often leaves me feeling pretty depressed for this godless world in which we live.

 

[Goodbook]

The last university I went to was a pretty godless environment. Although it depends on what you study, and I did do philosphy papers in my first year. They were boring to say the least, and confusing!

I am not sure I learned anything useful from philosphy that I could apply today although I am a deep thinker myself. But i learned that Gods wisdom triumphs over mans.

 

[royal priest]

But i learned that Gods wisdom triumphs over mans.

Amen! Romans 3:4

 

[mikedsjr]

For some odd reason, this thread brought back the memory of watching "Super Christian" at church on a Sunday Night back in the 80s. Wow! Was Christian movies so terrible they were funny to watch.

 

[Leevo]

Just wondering what you as baptists thought of the movie Gods not Dead?

In the movie, Josh looked like he was asking advice from a minister in a church but dont think it was baptist as it said st james.

Also, for the calvinists out there, Josh said in his presentation regarding the existence of evil that we have free will. In fact, the entire movie was about exercising ones free will to believe once presented with the facts or the gospel.

The movie wasnt overtly evangelisitic though, while mentioning Jesus there was no gospel preached. It was more of an apologetic film, but an interesting and thought provoking film nonetheless.

I enjoyed it! The movie was released at a time I was having doubts about my faith and helped me out of said doubts by leaning to the apologetics side of things.

Also, as an Arminian I was not bothered by the mention of free will, hehe.

 

[Goodbook]

It seems to me a lot of baptists, if they do go onto further tertiary study, tend to attend bible colleges. Of course.
But I wasn't brought up baptist, so never had the opportunity, my family or mum probably would have disowned me. Or they do things like nursing or teaching. Not law, as Josh in the movie did.

 

[Goodbook]

The gospel is actually Good News so dont be depressed royal priest. We just need to tell people and plant the seeds of the gospel and its up to them whether they want to accept this Good News.

 

[The Portuguese Baptist]

I liked it too. I think the free will is from the perspective of man, and without thinking past that perspective, one can see how it is viewed as "accepting Christ." The real truth beyond the perception is that Christ chooses us (John 15).

Exactly! God chooses us, and our free will is not as vast as we like to think it is. However, for all practical purposes, we do have free will — and that is all that matters (the rest is mostly just for having fun with theological debates ).

 

[The Portuguese Baptist]

Nothing wrong with st james, its just the name of the church the pastor was pastoring. james was the lords brother, so I dont think anything wrong with that. I just mentioned it as it would seem the church would have not been a baptist as most all baptists churches i know of do not name their churches after saints.

Er... Actually, there is something very wrong with calling him ‘Saint James’. Firstly, his name was James, not Saint James, and that is the name consistently used in the Bible for him. Secondly, although he really was a saint (since the Bible teaches that all Christians are saints), the Bible never encourages us to call each other saints. Thirdly, calling him a saint is based upon an unbiblical Catholic doctrine of inequality amongst Christians, that one gets to be called a saint because of good works; actually, he was no more of a saint that I am; so, if he is Saint James, I am the Saint Portuguese Baptist and you are Saint Goodbook.

 

[royal priest]

The gospel is actually Good News so dont be depressed royal priest. We just need to tell people and plant the seeds of the gospel and its up to them whether they want to accept this Good News.

It's just depressing when a secular story leads its characters chasing after vain hopes and attempts to make you think that things will be better in the end without Christ.

 

[Goodbook]

? But Gods not dead is not a secular story, its a story of a christian guy defending his faith. Thats what this thread is about. Watch more christian movies or movies with christian characters in them.

 

[royal priest]

I haven't seen "God's Not Dead."
I've seen the Sherwood Pictures movies. Those aren't too bad.

 

[Goodbook]

Oh, well, this thread is specifically about Gods not dead.
I havent seen sherwood pictures. If you get the chance, see Gods not Dead, its a good movie.