God's Not Dead

God's Not Dead is a 2014 American Christian drama film directed by Harold Cronk and starring Kevin Sorbo, Shane Harper, David A. R. White and Dean Cain. The film was produced by Pure Flix Entertainment and released in theaters on March 21, 2014.

The film has three sequels, God's Not Dead 2, God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness, and God's Not Dead: We the People.

Plot
Radisson finds the topic of religion painful because his Christian mother died when he was 12, though he had prayed and begged God to spare her life. This may be what led him to study philosophy so in-depth that he ultimately became a philosophy professor, but his desire to now avoid the topic of religion does not mesh well with his career as a philosophy professor. His anger at God has him requesting his students quote Friedrich Nietzsche and, in exchange, he promises to allow them to skip the chapter on religion. Radisson tells Josh that if he won't reach a consensus with the class, he must prove God is not dead. Radisson had already explained this was a metaphor and, taken in the context of Nietzsche's point, Josh does an excellent job of proving this. Radisson promises Josh that he will keep his comments to a minimum (Radisson won't debate Josh), though Josh begins his argument practically begging for the most common atheist argument when he says, "I say you can't prove God does not exist". Radisson promised he would not debate Josh, and he keeps this promise. We are given more clues as to why when we discover Radisson dates a Christian and his hostility towards God roots from his love for his Christian mother.

Why It's Dead

 * 1) It's simply too preachy, going as far to say that all atheists and non-Christians are bad people, and that Christians are the only good people on the planet. This can be extremely offensive to people that practice non-Christian religions or are simply not religious. The whole film feels like Westboro Baptist Church propaganda than an actual Christian film.
 * 2) Uninspired, unlikable characters.
 * 3) *Josh is perhaps the biggest example of this trope as he neglects his girlfriend to spend more time preparing for his debate and in the end doesn’t even prove that God exists (and when he does, it is done with unreliable evidence), instead raises his voice at Raddison and demands to know why he hates God despite Raddison previously saying he doesn’t believe in God. Talk about egotism.
 * 4) **Speaking of Josh's girlfriend, she stated that she gave up two better colleges to be with Josh and has constantly defended him from her mother. True, she seems to be a bit controlling and a little high-strung, but all of her actions show that she really does care about Josh and did love him. She clearly didn't want him to debate against Radisson because she felt that upsetting such a highly influential teacher would cost him big time in his future. Which she was right on with, as Radisson promised to do just that. Then there was how clearly hurt and shocked she was with how coldly Josh just agreed to break up with her when she gave him the option. Not to mention the fact Josh doesn't react to the breakup at all and doesn't even try to convince her otherwise. Again, he just agrees to it and leaves her without a second thought. Bravissimo, Josh.
 * 5) Christian movie c lichés and the rest of the writing is very poor.
 * 6) Cameos made from the Robertsons (from Duck Dynasty), and The Newsboys are unnecessary.
 * 7) For when Radisson dies at the end of the film, Reverend Dave and Reverend Jude claim that he should repent, when he already did so after reading a letter and instead of taking him to the hospital to treat his wounds, they force him to be Christian.
 * 8) *On top of that, they decide to celebrate his death. Yes, really. Though it would be understandable to Christians, since they supposedly saved Raddison's soul from going to Hell. It's the reverends not even once bothering to proclaim the news or sending their condolences to others, especially Mina (whom Raddison was going to apologize to), that makes it problematic. Although Christians should care greatly for others' eternal soul, they should also show their respects to those who passed away and show sympathy and/or empathy to the deceased one and his/her friends and family. That lives up to a Christian's purpose in life, which is to love God and to love others.
 * 9) The movie declares that Radisson is the main villain of the film for being an atheist, when he actually believed in God, which negates the whole atheist debacle.
 * 10) *To make things clear, the term "atheist" comes from the Greek words a and theós, which, put together, means "no god". Therefore, atheists reject the existence of God or another deity.
 * 11) The acting (with the exceptions of Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain, and David A.R. White) is just mediocre at best.
 * 12) Some sub-plots basically lead to nothing, like Martin and his relationship with his family, or Reverend Dave, Reverend Jude, Amy, Mina and Mark's plots.
 * 13) *For the plot revolving around Ayisha, there was a lot wrong with it. First of all, her dad forces her to wear traditional clothing, like a niqab, ignoring that she was wearing a top which exposes her bare arms and some cleavage (something which even the most liberal Muslims would never wear). Secondly, how did her little brother know that she was listening to an audio recording of the Bible? And third, the dad is portrayed as being very abusive (mind you that very few Muslim fathers are like that) as he, apart from enforcing his beliefs, throws her to the streets for becoming a Christian (ironically, some radical Christians, and other devoutly religious people, are guilty of stuff like this as well). Then there is the fact that it is never explained how she still keeps maintaining her college and where she's living after that.
 * 14) There is one scene where Reverend Dave and Reverend Jude repair their car, just by praying. You can't make this stuff up.
 * 15) Another scene is that despite Martin and his dad being Chinese, they don't speak the same Chinese: one speaks Cantonese and the other speaks Mandarin.
 * 16) The film tries to portray the character Mark (who is acted by Dean Cain) as a stuck-up, Lex Luthor-like businessman (what makes it ironic is that he once played Superman), because (again he's an atheist, and in this world all atheists are bad) he simply doesn't want to see his mom, who suffers from dementia, when actually this is comprehensible. Not to mention, it is relatable to those who have to bear the emotional burden of dealing with their relatives suffering from dementia. The only bad thing that can considered as bad is when he breaks up with his girlfriend Amy, just for being diagnosed with cancer. However, it can be understandable if one thinks about it, as he could have been trying to cut ties with her before having to see her suffer like his mother did. It doesn't make him less of a jerk, but it does add context to his actions.
 * 17) And the most important question: Why does God, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent being, the Creator of the universe and humanity, and the most powerful being, need a mortal to defend Him? Josh once mentions that he felt that God needed somebody to defend Him. That contradicts particular biblical verses like Isaiah 40:14-15.
 * 18) Also how did the Newsboys learn about Josh's and Raddison's debate?
 * 19) Many potential morals were wasted like: "Being focused in just one religion and not letting others profess their own religion can make people feel hurt, even if it's your loved-ones", "Good and bad people aren't exempt of receiving grace or disgraces" or "Having a perfect life is not a motive for being bad". These have value, but all of them were badly executed.
 * 20) Extremely offensive to not only Atheists, Muslims, and other non-Christians, but Christians as well, since the film gives all groups a bad name.
 * 21) The plot has no real depth or heart and will only get across ideas rather than telling a moving story with a good moral.
 * 22) The ending was just terrible, given by WID reasons #5 and #13.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Some of the actors, including (once again) Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain, and David A.R. White, give good performances.
 * 2) The concept of a Christian student taking on an arrogant atheistic professor in a debate is an okay one, even if it could have been executed a lot better.
 * 3) Decent soundtrack, including the titular song by the Newsboys.
 * 4) Reverend Dave, Amy, Mina, and Martin are likable characters.

Reception
God's Not Dead received mostly negative reviews, but grossed over $62 million on a $2 million budget. The film was criticized for using straw man arguments and common stereotypes of atheists, instead of any actual debate. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film received a rating of 12%, based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The consensus reads, "Deploying sledgehammer theatrics instead of delivering its message with a dose of good faith, God's Not Dead makes for bad drama and an unconvincing argument to the unconverted.". On Metacritic, the film received a score of 16 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

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