Full God's Not Dead | Watch Movie Online 2014

Watch God's Not Dead Online

Here’s the great Steven Greydanus taking only two minutes to expose the arrogance, the lack of imagination, and the ugly bias at the heart of God’s Not Dead.

This is just a sneak preview of the review he’s writing, which will go into much more detail. I’ll add that Decent Films link here as soon as it’s published. Watch God's Not Dead Online

Until then, here’s an excerpt from some first-impression notes that Greydanus posted at ArtsandFaith.com. Caution: These are spoiler-ish notes:

Looking back, it seems to me that the movie basically divides the world into two kinds of people: true believers with no moral faults, and nonbelievers with no redeeming qualities. Am I wrong about this? The only middle cases I recall are the Muslim father, a believer but not a true one, who has some redeeming qualities (he really cares about his daughter, in his own misguided way), and the Chinese student, who may not be a true believer, but is a true seeker who eagerly and unresistingly accepts the faith as soon as it’s offered. I’m not sure Josh’s fiancee counts as an exception; presumably she has a nominal faith (since obviously a Christian as pure as Josh wouldn’t be engaged to a non-Christian), but nothing we see establishes her as a “true believer,” so far as I recall. Certainly she has no redeeming qualities that I recall.

Also, nonbelievers can have redemptive character arcs, but believers don’t need character arcs. Here I can think of one exception, the believing wife of bullying Professor Radisson, who has to get over her “Cinderella complex” and break the spell of the charm we’re told Radisson has, even though we never see it. Can’t think of any other complications. No Christians struggle with sin, temptation or selfishness, let alone anything like doubt or disappointment with God. Nonbelievers also are generally unconflicted about their selfish, rotten behavior, until touched by grace. Watch God's Not Dead Online

I’m also put off by the shallow yet thoroughgoing triumphalism: Josh takes risks, but his faith ultimately costs him nothing of value (obviously his engagement was a trap and had to go); neither he nor any other believer (except the Muslim convert girl, who does get kicked out of her house) are asked to sacrifice in any way for their faith.