"God's Not Dead" is more honest in some ways than a lot of other movies, because you're going to get exactly what the title suggests: a story promoting the idea that God is very much alive and active in the lives of those who trust Him.

 

Josh is a Bible-believing college student on his way to trouble in the form of an atheist philosophy professor. Prof. Radisson requires each student to profess that God is dead at the beginning of class. Josh can't bring himself to do such a thing which results in an immediate and vicious clash between student and professor.

 

Radisson gives Josh a special assignment: he must effectively defend the idea that God is real with the class as the jury. The purpose is not so much to challenge the student as it is to have an opportunity to humiliate his claims. Despite nearly everyone in his life telling him to give up Josh decides to plead his case.

 

This film has come under attack from a number of different people, some even going so far to say that this is why the world “hates Christians.” Many of these attackers are those who get offended at the very notion of a Christian spouting their religious nonsense. Others don't believe that such a challenge is realistic (despite a list of real court cases being included in the closing credits). Others chide it for not including the cases of Christian educators discriminating against other faiths (at least I'm assuming they are different critics and that the same people aren't simultaneously claiming it doesn't happen AND that Christians should be held accountable for when they do it). Perhaps my favorite, are those who discredit the film for not actually proving to the audience, within the confines of 2 hours of entertainment, that God is, in fact, real and alive.

 

The clash between student and professor is central to the plot, but it is more a connective tissue for everything else rather than the ultimate focus. The story is more about how faith or the lack of it plays in the lives of various people with the central focus being that God is alive of which the classroom scenes serve as a continuing reminder. A girl is ostracized by her Muslim family because of her faith, a successful businessman compares his life to those around him whose faith has not prevented them from having struggles in life, a woman full of disdain for Christians faces death, and even Josh himself loses people important to him as a result of his decision to be a public voice for God.

 

This isn't about proving God is real to a world that chooses to disbelieve, it's about the struggles of life and loss and how faith plays a part in the everyday lives of the people you are likely to see around you. It's about why Josh feels like he needs to rise to the challenge, why a needy mother is not envious of her rich son, and the difficult reality that sometimes faith divides us from those we love.

 

My primary criticism of this film is that the characters are on the extremes. Either they are good Christian people or they are attacking Christians. I know atheists who are more generous and caring than a lot of Christians, and I know Christians who I wouldn't trust enough to lend a dollar. With the exception of Josh's girlfriend who talks Christian but acts selfishly there really is very little diversity of character. This is unrealistic and perhaps even unnecessarily polarizing.

 

Slight spoiler but one character dies. This is a missed opportunity. The decisions made in the last moments of this person's life would be much more powerful if they had greater reach into all the lives of the characters. The final moments we witness are sentimental but are less than they could have been.

 

Acting ranges from fairly good to rather weak. While not the only recognizable name Kevin Sorbo is the highlight. This is a strong role for him probably because he was so passionate about the movie and its message. Shane Harper is also solid as Josh. Willie Robertson had the theater laughing, and having grown up with DC Talk I enjoyed seeing Michael Tait (though these last two names had little in the way of screen time).

 

Overall, the film delivers more or less what I expected from it and left me thankful that in my own life I have hope found in the grace of God. Even if things go badly for me and people hate me for my belief, I still believe. I think that is the intent here so despite the flaws it accomplishes what it's supposed to.