This film starts rather oddly. The first sequence makes sense but then there is a flashback to 12 hours earlier which accomplishes nothing unless the goal is to make this movie longer. It is the most useless flashback in the history of films and could easily be on the cutting room floor.
Then this one gets way off the God's Not Dead theme. It's main message is to say that a church is more than a building. Well, not really, because belief in God and prayer to God does not require a church building. The church is a symbol of religion but the only reason churches ever started with buildings in history was because the buildings of the middle ages and before were built for shelter and protection in earlier times. Then as we progress to the modern era, the churches were symbols of worshipping. It is the churches that try to preach the gospel for believers and provide shelter and comfort.
This movie gets it backwards, the people (members of the church) are the church, not the building. The film is extremely dark. It is interesting that there is a faith pitch at the end of the credits. The film is so off that sticking around after the credits I can not imagine. (I noticed the message on the DVD).
Granted this film tries to strike an anti-government message with the big bad government using eminent domain to tear down the Pastors church after the big fire. Even this message comes up short as usually when a church burns down, if it is to get rebuilt, it is the church members who make it happen, not the Minister and definitely not the government. Seperation of church and state prevents that.
In real life, I saw a Lutheran Church burn down. After it burned, they found out their book keeper of many years had stolen over $300,000 from the church. Thanks to the efforts of their members, they built a new church today despite all the odds. Even though the Government used the church before the fire for election voting, they were not involved in the rebuilding. It was the faith and devotion of the church members that got the church rebuilt, not the minister.
Then this one gets way off the God's Not Dead theme. It's main message is to say that a church is more than a building. Well, not really, because belief in God and prayer to God does not require a church building. The church is a symbol of religion but the only reason churches ever started with buildings in history was because the buildings of the middle ages and before were built for shelter and protection in earlier times. Then as we progress to the modern era, the churches were symbols of worshipping. It is the churches that try to preach the gospel for believers and provide shelter and comfort.
This movie gets it backwards, the people (members of the church) are the church, not the building. The film is extremely dark. It is interesting that there is a faith pitch at the end of the credits. The film is so off that sticking around after the credits I can not imagine. (I noticed the message on the DVD).
Granted this film tries to strike an anti-government message with the big bad government using eminent domain to tear down the Pastors church after the big fire. Even this message comes up short as usually when a church burns down, if it is to get rebuilt, it is the church members who make it happen, not the Minister and definitely not the government. Seperation of church and state prevents that.
In real life, I saw a Lutheran Church burn down. After it burned, they found out their book keeper of many years had stolen over $300,000 from the church. Thanks to the efforts of their members, they built a new church today despite all the odds. Even though the Government used the church before the fire for election voting, they were not involved in the rebuilding. It was the faith and devotion of the church members that got the church rebuilt, not the minister.