Miracles from Heaven - Heaven is Totally for Real, Too
- Thread starter Marter
- Start date
Now...i don't want to force anybody to reveal their sources for their miracles, but don't they all allegedly come from heaven? Isn't heaven the sole provider of miracles? Or does hell get in on the action too?
Nevertheless, these "based on true story" paranormal films are more like officially vouching for Gary's drunken stories down the local pub. I know many people who buy into the "but it totally happened, so that makes this film automatically better 'cos i LOVE watching reality as it realistically unfolds in real-time really!" I get strong urges to slap the stupid out of them. The fact that i don't is a miracle in itself! Thanks, God! Or...whoever gots my back.
Affirm productions/films brought a chortle...that is almost self-satire. The fact that it isn't, only makes it all the more hilairious. Though really...believe in God or your children will die?? Bloody hell (pun originally not intended), that's a bit heavy, isn't it? Though, i guess if you're already christian, it doesn't matter so much since they're going to have a much happier time in that city in the sky. Father Comstock will look after them, unless they happen to not be white/American.
Nevertheless, these "based on true story" paranormal films are more like officially vouching for Gary's drunken stories down the local pub. I know many people who buy into the "but it totally happened, so that makes this film automatically better 'cos i LOVE watching reality as it realistically unfolds in real-time really!" I get strong urges to slap the stupid out of them. The fact that i don't is a miracle in itself! Thanks, God! Or...whoever gots my back.
Affirm productions/films brought a chortle...that is almost self-satire. The fact that it isn't, only makes it all the more hilairious. Though really...believe in God or your children will die?? Bloody hell (pun originally not intended), that's a bit heavy, isn't it? Though, i guess if you're already christian, it doesn't matter so much since they're going to have a much happier time in that city in the sky. Father Comstock will look after them, unless they happen to not be white/American.
Ahh so preachiness is ok as long as it's against evil stock brokers in the big short but not when its Christians. This film is a genre film that is not designed for you in just the same way the the big short is genre film designed for you.
The problem with these films is that they confirm the existance of God, but only people who already believed in God watches them. As a result, intentional or not, it comes off as a circle jerk.
Preaching to the choir makes enough money to keep the yearly cycle going, sadly. The upside is that these films tend to be so incompetently shot and/or directed and/or written and/or acted that there's occasionally a fantastically bad one to look forward to on Midnight Screenings - along with the often entertaining anecdotes about who else was present in the theatre.erttheking said:
It always seem hypocritical to me that these kinds of religious folk want to talk constantly about having faith- but at the same time, welcome any and all "proof" to "affirm" their faith. Doesn't that defeat the whole point of having faith?
From a theological perspective, if someone "goes to heaven" and "talks to God and/or Jesus", they are prophets, which is a pretty big freaking deal. If a child had a fever dream in the middle ages and say they talked to God, their parents would tell them to shut the hell up about that, as claiming to be a prophet and being unable to prove it came with extremely serious consequences.
I suppose you could chalk it up to new-world willy-nilly fantastic Christianity, but it seems like these movies do less to actually inspire or "affirm" genuine faith, and do more to provide what they see as "evidence" of God and the Bible in the face of a lot of counter-evidence.
From a theological perspective, if someone "goes to heaven" and "talks to God and/or Jesus", they are prophets, which is a pretty big freaking deal. If a child had a fever dream in the middle ages and say they talked to God, their parents would tell them to shut the hell up about that, as claiming to be a prophet and being unable to prove it came with extremely serious consequences.
I suppose you could chalk it up to new-world willy-nilly fantastic Christianity, but it seems like these movies do less to actually inspire or "affirm" genuine faith, and do more to provide what they see as "evidence" of God and the Bible in the face of a lot of counter-evidence.
One day, there's going to be a faith movie that my Mom and I can watch that we'll both like.
Not this day, though.
Not this day, though.
See, Christians pretty much have frikkin' Terrence Malick making films from their corner, so the rest of them should really up their game. Or sit in the corner with a dunce's hat on, thinking long and hard about what they've done.
And yeah, as has been mentioned, the title's a bit of a head scratcher. Miracles from heaven? As opposed to all the other miracles? And if there are other miracles, what makes one deity's better than the next? Do they have sizzle reels for their miracles? 'Cause I want to make an informed decision about this...
And yeah, as has been mentioned, the title's a bit of a head scratcher. Miracles from heaven? As opposed to all the other miracles? And if there are other miracles, what makes one deity's better than the next? Do they have sizzle reels for their miracles? 'Cause I want to make an informed decision about this...
See, this sort of thing happens *all* the time in these Christian affirmation movies, and it bothers me far more than the preachiness, or cheesiness.
Really, it begs a very serious question of "Is this the kind of God that you want to follow?" One that kills the child of a non-believer to make some kind of petty point? How can anyone look at that as anything but abominable? It happened in "God's Not Real" too. The atheist professor (who was both a terrible philosophy professor *and* a major dick, to be fair) has his wife leave him at the end and *then* get fatally run over by a hit-and-run driver, leaving him to slowly die in the middle of the street, in the rain.
I dunno, using the God-induced deaths of unbelievers/people the Christians this movie is targeted at don't like as some kind of cheap prop just speaks to a very worrying worldview.
Also, as a side-note, why the hell does God only ever reveal miracles and visions of heaven to families who are already super-Christian? That's the most bass-ackwards way possible to do this sort of thing. God should be actively seeking out non-believers to perform miracles on to make them believers. All punishing unbelievers does is reaffirm the faith of those who already believes in you. It's the spiritual equivalent of a circlejerk. It doesn't actually convince anyone new to give your message any meaningful consideration.
It's especially funny because the era of prophecy has ended according to Christian tradition. Oh, and Islam as well but that's beside the point. There was even an added bonus of 'and if anyone says otherwise, they're an asshat'.hentropy said:
Which makes me head-desk whenever someone either takes Revelations literally or, like here, say that they talked to god and have commandments from them. Which, you have noted is a BIG FREAKING DEAL. It's part of a weird strain of modern evangelism that seeks justifications instead of actually paying attention to the lessons.
I always figured Satan was like a second rate loan shark. You can get a miracle from heaven if your a decent Christian, and then pay it back with a lifetime of faith and proscelatizing. If your a filthy sodomite, however, and your soul-credit sucks, then you'll have to get a back alley loan from old Lucy. Which is all well and good, but I heard the interest is soul crushing.Xsjadoblayde said:
As a side note, Jennifer Garner's career post-Alias hasn't been what anyone might call remarkable.
No one finds it more worrying than the average Christian. Even people I know who liked God's Not Dead were irritated by "offing the atheist".rcs619 said:
Heaven is for Real was confirmed by the kid himself to be a hoax. He says he did it in the first place because he wanted to give people hope, even if he wasn't telling the truth. Sounds like some Life of Pi bullcrap.
And this is coming a very firm Christian too. lol
For you, man.
And this is coming a very firm Christian too. lol
lacktheknack said:
For you, man.
I feel like Christian genre films that encourage Christians is missing the point of a powerful tool of evangelicism.Albino Boo said:
It's a chance for Christianity to be accessible to people from outside The Church. But if the film is merely patting the back of existing believers, it's just going to alienate Agnostic or Atheist people. It will push them further away.
I think it risks exploiting people's faith to provide something that can be supplied in another way.
Why is it so hard to produce a good film that portrays what it is to be a Christian to the masses?
A film is there to make money by appealing to a target audience. Christian films are genre films in the same way western or kung fu films are. Each have their own conventions which the audience want to see.scw55 said: