"Give me that old time religion...". This song encapsulates this movie completely because it infers that to believe in God and the rest of it, one need not question anything...just believe...as though to irrationally believe were it's own raison d'etre.
Not only does one believe because one believes, ad infinitum, but one is proud of this nonsensical approach. The film makes this point brilliantly.
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Once again, there are some people out there who insist on painting all "religous" people with the same brush! The people in this film represent a strong, but extremely vocal minority of Christians. Most of us, surprise, surprise, actually do believe that God gave us each a brain and the right to use it! We do't all accept the Bible as literal. The Truth of the Bible is that God is real and in control and eternal. But we are given the free will to act as we choose. Are there rules and guidelines? To be sure, but not the lock-step close minded fundamentalism portrayed here. Are some stories in the Bible fanciful? Yes, but for a purpose. Take the story of Jonah. Most contemporary scripture scholars take this as a myth whose moral is that God's redemption is for all people, not just the Jews. God told Jonah to preach redemption to the people of Nineveh. That's in modern day Iraq. Those people were the enemies of the Jews. (Sound familiar?) Jonah did not want to do that so he ran the other way. The storm and Jonah's being swallowed by the "great fish" really tells us that God will keep after us to get us to obey. Jonah finally relents, preaches to Nineveh and they repent and are saved. Poor Jonah! He is upset that he did this and the story ends wth Jonah angry because he still not does not get it! God's mercy extends to all. Is it to be taken literally? Did it reallly happen? Most likely not, but the lesson is the thing. The details just dress it up in a way easy for us to understand.
God bless all you atheists and agnostics! He believes in you even if you don't believe in Him!
....we are given the free will to act as we choose.
Are there rules and guidelines? To be sure,...
God will keep after us to get us to obey.
I would not call it irony! Do you think there shouldn't be any rules? Would it be better if we were somehow programmed to always do the right thing and be unable to make bad choices? I think that would make life terribly boring and bland. Free will gives us the right to choose right or wrong. But, we must be prepared to suffer the consequences of our actions. God wants us to obey and will help us, if we want Him to. Read the Francis Thompson poem "The Hound of Heaven." Loving, but determined "pursuit" to try to get us to do what is right.
shareEither there are rules or there aren't, what I think has no impact on what is, I didn't say we were programmed to do any thing, the only thing we are programmed by (if you can call it that) is evolution, but the point I was making is that freewill with the (loving?) threat of everlasting torture is not freewill those who believe will obey those who do not, will not, belief or non belief produces determinism not freewill.
Incidentally Francis Thompson is rubbish, long overblown corny nonsense I much prefer Phillip Larkin, try ‘Churchgoing’
"The dead know nothing, they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten" Anon
"God wants us to obey and will help us, if we want Him to."
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It's nothing short of amazing that such a mere mortal as yourself can so thoroughly know what's going on in the mind of an all powerful and omnipotent deity such as God...plus know what His intentions are.
And so called "free will" is a total hoax because if God has infinite knowledge and power, He already knows what our wills will be...indeed He has us already programmed to carry them out.
Religion makes no sense.