Looks like another Christian propaganda film

Some of us are Christians and enjoy hearing about the word of God. That's not to say that all Christian films are well-made but those of us who are believers enjoy a positive message sometimes.

It's certainly a Christian propaganda film, but as far as I have seen it's definitely the best one. The production values are high, the actors can actually act, and, above all, it actually depicts Christianity as something that might appeal to people. Most of these sorts of films do a really terrible job and are nothing but 'playing to the crowd', making them nearly unwatchable for anyone else.

The film actually has interesting characters and story development. If these characters stories were told without any religious involvement, it would still hold together and be interesting. I think the film will actually be challenging even to people who view themselves to be strong Christians. The characters depicted in the film are radically more in tune with the compassionate principles of Christianity than most characters in other similar films - and also much, much moreso than the majority of Christians in modern society.

It does suffer from a bit of a myopic approach. The EMT character who gets in trouble for prostelytizing on the job, for instance. They do not address what would be thought if the EMT had instead been of a different religion. It's all well and good for them to defend his right to speak about Jesus to a dying man (and they make abundantly clear that this is done only AFTER the EMT has done absolutely everything medically possible for the man, and is also done compassionately, asking the man if he is interested in hearing it, etc) but would they defend as strongly the right of a Muslim to preach to their dying son about Mohammed? Most of the laws that they see as restricting their religious freedom are ones which they would like to apply to everyone else, just not themselves. They didn't address that issue at all.

I have never seen a film which I thought might actually tempt an ignorant viewer to investigate Christianity, but I think this one could accomplish that. And at the same time, might inspire Christians to examine their own lives and realize how much hate and anger and suspicion they carry around. If there were many Christians in society who thought, spoke, and behaved the way the characters in the film do, society would be a better place. And I say that as a rational humanist. The only reason so many of my fellow atheists are often bothered by those of the Christian faith is because so many of them promote and cause suffering in the name of their religion. If they shed that and embraced tolerance and compassion like the characters in this film, only the most dedicated of jerks would be perturbed by them.

I believe all art is a form of communication, and properly judged by examining its capacity to communicate the ideas it seeks to communicate to the audience it is intended to communicate to. By that measure, this film is a successful work of art. And the audience which it can speak to is unusually large for such a film. I understand seeing this film as deceptive, as it may lead some people to embrace Christianity and become involved in the current poisonous Christian community out of an incorrect expectation that they will find more than lip service paid to compassion and charity in most churches, but even a deceptive message can be delivered well or poorly. I think this film accomplished its goals well.

It's not propaganda. It's a true belief. If you don't care to participate, just don't. Christian films are popular and are making money.

This movie cleared its budget and made $1,000,000 in profit the first weekEND. I suspect more than 200 people saw it.