God's Not Dead

A few years ago I was introduced to the movie God's Not Dead. The movie follows a college student, Josh, whose faith is challenged by his philosophy professor. On the first day of class the professor has all of his students sign a piece of paper stating three words: God is dead. Each student must write this declaration in order to pass the class. However, Josh is the only student who refuses to sign the declaration because he is a Christian who considers God his best friend. The professor then requires Josh to have a full on debate with him about whether or not God is dead, and he agrees to let his students decide on the winner. The movie also follows the stories of a few other individuals: the professor's girlfriend, Mina, whose mother is suffering from dementia, Mina's brother, Mark, who does not believe in God and refuses to visit his mother who has dementia, Mark's girlfriend, Amy, who is diagnosed with cancer, and a Muslim student, Ayisha, whose father disowns her when she converts to Christianity. This movie received many negative reviews because people believe it to be offensive in some ways. It is definitely not a "fun movie" because it does cover topics that are quite serious. However, it definitely gives you all the feels and I highly recommend watching it.

I decided to talk about the movie God's Not Dead this week, not because its my favorite movie or anything, but because I believe that we are all tested by our faith at some point in our lives, just as Josh was in the movie. When we are faced with hardships and difficulties it becomes easy for us to think that God is not there. We start to ask ourselves questions: Why is this happening to me? Does God not love me? Why would God put me through this? Well, I am not going to lie because I have had these feelings at some point in my life as well. I have thought long and hard about why bad things happen in our world and in our lives and I have come to ONE conclusion: it is NOT God's fault. It is not God's fault that bad things happen. As we all know, evil entered this world at the Fall, and ever since there has always been this war in the world between good and evil. It is our job to choose which side we want to join: the good or the bad. Now, there is also the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, that is a great question that I do not think anybody can answer! There are just some things that are completely out of our control in this world such as, cancer, diseases, illnesses, etc. I view all of these things as "testers of our faith." I think they are Satan's way of intervening on our lives and working to turn us against God. It is our job to have a positive attitude that everything will be okay because we know that God is much mightier than evil. But honestly I think the question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is just way to hard for the human mind to comprehend. I think we just have to pray to God that He will help us comprehend this concept a little bit better. 

I think the best way for me to end this blog post is by saying that God loves you SO big! No matter how much temptation or struggle you are faced with (especially during this season of Lent!) just know that He is ALWAYS there because God is NOT dead. I know sometimes it can be difficult to believe that, but just know He is always with you, fighting your battles with you, and loving you to no end! 

Lots of love, 

Gracie