God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)

Religious movies can be tough pills to swallow.  This is especially true of Christian films.  In many cases, the filmmakers use their movies as ways to try and convert people who don’t believe or preach to those who already do.  That does not help a story.  Instead of focusing on pushing a storyline forward for the most emotional impact, everything comes to a halt so that the word of the lord can be shared with the masses.  People outside of the demographic of Christian film fans feel put off by these films, which cause many of them to suffer at the box office.

God’s Not Dead was a movie that suffered from this kind of storytelling.  There was a good story in the movie.  It had the potential to be something great.  A college philosophy professor forced his students to claim that God was dead for his class to move forward.  He wouldn’t allow other beliefs from his own atheism to be a part of his class.  One of the students refused to agree to the terms.  This led to three lectures from the student about why people should believe in God and Christianity.  It was more like arguments between the student and the professor, but still.  It was a battle of their religious stances.

At its core, that story was about the right to believe.  The kid believed in Christianity and was specifically trying to say that he should be able to be Christian.  That didn’t make it any less a story about being able to believe.  Where the movie crossed into preaching was when other characters in the movie were converting to Christianity from other religions because it was the best religion.  The Newsboys made an appearance near the end, talking solely about how important Christianity is to helping people.  The professor reconverted to Christianity on his deathbed after a car accident during the climax of the film.  Each of these beats and storylines made it feel as though God’s Not Dead was about telling people how important Christianity was to their lives.

This was cleaned up a little bit with the sequel, God’s Not Dead 2.  A teacher was asked a question during class about the Bible and shared her thoughts about her Christian beliefs.  Some of the parents found out about it and got her fired.  She filed a lawsuit against the school board because she should be able to share her Christian ideology with the students.  The trial ended up becoming about whether or not a teacher should be allowed to discuss religion in the classroom.

The preaching was still present in God’s Not Dead 2.  The teacher stood up for the Bible and her Christian faith.  One of the witnesses was an atheist turned Christian who gave biblical reasoning behind his turning to God.  Some of the characters from the side plots of the first film were back to continue their faith-based stories.  A reporter who had cancer in the first film found out that through prayers and belief, the disease had miraculously vanished.  A Chinese character who had converted to Christianity was now fighting with his family about why he became Christian.  God’s Not Dead 2 was still pushing Christianity hard, though the stories felt more focused on personal beliefs than Christianity being the right path.

God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness was different.  Gone were the many side stories about Christianity changing people’s lives.  It was no longer the epitome of everything great in the world.  In its place was a story about a side character from the previous films.  Pastor Dave Hill (David A.R. White) was arrested at the end of God’s Not Dead 2 for refusing to hand his sermons over to the government.  When he was released from jail, he went back to his church.  It was soon vandalized by Adam (Mike C. Manning), a college student frustrated that his girlfriend, Keaton (Samantha Boscarino), still had faith in Christianity.  The vandalism resulted in the accidental death of Pastor Dave’s friend Jude (Benjamin Onyango) and led to the college choosing to get rid of the church in place of a new college building.  Pastor Dave enlisted his brother Pearce (John Corbett), an attorney, to help him fight against the college shutting the church down.

There was one main story thread in God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, and any other threads helped to lift the central one.  This was unlike the other films where there would be many stories about people and their connection to God, all feeling separate until one moment near the end of the films where everyone would end up in one place.  Their stories wouldn’t cross so much as they would be in the same physical area.  The end of the first film saw them at a Newsboys concert.  The end of the second saw everyone outside the trial as it ended.  God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness instead had the stories mean something to one another so that they all built together.

Pastor Dave fighting the college was a different kind of story from the other two films while also being the same.  Every film in the God’s Not Dead franchise was about the main character feeling persecuted by the higher powers.  The student feeling that his teacher was taking away his right to believe.  The teacher feeling that the school was placing restrictions on how she could answer questions about religious material.  Pastor Dave going up against the college because they wanted to get rid of his church.  Each story was about a person’s persecution based on their beliefs.  But there were some differences between the first two and this one.

Starting things off with the end of God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, Pastor Dave realized that he was in the wrong.  He realized that the church wasn’t as important as the people he knew and loved.  The fight for the church ended with him giving the college the property and going off campus to deliver his sermons.  Where the other films were about the persecuted overcoming those the oppressors, this one was about forgiveness and community.  Pastor Dave learned that the community was what was important and that sometimes a person must lose something for the betterment of the community.  It wasn’t about a church or forcing people to convert.  Life was about letting people find what they need.  Whether it was Christianity, Atheism, Hinduism, or the various other forms of religion, people could believe what they wanted.  What was important for the community was to give the college a place for students to be students and figure out what they needed.  His church had to go to let that happen.  He was fighting the wrong fight.

One of the side stories was about Pastor Dave’s relationship with his brother.  They hadn’t seen each other in a long time and had fallen mostly out of contact.  When they reconnected, their relationship was rocky.  Pearce was an atheist attorney trying to help his Christian brother save a church from being demolished and replaced on college property.  The fight was going to be tough, since there was supposed to be a separation of church and state, and the church was on a government owned college campus.  Through their working together, the brothers began to reconnect before getting into a major fight over their beliefs.  In the fight, Pearce pointed out how their family basically shunned him when he began questioning his faith.  He wanted to reconnect with Dave, but couldn’t if their different beliefs were going to be as big an issue as they were when the brothers were younger.

The other major side story was about Adam, the vandal who accidentally caused the death of Jude.  Adam had been making references in front of other people to his girlfriend’s questioning of her faith.  She decided to take a break from him because of his attitude.  He took out his anger on the college’s church by throwing a brick through the basement window.  The brick hit a gas pipe, which caused an explosion that killed Jude.  Adam felt remorse through the rest of the movie.  He hadn’t meant to harm anyone.  Jude’s death weighed heavy on him.  Eventually, Adam confessed what he did because he couldn’t bear to keep it inside any longer.

Pastor Dave learned his lesson in God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness through a combination of Pearce and Adam.  The Pearce side of things showed Pastor Dave that he was too hard on people because of his devotion to his faith.  Had their family not been so strict about following the word of God, they may not have become so estranged from Pearce.  The Adam stuff taught Pastor Dave about forgiveness.  His character was all about having people see things his way.  His way was sometimes clouded by his own feelings and religious beliefs.  But there are always two sides to a story, and through talking to Adam and the people Adam knew, Pastor Dave learned why Adam did what he did.  He was able to forgive the young man for acting out on his emotions.

There were still some Christian morals throughout God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness.  The film was about forgiveness and having faith.  It was about standing up for your beliefs but allowing other people to stand up for theirs.  It was about togetherness.  There was a stronger story than the two films that came before it because it didn’t feel the need to push Christianity down the throats of the audience.  The persecution storyline that the series became popular for was still there.  The end of the persecution story, though, was different.  It wasn’t about Christianity defeating the people trying to put it down.  The threequel was about everyone living in harmony.  Everyone could have their own place in the world.  That feels much more valuable a message than the “We beat them!” storylines that the franchise previously gave.

The popularity of the God’s Not Dead franchise relied upon the persecution complex that audiences felt.  The general population was trying to take away their religious freedom, and they were fighting back.  The problem was that the stories were hurt by this wrongheaded conflict.  Every religion, every belief, deserves a place in the world.  Okay, maybe not every.  There are some pretty bad things going on, particularly with racism and bigotry, that could be removed, and the world would be a better place.  But in terms of religion, everyone should be able to practice their religion equally.  It shouldn’t only be about Christianity.  God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness picked up on this.  Though the Christianity was still there, it was more about everyone being able to believe what they believe, or not believe if they so choose.  That led to a stronger story and an overall better movie than what came before.

Now let’s have a few notes and get out of here:

• Here is the post that was written for God’s Not Dead (week 230) and God’s Not Dead 2 (week 230).
• David A.R. White, Abigail Duhon, Duncan Phillips, Michael Tait, and Benjamin A, Onyango were in all three God’s Not Dead movies.
• Shane Harper returned from the first God’s Not Dead (week 230) to be in the third one.
• Gregory Chisley, Greg Fallon, Misty Jezierski, Star McCann, Angela Sherrill Merriott, and Isaac Slatton all returned from God's Not Dead 2 (week 230) to be in God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness.
• God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness was the second Sunday "Bad" Movies appearance for Rhonda Johnson Dents, who could previously be seen in Fant4stic (week 172).
• This was the second time Christopher Wolfe popped up in one of the Sunday "Bad" Movies.  He also popped up in Lavalantula (week 290).
• Mike C. Manning showed up in God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, after also showing up in Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (week 302).
• Finally, Jude S. Walko had a small role in God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness.  He also had a role in The Wash (week 303).
• Have you seen any of the God’s Not Dead movies?  People don’t appreciate the third film as much as I do.  What are your thoughts?  Let me know in the comments.
• The comments are also a place where you can share suggestions of what I should be watching for future posts.  If you don’t want to share them there, then maybe you can find me on Twitter.
• Sometimes, while I watch the bad movies I watch, I share bits and pieces on my Snapchat (jurassicgriffin).  Add me if you want.
• There’s also an Instagram now.  It’s sunday_bad_movies.  Follow it if you want.  I’m just putting up pictures of what’s coming up right now, though I might share some older stuff and other stuff.
• A post should be going up soon for Road to Revenge, one of the movies that was scheduled to be covered during my hiatus.  You’ll see it when it’s up.
• As for what’s coming up, if you check the Instagram, I’ve already shared next week’s movies.  Yes, movies.  Next week is week 320, so there are multiple movies coming up.  They’re going to be the three Snake Eater movies, starring Lorenzo Lamas.  The first and third are for sure on YouTube if you want to watch along.  I’ll see you next week with a post.