A conservative Christian propaganda court room drama about a teacher who references Jesus in her classroom....could be good? Jeremy reviews "God's Not Dead 2"!
+Mondo The Grunt I'm a Christian, and I wanted to support the first movie, but the first and second movie are honestly terrible. I would not recommend this movie to either side. I found myself having to apologize to some atheists who saw it.
+jEEd Up Maybe not relious in a way of not believing 100% what a religion says or not atending church. Algo you can be a theist( a person who believes in a God) while not being part of a existing religion.
I hate this film (and its predecessor) because it spreads an 'us versus them' mentality. Jesus would never have wanted us to make all Athiests out to be jerks. And yeah, the whole 'we're at war' thing is absolutely ridiculous.
Sort of. On one hand: Pretty much every President ever has at least claimed to be Christian. On the other hand: the American religious tend to be pretty convinced that they know God better than the highest ranking members of their faith. You have Catholics disowning Pope Francis for instance; or this movie.
***** Don't get me wrong here... By influence I partially mean its one of the more prominent religions, is often referenced, helped build the constitution, has a strong presence in society etc. But its real strength is dying in that of moral values, especially at the top levels of society, its just a fancy name and something good to add to your resume. Even in Christian circles we're so disorganized that its become a joke. Look how big Catholicism is (which I don't claim...), its even respected by atheists, but is corrupt near the top. Strong influence, but dying and slowly becoming unpopular and legislated out of society. You can say you're a christian, its getting to a point where you just can't hold to christian values and core beliefs and be taken seriously is all, that's when it gets hard.
+iCoNiC-Gaming Christianity hasn't ever had control over the USA and it at its weakest point ever right now. Being a Fundamentalist Christian is a derogatory statement now for a reason. People are more accepting of homosexuals now than Christians.
Just because you yourself have not experienced this with your faith, other people might have. And it's spreading the word of Jesus, when has that ever been a bad thing?
I'm a Christian and I hate this movie. Mostly cause 90% of Christian movies do a terrible job of defending God and say all this shit that God never taught.
+LoneStar's PrimitiveWeaponry Agree. As a christian, or former christian at least, religious movies are just shitty movies trying to shove God down our throat.
I think the reason critics panned this and the first film is because dumb@$$ Liberals/Democrats/Atheists will bash on them for praising us, Conservatives/Republicans/Christians.
From my religious standpoint, which is Christianity, I have always been taught growing up that Christians are indeed at war but not in a physical sense. Christians are at war with sin, NOT ATHEISTS.
+Joshua Genz That's a problem, though. Having once been devoutly Catholic and having spent a lot of time around fundamental Christians, the "war with sin" that you're referring to becomes dangerous when the definition of "sin" starts pointing at people. At least, this is what I started to notice before I got the fuck out. Hence the issue with religious groups constantly trying to disenfranchise homosexuals in government. It isn't that they hate the homosexuals, they say, it's only that they hate their sin. This "war on sin" that Christians are "fighting" (religious LARPing is so cringe) is just a hateful attack on anyone who disagrees with their dogma under the guise of self-righteousness.
+Hendo sin is anything that separates and or furthers the distance between man and God. Plus I'm not arguing anything, it's my religion that I personally believe in.
lol my math teacher told 2 atheists in my class that they are going to hell and should not celebrate Christmas bc its not for atheists.. he said they should believe just in case hes real lmao "Christianity is oppressed" my ass
zehero z No. He was very serious.. he was a dick anyway like he yelled at us for asking questions.. but then when we don't ask questions he just stops teaching us and says "I give up"
+Sierra Not oppressed? Remember the recent Kim Davis incident? She entered the office as a Christian and they knew that, and when she stood up for what she believed in, she was arrested. In Acts 5:29, Peter says the we obey God rather than Man. He even goes on in other books to say that we need to obey all the laws of the Land, UNLESS it goes against God. The best way to understand the cultural scenario is to realize (as someone astutely mentioned on twitter recently) that there are two different types of Christianity. One is a movement of people who want to live and be like Jesus. The other (and far more common, far more powerful) is a civil and political religion that is simply named Christianity. The civil political religion named Christianity is addicted to both political power and violence, and thus finds the message of Jesus offensive. When they encounter the other kind of Christian- the kind that actually believes in following Jesus- they have an immediate need to persecute them in some for or another, as we see in the case of Dr. Beckum ( a Univeristy teacher), who actually did lose his job because of speaking the name of Jesus.
Remember how a few hunder years ago christians were more then happy to enslave a person because that person had black skin and said god was fine with it and now they say that god isnt happy with another group of people (gays) having same sex marrage because god forbit it i wonder what the next reasonable logic step that they will fight against because it has hints of progress and freedom for a group thats not them
Hey Jeremy! So I am a Christian who has been following your channel for a few years now and since you asked I thought I would address your question. Yes, I believe the church is under attack...from itself. The greatest threat Christianity in America faces right now is from the kind of people that make films like this. You see, everything about these God's Not Dead movies makes faith an "us vs them" thing. That simply does not follow the teaching, character, or purpose of Jesus. Jesus was controversial in his day because rather than just gather with a bunch of his religious buddies and figure out how to convert the "evil" people of his day, he spent his time serving everyone. He went out of his way to find people that Jews considered to be their enemies and he healed their sick and gave them food. The whole point of Christianity, following Jesus, is not us against the world, but us always for the world. I hate movies like this because they're great propaganda but they're not Gospel.
***** Well, it really is true that news and such isn't real until you make a movie. However, sometimes something really and truly isn't real, then you make a movie saying it is, and guess what: it's still not. ;)
Agreed. Let others have their opinions! If they don't believe in God, that sucks, but you bashing at them and making them uncomfortable won't help the situation. There not idiots for having a belief. The only atheists you should really have a problem with is the ones that judge the Christians as idiots
***** Well, it depends what you mean. Being arrested for legally protesting at an abortion clinic is persecution for acting on beliefs. What was in this movie though is a woman who agreed to work for the government not doing her job the way she agreed to do it, the way her employer, the gov, said. It seems like overkill to sue her, however, she certainly wasn't in the right. If you disagree though, that's fine. :)
Bruce almighty I enjoyed, even though I have no religion, mostly because of the over-the-top acts JC would do. The other was Morgan Freeman (Who is in a lot of science-based documentaries) playing the role of 'god' and that just adds irony into the mix.
Daniel Appleton Morgan made the movie for me. I mean, who doesn't like Morgan Freeman? I've seen him as a guest star in some other documentaries, didn't know he had his own how though. ;o
Just throwing this out there, Jeremy: the hacks who write stuff like this do not speak for all Christians. I grew up in a fundamentalist, conservative household where I was taught that using my brain wasn't necessary to a relationship with God. I have since broken away from that. I have a degree in philosophy from a credible school, and I'm working on a Master's in Divinity at another credible school. And the more I learn, the more I realize that encountering the divine mystery of God requires the whole heart and the whole mind. God is the least-braindead thing I can think of. Talking about God is intellectually stimulating to me, because there is so much to be said. Logic and reason are both fundamental to faith. But this movie seems content to just turn God into a political rallying point so they can set up a very specific and partisan agenda. And guys, I gotta tell you...God is so much bigger than your political party. If you've turned God into a stepping stone in your white, straight, American conservative worldview, than you've clearly misunderstood God. So fuck this movie. It does not speak for Christians, or any believers in the world. Don't let people like this tell you what God is or isn't. Figure it out for yourself, with your whole heart and mind. Also, I know some pretty awesome atheists. And some of these atheists are more in touch with God than the people who made this awful excuse for a movie. No one is at war. We're all siblings in the same family. Just saying.
+PhantomAlucard last i checked, Jesus was against religion in and of itself, and was pretty much a big hippy that most conservative christians would hate if someone spouting his exact beliefs showed up at their door
Hey Jeremy. I'm a Christian, and I could not agree more with your review of God's Not Dead 2. This movie had a clear agenda. Beat you over your head kind of agenda. Just wrong.
***** Progression is the goal for any religion. That's the goal of any business in the world! But this is being stuck in a different time, never changing, and/or regression.
+Hunt I'm from the midwest, I've seen teachers do shit like that before....Except for me I had a teacher have a very sketchy convo with me in class about Columbine and how one of the students supposedly died for saying she loved Jesus, didn't help my teacher looked like Charles Manson.
Yeah I feel terrible about this movie. I'm a Christian, and I feel that this movie totally counteracts true Christian principles. Movies like this really want to be ministry opportunities, but I think Jeremy really summed it up nicely how this movie clearly stereotypes the people it's trying to reach out to... while complaining about being stereotyped. Not a good idea I think we can all agree. For the Christians out there who support this movie I have to cock my head in confusion. Jesus never once gave instruction to go around proclaiming to the world how much your offended by the fact that not everyone is Christian like you. What you need to do is forget this movie ever happened and go REALLY live out your belief. Help out your community. Give to the poor. Spread God's love unconditionally because he's not dead. Don't support garbage like this that just gives people a wrong impression of the God you serve.
+matt carnes "you shall have no other god before me" means you (Christians) shouldnt have any other idols. It doesn't mean that we have to go hating on everyone who doesn't believe the same
+Matt Carnes You completely missed the point of what he was saying. Homosexuality and slavery are completely unrelated to this movie, but if you wanna go there we could talk about atheistic countries like Soviet Russia saw many of their citizens dead because a lack of standards. And I'm sorry for the 3% of LGBT who I happen to disagree with but my standard supersedes the popular opinion of a single generation. And as for slavery every era makes it's share of horrible mistakes. Christians and non-christians alike owned slaves.
matt carnes and I'm sorry for the kind of hypocrisy that this movie shows. It's a bad representation of who God is because He definitely wouldn't approve of them making a movie like this that hates against atheists and stuff
We need a non-idiot version of this movie: Start of the court case. "It's okay to mention the Bible as literature in school as long as you don't promote it as a religion." "Okay." Credit roll. Then again, I guess they can't do that because then they can't get their "EEEEVIL ATHEIST" message out there.
Hmm...atheists aren't evil eh? WELL HOW COME YOU CAN DRINK A DRINK BUT NOT FOOD A FOOD!!!!?!?!?! WHO KEEPS STEALING ALL THE BABIES...HMM...IT'S THE ATHEISTS, THEY EAT THEM AND SHOWER IN BLOOD, IT'S WHAT WEETABIX IS MADE OF, THAT'S WHY SO MANY ATHEISTS BUT WEETABIX.
+Detective Derpy (Chris Tun) Christians say morality is being like God. To be a theist is to believe in a higher power. There can be no higher power than God. Therefore, God is an Atheist. I want to be like God, therefore I am an Atheist. #TrollLogic
As a Christian, movies like this make me cringe. I saw the first one and wasn't terribly impressed. I was surprised it got a sequel. When a movie's whole purpose is to push an agenda, regardless of what that is, instead of telling an interesting story, it misses the whole point of making a movie. Might as well make a documentary. How can we expect people to tolerate and respect our beliefs when we vilify other beliefs? And that goes for all beliefs.
+Tad Wood Oh no, Hillary Cinton just tries to relate to black people so she could manipulate them into giving her power. She's not actually black herself. And she's quite the opposite of God as well.
+Tad Wood I met Jesus once in a dream. He was looking out the window with a disappointed expression on his face. Seeing that movies like this exist, I can't blame him.
"We're at war!", really? I'm Christian and I find that ridiculous. Just because Christianity--or, more accurately, fundamentalist Christianity--isn't the only major voice in spirituality anymore doesn't mean it's being "oppressed".
+T2266 it's a quote of Nietzsche used in completely the wrong context. The first movie kinda used it word for word (spoiler: the bad guy atheist used to believe in god but lost his fate after his mom died), although it showed no understanding of Neitzsche's underlying ideas. This movie has as much to do with god being dead as troll 2 has to do with trolls.
+Mateusz Wojtkiewicz Have you ever watched a video by TheAmazingAtheist? His videos contain no logic, reason, facts nor evidence. And I say that as an atheist.
+SmashBrosBrawl Because a book translated and passed down throughout so many years about a magical dude in the sky granting wishes and controlling people about what's right and wrong is 100% true
Starship Troopers. Propaganda? Bugs will fuck your shit up, don't let the Jehovah's Witnesses* make a colony on one of their planets. (Because even bugs don't like people knocking on their door and asking if they want to hear about your lord and savior) *Edit: It was the Mormons, not Jehovah's Witnesses... Still, don't come to my door I don't want to hear about your lord and savior.
+Valen Warden - When "Starship Troopers" came out, I knew that it was based on a classic Robert Heinlein story, so I saw it in the theater. I was told at the time that it had been written in the 1950s, during the McCarthy hearings, so I assumed that it was a cautionary tale in the same vein as Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" - a warning to 20th century Americans of a possible dystopian, fascistic, hyper-militarized future. Well, since then, I've learned that I was wrong. SO wrong. Heinlein was a military guy, all the way, 100%. "Starship Troopers" was a UTOPIAN future, for him. For me, it is still a cautionary tale, but I won't watch it anymore.
Joy....guess I'm very fallible.. friend of my'n returning from a vacation in the orient gave me a VCD copy around 1998 ( before DVDs ) asked him watts in it. He said it was like a RAID bugs commercial with some cute girls in it.. So it was in my junk closet for years, then I was hearing. .this-that.. finally before I've trown the old PC out playing the low resolution video on 3 disks. Now it's somewhat of a cult film.. The girs are cute. ...!
+Valen Warden To be fair Starship Trooper had a very different message , tone and pretty much everything else from the book.It is pretty much an adaptation-in-name-only affair. This is pretty much due to the fact that the director hated the book to begin with .
I like the movie emily rose it gave me a good scared I watch the movie in December of 2005 so the movie ends my cousins go to sleep I stay awake the time was 12:50 in the mid night the lights were turned in my room when I hear something strange out side it sounded like some one taping a golf ball out there in the street I could hear every tap and then it stops I panic cause I had just finish watching a movie about a girl possessed by the devil based on true events I did not dare look out side to see what it was I was scared like a little girl I was 16 at the time
+Shane Benjamson Aside from the Bible and Apocrypha, there is nothing written in Jesus' lifetime to prove he ever existed. Everything else is written a generation or two after his death, and it's just historians saying "there is this cult now whose prophet was called Jesus, etc." But even they don't go into who this Jesus character was, or did he exist, yes or no? Not that that's unusual. The vast majority of people who ever lived left no records of their existence. You'd think that with Jesus being executed, the earthquake, the veil of the Temple being rent in twain, the dead walking the streets and so on, there might be a little something, but no.
+Asstazztic God isn't Yahweh's name. God is a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity. You do not capitalize the word "human" when referring to a person, do you? No, god is a lower case word -- Yahweh, the Christian/Jewish name for their god would be capitalized. I assume that you are a religious person, and I feel like you should know what your god's name is instead of it just being "god" which literally refers to any deity that has been or is being worshiped. So no, your grammatical correction is incorrect.
+Flat FlatSpin I apologize, but can you clarify what you mean? I do not understand. I'm going to make an assumption, but do realize here this is a guess at what you mean. Are you saying that a person's intent to honor god causes them to capitalize the word? If so, then that's fine -- I do not mind someone doing this -- but then correcting another person's sentence to honor a word that they honor still doesn't make it grammatically correct. God is not his name, Yahweh, Allah, or Jehovah are popular names given to the original Jewish god.
+Gillian Fox that is for jews for Christians God is actually his name. that is how he is referred to in the Bible. You are thinking about the term "a god" which refers to religions where there are multiple deities and the noun they use to refer to them is "god". But in Christianity God is the name of our creator.
doubleP Martha was a great moment in a flawed movie, you hating this scene shows me how dumb and unable you are to pick up any kind of sublety, go watch Transformers.
First movie: Atheist professor is pushing his own beliefs on students = bad (villain). Second movie: Christian professor is pushing her own beliefs on students = good (victim)? Wow.
To your point around the five minute mark: Historians are pretty certain Jesus did exist, and it's not likely that a court is going to try to make a scholarly judgement call like that. The prosecuting attorney wouldn't try to prove that there is no evidence for Jesus, they would instead go at it that her usage was inappropriate anyway.
Actually a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's movies could be construed as anti-war and environmentalist propaganda. Personally I love Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, however Princess Mononoke is much stronger in its themes of environmentalism.
Not believing in God and not believing that Jesus was a person are two totally different things. One is your own choice and it understood and the other is just ignorance.
Now you know where your prayer contribution money go to, folks. Because there is NO WAY someone would green light this without a solid budget behind it.
I grew up religious, lost my religion for a few years (I had a great many issues with God), but ultimately found it again on my own due to some circumstances that are hard for me to ignore. That stated... Religion cannot be forced. Religion has to be felt to be believed in. With this are inevitably people do not feel it. To them I simply say "go your own way". If there is a God as I chose to believe, then he/she is a loving God. If my beliefs and what I have felt are true... no good man or woman shall enter hell regardless of religion or lack thereof. Ive got many atheist friends, many Muslim friends, many Buddhist friends.... all good people, and I wouldn't for a moment try to convince them of something they do not believe in.
+Mr. Okay Ive never been one for forced religious conversion. If one wills to spread their religion I believe acts done in accordance to ones religious obligations will bring into the fold those who may find a lack of feeling with their own religion or lack thereof. The point being, screaming at someone about the Bible or following its example... which one really makes people look your religion in a more positive light?
*sigh* I'm a Christian, but I have to say, movies like this who villain-ize everyone else in the world and victimize Christian is why people think all of us are a bunch of close minded people who blindly accuse other people of stuff they didn't do. I mean, that's pretty much what this whole series is about, accusing all atheist of being hateful toward Christian and we are the one who has to play defense all the time, when that is not true. They think they are "spreading" the word of God when they make movies like this? NO! They are alienating people of all other beliefs so the conservative Christians can go "poor us" when they are watching this film
Kevin Sorbo is a Christian and his performance was based on why he needs different friends. The actress from Sabrina, I can't find an explanation for, especially considering the first one was only watched because the Christian gospel music band The News Boys where involved and theoretically responsible for the minor decency people say the first one had more of.
Foreseen G., Curious that a pagan god, born out wed lock argues that god is dead. But the witch tries to spread her persecuted faith to the children. *blink-Blink* Huh, I like this fan theory I'm on the cusp of making.
+S7Robin there going to be new movie called a birth of a nation. direct by the guy who make beast if no nation. no this one isn't about the KKK. it's about a revolution.
+pretzelfrog Not really inaudible in the sense of completely inaudible, some people have claimed to have heard him. Whether this is true or not is great speculation and many would say these people are crazy. The weird thing about that though is that a lot of people who have heard from "God" have done what they were told and been successful even when many around them called them crazy over and over. So it's a strange thing. Also a number of what people claim are miracles would match the definition by no stretch of the imagination since we don't have explanations for why these "miracles" happen. I was raised a Christian and my parents definitely are but I've struggled with just believing and having faith, though as scientific as I am I can't doubt some strange things that happen that people attribute to hearing God or witnessing a miracle.
+Matt Field well that is anecdotal, meaning its not really evidence. anyone can claim to hear anything. I can claim to hear the voice of Michael Jackson and it doesn't prove anything.
+Georgina Matuska Look I'm all for gender equality, I don't see any reason why people should be treated differently because of whether you have a dick or a vagina. Having said that, I am unaware of any 'rights' in developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, etc. That women don't have, but men do. If I'm missing a few 'rights' that men have, that women don't, please inform me, and please make sure they are 'rights' as you said so yourself.
One of your best reviews recently, keep up the good work jeremy i'm a christian myself but i do hate it when a movie tries to shove its message to your face
the other day i went to see zootopia and the theater for gods not dead let out the same time ours did, and one of the staff asked a lady if she liked the movie and she screamed "GODS NOT DEAAAAAD" in his face
As a Christian, this movie is a piece of crap and does nothing but paint Christians in a bad light. They were trying to push an agenda, and I despise people who do that.
I from an atheist family I respect you and your faith but the movie is just saying all atheist are evil which is not only wrong but also extremely terrible to say its like saying all Christians like to touch kids
Exactly...and as C.S. Lewis wisely observed, there's only three options. Either Jesus was and remains a liar, a madman, or the only begotten Son of God. He claimed as much, and provided evidences to support it. A big problem is so many people only want to accept direct visual evidence now; they throw everything else out because it takes work to grasp.
@@goodgirlkay don't be an idiot, being an atheist it's obvious Jesus existed, just like Abraham Lincoln, the debate is whether he did magic or he was the son of a god
Four facts why God CAN'T be death and MUST exist: 1.- Everything that has an end, had a beginning. Life has an end and therefore had beginning, therefore life within this universe and its confines can't be eternal. 2.- Science demonstrates that life begets life and intelligence comes from intelligence behind, there are no scientific reasons to assume otherwise (at least a supperior intelligence source creates it). 3.- Nature can't create itself by natural processes before nature exist, therefore it has to be someone above nature that creates nature (supernatural). 4.- Nothingness can't exist before someone does, therefore it must be someone eternally always existing. You can't reach an infinite regression in which it was nothing and then something. *CONCLUSION: -Why someone and not something? Because of #2 -Why supernatural? Because of #3 -Why eternal? Because of #4 -Why this universe can't be eternal instead? Because of #1 & #2 respectively. Whoever believes otherwise, then they have more faith than I do. God bless.
+Wesley Fuller -Actually those are scientific empirical statements, at least you want to debunk any of the points I made. But you need to elaborate more any of the premises I am making. Take care.
+Wesley Fuller -Source? Have you seen life from non life? Can nothing create something? Why you do think scientists believe in the beginning of the universe (big bang)? Can you create yourself before you exist? I mean, how can this not be scientific statements if this is all we experience? This is why I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. God bless you.
Michael Schoener Uhm, did you know, it's YOU'RE? Did you know that YOU'RE a fucking idiot for not knowing that, and not knowing that there ARE evidence suggesting Jesus was a real historical figure.
I have a lot of respect for you Jeremy! Out of all the film review channels I follow yours is the only one that will review christian or religious films and I just think that's pretty cool. Even if this movie ended up being terrible, (I'm a Christian and really didn't expect it to be good quite honestly), I think it's awesome you saw it and reviewed it. Looking forward to your reviews in the future of some hopefully more decent Christian films 👍
+KHkippen There was an "Atheist" movie in response to the trend. I can't remember the name, but it was about a man who sleep with a devout christian wife, and the guy tries to blackmail him into suicide by threatening his own wife. It... didn't made a particular impression. Propaganda films needs some subtlety :p
jeremy jahns, to answer your question about the guy saying about "going to war"... it's a turn of phrase that Christians use that refers to a spiritual war. The Bible says that Christians fight is not against the physical but it's against spiritual principalities. so usually when a Christian talks about going to war, it's in a spiritual sense. I hope that answers your question. also, I know you called the film with propaganda movie, but it technically isn't - the movie was geared towards Christians, so it really wasn't technically propaganda.
+Andrew Marquez Any movie with a woman acting badass by killing people unrealistically and proving men to be weak and stupid = Feminist/ liberal secularist propaganda.
Excuse me, kind sir! Are you telling me that I Spit On Your Grave and Teeth are not cinematic classics that uphold Christian and feminist beliefs in the face of the evil patriarchy?! I will say good day to you!
i'm a christian and even i thought the plot was over-exaturated. some of my friends are athiest and we have never once had a problem with each others beliefs or lifestyles. the only people that are truly "sinister" are the people who are probably gonna troll me in a few minutes.
I'm pleased to see yet another movie where God came through for privileged middle class white woman instead of impoverished third world brown child once again. -I'm not actually pleased.
I know the trailer for gods not dead 1 was very subtle about the fact that id was a propaganda piece but when i watched the trailer for the second one i was like 'Well I guess they're going to stop being subtle now'.
people who liked this film because they believe in Jesus Christ are like the comic book fans who enjoyed BvS. The fact that the film explores something you personally enjoy, doesn't make it a good film from a technical and objective point of view.
I despise these movies. They are made for people with delusions of persecution, by people with delusions of persecution. You know, the Mike Huckabees of the world. Most average, everyday Christians (such as my family) are sane people with perspective who realize that Christian persecution is a much bigger problem in countries like Syria or Iraq, not here in the US. The so-called "persecution" here is positively trifling.
***** I understand what you are talking about, and agree that persecution on any level is bad, but Iwhat I'm talking about is the grand scheme of things. I'm referring those kind of Christians (particularly in the South) that constantly play the victim card over, say, not being allowed to pray in school -- I don't even know if you can call that persecution, and either think that's as bad as ISIS beheading Christians on a daily basis in the Middle East or have no clue. People like that have no perspective and I can safely guess they've never left town.
