Warning: Contains major spoilers from the movie God's Not Dead.
Seriously I'm going to to fast forward and give the cliff note version, skipping pretty much right to the end of the movie.
This is your last chance to avoid spoilers. You've been warned.
Josh Wheaton, a Christian student challenged by his atheist professor, Professor Radisson, gives all his evidence for the existence of God. Professor Radisson admits he hates God because his mother died from cancer when he was 12, and God did not save her. Later he reads a note his mom wrote him. Change of heart happening. He calls his girlfriend/ex-girlfriend, a Christian. Presumably to say something along the lines of, "hey, maybe I was wrong. Maybe this God of yours does exist. Tell me more." She doesn't answer. He goes to find her. Cue the car. Bam! While crossing the street he gets hit by the car and dies. In the minute before he dies, while he is lying in the road, the pastor is conveniently there and asks him if he knows Christ. Professor Radisson then gives his life to Christ and dies. He dies!
Great. He's saved. Happy ending. Right?
No!
God's not dead but Professor Radisson is.
Am I the only one sorely upset with the ending? Of the reviews I've read and skimmed none of them have mentioned the ending in this way. If you haven't quite caught on yet I have a slight problem with Professor Radisson dying in the end. (Yes, I realize it's just a movie so I may be looking too far in to it).
Professor Radisson makes a deathbed decision to accept Christ. I am not knocking his decision and saying it's not a genuine decision. It was clear he was on his way towards that decision anyway. Getting hit by a car just kind of sped things up. The way I see it, his deathbed decision was a relatively easy decision. Had he lived he would be faced with actually living out a Christian life. This would be a much greater challenge. His friends and colleagues were atheists. They mocked the idea of believeing in a God. His whole class was taught on the premise that God is dead.
Therefore, having given his life to Christ, if he lived, you would expect a change of character. I mean he would have to change the whole way he teaches his class. Living a Christian life among his colleagues and friends would certainly not be easy. It's safe to assume he would essentially be mocked and persecuted among his colleagues and friends. He would be faced with the choice of standing for Christ or denying Christ.
Christians are not guaranteed an easy life. There will be pain, insults, suffering (Matthew 5:11, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7, 1 Peter 3:15-17, 1 Peter 4:12-16). Professor Radisson I'm sure would have faced insults and mocking from his colleagues. He pretty much had a Saul to Paul conversion. Professor Radisson persecuted those who were Christians both in his class and life and tried to destroy their belief in God. Saul persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
So they would have been kind of alike, except Professor Radisson died and didn't get to show a transformed life. His colleagues I'm sure would hear about the decision he made while dying, but having known him as they did, as one who persecuted Christians, would they really even believe it was true? Would they believe someone like him, who hated God, had really given his life to Christ? It's not that it's an impossible thing to believe, but he's not around anymore for them to truly see the change in his life. Their lives would then probably remain unchanged.
In conclusion, I think Professor Radisson should have lived.
I watched the movie twice. The first time I had the same feeling as you have. My tears shed in the end of movie partly went to the mourning of Professor Radisson. However, the second time I watched it, still shedding tears for his death, I felt that Professor Radisson served his purpose very well. Even if his students won't see his conversion, he was a necessary part for the whole class to stand up and say that God is not dead. If there's no atheist Professor Radisson, most of the students in the class probably still live their old lives. That Chinese student won't be saved in the class either.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Radisson had suffered enough before he died. Converted from a Christian to an atheist and living with a Christian kept himself busy disproving God's sovereignty even though deep in his heart he always knew that God exists. Not knowing God is sad, but knowing God and don't believe in Him is even sadder. Professor Radisson was more like the lost child who wasted all money and begging back home. God showed His mercy and promise very clearly in the movie.