Last Friday, Cheyne and I saw the new Christian-themed film, “God’s Not Dead.”  We liked it so much that we decided to take our youth group to see it on Sunday afternoon.

There are a lot of reasons I could give you to go see it, but instead I decided to stir things up a bit and give you three reasons why you shouldn’t see it.

1.       It’s not perfect

While I overwhelmingly enjoyed the film, there were a couple of lines that I took issue with doctrinally.  This led me to a startling discovery:

CHRISTIAN MOVIES AREN’T PERFECT!

But you want to know what?  Christians aren’t perfect either.  And expecting a Christian film to be flawless reveals the inherent flaws in our own expectations.

Christians make mistakes occasionally.  In fact, I’ve said something incorrect once or twice in my life (like my infamous speech to a roomful of promiscuous teenagers at the 2005 JSA Convention).

And while it’d be great for a film to teach the gospel with 100% accuracy in every single detail, a film that teaches that “you can believe in God without committing intellectual suicide” and that Jesus is the only means of salvation is a film worth promoting.

2.       There are too many bible movies this year

2014 has been dubbed by many as “the Year of the Bible Movie.”  There are a plethora of biblically based films coming out this year… Son of God, Heaven is For Real, Noah, Exodus, and Captain America: Winter Soldier.

But what if this wasn’t an anomaly?  What if it wasn’t uncommon for a dozen movies to feature bible stories and Christian themes every calendar year?  We have tremendous power in our hands.  We can send a message to Hollywood that if they will finance bible movies, we will watch them.  We will promote them.  We will tell our friends about them.  And bible-based movies will do well.

Based on how well these films are received will dictate whether we see Jesus on the big screens next year, or Will Ferrell with no pants on.  In an age where Hollywood films are getting more decadent and more X-rated, we can turn the tide and usher in “the Decade of the Bible Movie.”

Or we can stay home and complain that Moses was too Calvinist/Pentecostal/Environmental/hippy/etc.  Ultimately, your decision will dictate what types of films come out next year.

3.       No stars, no budget, no academy awards

Hercules and Superman walk into a bar… and make a Christian movie.

You probably didn’t get that joke.  For one, it wasn’t funny.  Also, “God’s Not Dead” didn’t have any celebrities from the 21^st Century in it.  (But mainly, because it wasn’t funny.)

“God’s Not Dead” didn’t have any famous people in it.  It didn’t have a gigantic budget.  It won’t be nominated for an Academy Award.  And it won’t break any records for “Most Money Ever Made from a Movie Ever.”

And that’s okay.

When you watch movies solely because some famous guy is in it or because it’s been hyped up, you end up with movies like “The Hangover Part 3.”  And nobody wants to see that.  We shouldn’t see movies just because they are Oscar worthy.  In fact, if you look at the list of films that have won “Best Picture,” most of them suck.

“God’s Not Dead” will strengthen your faith.  It will cause you to see militant atheists not as your mortal enemies but as victims besieged by the lies of the devil.  It will embolden you to stand up for what you believe in.  It will cause you to take risks for the sake of the gospel.

And who knows?  If we all make an effort to support movies like “God’s Not Dead,” maybe the film industry will slowly start to change.  Maybe big stars will put their talents and their fortunes toward Christian-themed films.  Maybe we’ll see more celebrities thanking Jesus Christ at the 2015 Academy Awards.  Maybe in a decade or so, Christians will actually like Hollywood because Hollywood likes Christianity.

Or maybe not.  It depends on us.