Friday, February 23, 2007

Facing the Giants movie

I rented "Facing the Giants" and watched it with my wife and three of my daughters last night. I had heard that it was inspiring but was plagued by bad acting, so I tried to watch it without prejudice.

The acting isn't stellar. In fact, a couple of the actors were quite bad, and several of the story elements were predictable. But those flaws didn't harm my enjoyment of the movie. I found it inspiring and uplifting. I lost a few tears in a couple of scenes and felt a rush of joy at a several others. Overall, it was very satisfying. I would definitely watch it again.

I think the best aspect of the story was the positive message that you can succeed in obeying God and giving Him the glory. He has given us the ability to do all things through His strength, and that truth was powerfully presented. In these days when the church beats down Christians, telling them that they are sinners until they die, it is refreshing to see a movie dispute that lie and give us an uplifting message.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I haven't seen "Facing the Giants" yet, but the same people did the movie "Flywheel", and it was the same deal: bad acting, powerful message. "Flywheel" is a fabulous movie about obeying God and honesty. Both of these movies were not only put out by Sherwood Baptist (I think I got the name right), but I've been told that almost the entire cast in the movies are members of that church. How cool is that?? I can't wait till I finally get to see "Facing the Giants", thank you for sharing, Mr. Davis :)
(psst..this is Connie)

Anonymous said...

I just finished Eye of the Oricle, it was great! I can't wait till the next book comes out! Good Work!

Jessica McDonald said...

Mr. Davis,

I too watched "Facing the Giants" a few nights ago for the first time (at my aunts house). And I was a little skeptical, since I'd heard reports about the acting. I sat down and as the movie progressed I found myself forgetting all about the acting (which I agree wasn't very good). It was such a beautiful story of God's grace and I was deeply moved. I cried and cried at the end. Absolutley beautiful! :)

jessica mcdonald

Unknown said...

I finally saw it!! And yes, just like "Flywheel" the message was powerful and I didn't mind the poor acting, really - what the movie was about was far more important.

My favorite part was the death-crawl, where the coach kept telling him to not give up, to give all he had until he had nothing left, to move past the pain and persevere. I believe that when we do that, when we keep going until we have nothing left to give, that's when God will step in and give us everything we need.

Anonymous said...

I saw the movie Facing the Giants and totally disagree with all of the hype.

This movie tells the viewer all you have to do is believe in God and you will get a raise, a stranger will donate a new car, a infertile man will father a child, you will win at everything you do, people will love you everywhere you go, lame will walk, you will become rich and famous.

Sorry, but that is not God, that is Santa Claus. God never promised us a rose garden. He also never promised that our lives, our circumstances, our problems would change. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ – not money, cars, winning and pregnancy.

This is a sad case of humanism being replaced for God. In effect, non Christians who watch this film, and expect their lives to change and “get all the goodies” will be greatly disillusioned. In fact this movie might be a tool for Satan, and I believe it is therefore a satanic film.

It is sad such a pathetic humanistic excuse for satanic propaganda. The writers, directors and actors should be aware that their false worldly portrayals are helping Satan not God. This is one viewer who is greatly saddened by this horrible, false teaching.

Bryan Davis said...

For the anonymous commenter above, I normally don't allow anonymous comments, nor those that are as vitriolic as yours, but I am allowing it so that I can rebut what you wrote.

I have heard this criticism several times, and it's simply ridiculous. Of course God doesn't give football victories, new trucks, or pregnancies to everyone, but He does give good gifts to His children. This happens to be a story about God delivering blessings, something that He often does. It in no way says that God does this to everyone or that everyone should expect such a string of blessings.

I could write a story about the blessings God has given me, and it would be filled with far more amazing things than this movie showed. If I made a movie out of my story, would that be satanic? Of course not! It would simply be true, and I would be a disobedient child if I were not to stand up and give God the glory for what He has done in my life just because some misguided people think my story means it would happen that way for everyone. We don't hesitate to tell stories just because a few foolish people might not understand them.

You can also tell stories about the hardships Christians might face. Does that mean all Christians suffer the same hardships? Of course not. It simply tells a faithful story. But I would hope the story ends with hope, because in reality we always have hope, no matter how difficult life might get.

Anonymous, you are not only wrong; you are dangerously wrong. God does great things in the lives of many people, and if we don't give Him the glory by telling the world of His fatherly love, we would be fools. And calling such a story satanic borders on blasphemy.

Bryan Davis said...

Here is what the Bible says about God's blessings:

1 Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God. 3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4 “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways. 8 “The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways. 10 “So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you. 11 “And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 “The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 “And the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail, and you only shall be above, and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, 14 and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

These are everyday, material blessings. To say that a story shouldn't portray such blessings coming upon God obedeitn followers is to deny the truth of the Bible. It's quite simple. God does give blessings.

Yes, He also calls some of us to suffer. That can be part of the Christian life, too, and we should also faithfully portray that in some of our stories, even at the risk of having people believe that all Christians will suffer the same way people in the story suffer.

It is a dangerous, shameful error to call stories of His blessings satanic.