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The War Cry | OCTOBER 2014
Moviemakers Turn to
Christian Themes in the
Pursuit of Beauty & Truth
T
his full-length feature is an expansion of the Downey/
Burnett TV miniseries, The Bible. It realistically depicts the
life of Jesus of Nazareth and proclaims the deity of Jesus and
the unconditional love of a God who would sacrifice His only
Son to save His people. This film explores eternal values like
grace, hope, faith and forgiveness and highlights the im-
portance of prayer, worship and God's Word.
A
n angry college philosophy professor tells his students that they
need to renounce the existence of God on the first day of class
or face a failing grade. One lone dissenter, Josh, refuses to comply,
and takes on a challenge from his teacher to prove that God is real.
The film encourages Christians to be bold in defending biblical truths.
M
ovies such as "Chariots of Fire" and more
recently "Heaven is For Real" have had
success at the box offi
ce, leading moviemak-
ers to explore faith�based themes in cur-
rent and soon to be released fi lms.
Here are some of
those movies, along with a brief description of the bibli-
cal values and ideas on which they are based. The movie
industry considers what works at the box offi
ce as the
primary criteria for the fi lms it creates. The growing ap-
peal of fi lms and other forms of entertainment that deal
honestly with questions about faith represents a hunger
for truth and substance among the viewing audience.
God's
Not Dead
Son of God
INFORMING
T
his true story features Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo
and Kelly Reilly as his wife Sonja, whose son Colton
tells them he visited heaven during a near death experi-
ence. Colton's startling descriptions challenge the audi-
ence to consider the full dimensions of life and offers
substance for dialogue for believers and skeptics alike.
Heaven
is for Real