Kirk Cameron’s “Unstoppable”

I went with a good friend (no, a great friend…. could call her one of the few in my small circle of closest friends) to go and see Kirk Cameron’s new movie titled “Unstoppable.” It’s intended goal? To answer the life long question that has haunted humanity since our very existence. “Why, if there is a God of love, does he allow suffering and pain to exist?” Kirk Cameron aims in this 2.5hrs film to turn the question mark (the uncertain skeptic) into an exclamation point (the certain believer).

Cameron claims that it is the question of ‘suffering’ that turns believers into atheists. Almost as if the person is traveling on the spectrum of good and evil. I don’t know if that was his intent, but it has the ability to come across like ‘atheism’ is a bad thing or a dirty word. He explains that the Atheists issue is that they don’t want to be under God’s authority and want to come out from under it. What Cameron doesn’t understand is that Atheists don’t believe in God much in the same way as all grown up don’t believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and glittering vampires in the sunlight. One simply doesn’t rebel against the Tooth Fairy. He or she just lacks belief in the winged fairy.

In regards to this, the question remains, does this film generate enough power to convert the unbeliever or skeptic? Put it this way, if you came into the movie theater a believer, this film will most definitely affirm that belief. However, if you went in a skeptic, there’s a good chance you came out underwhelmed, shaking your head saying “what did I just watch.”

For example, there’s a few references to the concept of Christian persecution. One of the main tracks of the movie called The Time Is Now by Warren Barfield says:

And this world’s gone see what I am standing for
I’ve kept my peace, I can’t
hold my tongue anymore

You can’t buy my silence, you can’t steal my
voice
You can’t keep me quiet, I will bring the noise
Try to beat me down,
tell me to shut my mouth
But there’s a time to speak and the time is now

I find the lyrics to be a bit distasteful in that  it reminds me that many modern first world Christians claim to be persecuted or as Warren puts it, “beat me down, tell me to shut my mouth”. Persecution isn’t the result of simply having your feelings hurt, or having the opposition stand up and speak their voice against you. The claim of persecution often comes when believers feel threatened or have their beliefs challenged and as a result they cry ‘persecution’ as a crutch. We live in a country where the majority of its citizens are Christian. The unbelievers and skeptics are in the minority, and yet somehow the faithful are the ones being persecuted.

Let’s look at real persecution shall we.

Christian persecution was only a small focus of the film, as it shifted from there to showing what Cameron claimed as historical evidence to back up his claims for God and His love; though nothing more then biblical history was used. Biblical and archeological history are two very different things. There is no evidence that Noah and the Ark happened outside of the bible, and the bible is the claim of Gods existence, not the proof. Cameron takes the viewer into some biblical history by showing a re-enactment of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the scene that leads to mankind’s demise, and another re-enactment of Cain murdering his brother Able. Afterward, we follow Cameron into an exec room where he is trying to pitch a story of Noah and the flood to a bunch of Hollywood producers, to no avail. They explain to him that this would not be a good sell unless you were only to focus on the positive side and not the death that is also involved in the story, by the hands of an all knowing and all loving God. Kirk disagrees and feels that they were completely missing his point. Yet his own movie, Unstoppable, was the perfect platform to show this story’s importance. Just like he re-enacted the garden and Cain and Able scenes, he could have used the film time to re-enact it out as he had envisioned. But he didn’t. Why? I wonder this. If this was an important story he wanted to tell, why didn’t he do it with the platform he was utilizing?

And as there is no evidence beyond the bible to support the Noah’s Ark story, there is also no actual evidence to support the creationist story: that man (Adam) was made of dirt and woman (Eve, his wife) was made from man’s rib. It is a claim the bible makes that has yet to be proven. This re-enactment shows Adam, like a plant, emerging from the soil. and upon watching this, I couldn’t help but think, is this story is to be taken as legit, while the theory of evolution is the joke?

I truly went into this film, giving it an honest chance. I was genuinely hoping to be enlightened. As an agnostic, I was hoping to be swayed, however minutely, into that general direction of faithdom in the deity of God and his son Jesus, but alas where Cameron ended the movie with an exclamation point, mine remained (and still remains) a question mark.

Though regardless of my personal opinion, I do recommend the watch to everyone so you can draw and come up with your own conclusions. If you have not yet seen the trailer, you can watch it here. and feel free to come back and give me your thoughts and opinions on the movie. 🙂

Sister Blog

Photo Courtesy of: Joey Harrison

Hey friends,

Molenda’s Musings, the sister blog to this one, is now a material functioning piece of cyber-space which I’ve created in order to display my old and new works of poetry and other writings. I needed to dust the cobwebs from all my hard copies and find them a home here. (They are already settling in so nicely, can’t ya tell) 🙂 I hope you’ll take a gander, and if you feel compelled, offer any comments or criticisms that you may have.

Let’s chat poetry (and all other genres within the creative writing format)!

Took some time off, but Im back. Stay tuned… You like poetry don’t you?

Photo Courtesy of: Rebecca Mezzaluna

I know, it’s been awhile. I’ve missed you. And I haven’t a really great excuse for you. I wish I had something unbelievably exciting to tell you. Like for instance, NASA called and needed a civilian to join in on the latest space venture which included a trip around the  galaxy a time or two. Though, unfortunately, I didn’t get that call. 🙂

Well everyone, this is my message to tell you that I do plan on being back on the blog-o-sphere. I may be re-tweeking some things here and there, PLUS I am going to link a new blog of mine (still on the drawing board mind you) to this one, which will entail all of my newest and oldest poems and other musings. I hope you’ll grab a cuppa joe, cuddle up in your coziest of jammies, and will join on in.  Let’s talk writing. I want to talk about your writing, my writing, and all of those who have come before us, and are inspiring us today.

Are you ready? Cause I am!!!

Book Review: An Untimely Love by Tendai Huchu

Imagine. Following a young man on his journey toward a form of religious extremism that reeks of toxicity toward all of mankind.

Islamic extremism.

Would you be willing to follow this young man’s journey, Khalid Patel, keeping an open mind, watching as he struggles with what he is told is ‘his destiny’ (to become a suicide bomber), all the while watching him discover the ability to tap into the core of his humanity. Before going through the fatal act of taking out others as well as himself, we see his internal struggle. The spirit of someone who in good conscience can not see to follow through on that which is expected from him.

This is a quick read. I know, I know. You think, a book about Islamic terrorism… yikes, why/who would want to read a book with such subject matter. Though let me stop you, and tell you that above all, this is a love story. (To be honest, I wish more of the relationship building between Khalid and Smokey came into play.) It is about a young man on his journey from a clouded, misguided truth, to one in which can only be represented by human emotion- Love.

GRADE: B