A Question of Faith

Let me start off by saying that I come from a Christian heritage but I am not a Christian. I am an agnostic. I can find no proof for the existence of God (let alone what's in the Bible, Koran, etc) nor can I find proof for the non-existence of God. Intellectual honesty requires, therefore, that I neither believe nor disbelieve. Given my stance on God and religion, I dismissed the Bible / Christian stuff in "A Question of Faith" out of hand. I just ignored it and instead approached this movie from a human behavior standpoint. I'm glad I did.

"A Question of Faith" is one of those stories about people who do not know each other but are brought together by an event, in this case a totally avoidable tragedy, and, as is necessary for this kind of movie, by coincidence. The tragedy begets pain and, of course, anger.

I like the acting in this movie. Some of the characters could have seemed "too good" to be real, but since I've met real people who are like the characters portrayed in the movie I was able to get past that.

The characters were all introduced early in the movie, and it became fairly predictable what what was going to happen next. So you might think, therefore, that "A Question of Faith" just left me flat and from my description that this movie is not worth watching, but you would be wrong.

By the end of "A Question of Faith" I was crying. This movie, to me, is about the power and beauty of forgiveness, and it doesn't matter whether forgiveness comes from some religion or from innate human goodness. Maybe forgiveness means nothing to you but it means a whole lot to me. I have been both forgiven and have forgiven in my lifetime and I know what it truly means. "A Question of Faith" portrayed forgiveness in its true glory in spite of the biblical connections.

I knocked off a couple of points for all the bible stuff. But the thing I really didn't like about "A Question of Faith" is that it left all the theaters around here before I could go see it again.

When looking at IMDB just be aware that many good Christian movies are heavily given one star ratings in order for the movies to appear so-so in the ratings. I would recommend judging on your own since this appears to be a concerted effort from those anti-Christian.

We watched this as a family. It may be a little heavy for younger viewers in regards to grief and tragedy. Nothing graphic is shown. It is the situation that may be a bit sullen. Good messages on how one mistake can change your life as well as the difficulty of accepting loss.

Ok, I walked in on a Sunday late afternoon while my family was watching this show, I thought to myself, oh goodness one of those films where they want you to evaluate your life and be bored watching, well, what a awesome surprise., as my wife explained what happened that led to the amazing end I had to dry the tears away. This is such a powerful message, not trying to win souls, but trying to get a message across about forgiveness. The actors were awesome, and I was really excited to see the forever young Kim Fields, Good Job to the writer and director in bringing the feeling of the message to life.

PROS

+ Very, very powerful display of forgiveness.

+ Powerful display against distracted driving.

+ Past Salvation of Maria, but no indication of a planned baptism.

CONS

• It was not reasonable to see Maria go into prison the same day she was arrested for distracted driving.

• The displayed church is not according to the biblical guidelines. A single Senior Pastor is nowhere stipulated in the Bible and much less a 'First Lady', which is a very bad example propagated throughout the movie. There is also no such thing as leaders of a church sitting in special costumes in a row on an elevated platform between the choir and the congregation.

A biblical church should not be a playhouse and always consists of a plurality of elders / overseers / pastors (all the exact same office). Movies should have a higher standard and not just reflect the status quo of a fallen church. Because they reach hundreds of thousands, they should go along the Bible, and not along culture.

• The movie shows entitlement and a lack of respect towards doctors. We as Christians ought not to ask for the best doctors or ask for senior cardiologists above chief cardiologists.

This would be ok if it would be a lesson to teach us, but John is nowhere seen apologizing to the doctors. We as Christians ought to be different from the world and trust THEOS, not in titles while questioning authorities.

• The movie shows a behavior after the death of a son, which is exactly the same behavior any pagan would have.

This is a sad testimony of the church, showing that most (American) Christians have not understood the Bible. The Bible is clear about the salvation of those who have not yet reached the Age of Accountability and do not yet know the difference between good and evil.

The David of the Bible was rather in joy after his son had died, because he knew him to have taken a significant shortcut to Heaven. So why are we Christians just imitating, and sometimes even worse than pagans?

I have now seen many American 'Christian' movies where children die, but almost without exception we see bitterness and anger, and very rarely joy or any mention of Heaven.

What American filmmakers display, is the exact opposite of the Good Message of Salvation. It looks and feels as if all those children go straight to Gehenna.

• Display of a luxury lifestyle of a pastor.

I don't care who you are or what you believe, everyone of all ages should see this movie. Forgiveness is SO powerful.