Review: The God Who Wasn't There

(By Erik)

I recently rented The God Who Wasn’t There through Netflix. It’s a Michael Moore-style documentary by Brian Flemming, an atheist who went to a fundamentalist Christian school when he was a child.

I wrote the following review to post on Netflix’s Web site, but the limit was 300 words. Here’s the complete version:

I am a born-again Christian and work for a Christian newspaper.

And I think that every Christian should see this film.

It is imperative that we, as believers, expose ourselves to competing and alternate beliefs. Some members of my own church likely will disagree with me, but I believe that the truth stands up to all scrutiny.

Brian Fleming gives an honest, heart-wrenching look at his own belief system. (We all believe in something, whether it’s God or not. And we all worship something, whether it’s God, possessions or science.)

And he makes some wonderful points. First of all, we’ve done a lousy job of educating people about Christian history after the life of Christ. We must be more aware of our history — the good and the bad. Fleming accurately points out that a lot of people have said and done a lot of stupid things in the name of Christ (from Waco to Pat Robertson).

Fleming’s statement, “Moderate Christianity makes no sense” absolutely blew me away. All I can say is “Amen!” Too many of us these days think Christianity is all about having a weekly “worship experience” with a kickin’ praise band and a bunch of other people who look just like us.

Not so. Jesus didn’t teach that. Nor did he teach anti-Semitism or violence, as Fleming asserts. The whole argument that Christians are violent, bloody people seems to be based on the success of the film The Passion of the Christ. That film’s success among Christians had more to do with the publicity and the fact that it was one of those rare movies that played to large-scale audiences.

There are a few other things I want to point out about the film. First of all, Fleming’s assertion that the apostle Paul himself denied Jesus’ mortality is simply wrong. He cites Hebrews 8:4 as proof of this: “If Jesus had been on Earth …”

You’ll have a hard time finding a version of the Bible that uses the word “had” in this verse. Most use the word “were,” and the context tells us that the meaning is more along the lines of: “If Jesus were on the earth right now …”

(And if you want to quote Paul, you really shouldn’t use the book of Hebrews. In all likelihood, Paul didn’t write it. Some scholars have attributed it to Barnabas or Apollos.)

Fleming also stacks the deck against Christianity in his choice of sources. For the cause of atheism he includes interviews with religion scholars and other academics.

Representing Christianity, he uses a rather combative interview with the headmaster of the Christian school he attended and an interview with a contractor who has set up a Web site to send e-mails to people “after the Rapture.” Plus he throws in some “on-the-street” interviews with Christians that come across much like the “Jaywalking” segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

It’s also obvious that Fleming’s understanding of the “unforgivable sin” hasn’t matured much since his days in the pews of his Christian primary school. Many scholars believe that “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is the willful denying of the Spirit’s power when you know it to be the work of God. I’m not sure about that, but I know it’s not something you can do by accident.

When Fleming describes his experiences at the Christian school, he’s describing the same kind of doubt that all of us go through as believers. Questioning our beliefs is important to our spiritual formation. It bothers me that he didn’t seem to have anyone to hear his concerns and discuss his questions.

Despite his “attempted blasphemy” at the end of the film (denying the Holy Spirit on camera) I believe that Fleming isn’t beyond saving.

Truth is, our faith needs more people like him — people of talent and conviction who have confronted their beliefs (or lack thereof) and have something to say.