From the preamble of this movie I see he's trying the pretty caveman tact of appealing to the pride of the listener, by carefully but not really hiding his suggestion that belief in God is born of fear of the unknown. The fear of now and the future as he say's. It's a common tact, but it's illogical and never really challenged properly.
Take two men.
One functions under the idea that there is a creator. A creator who knows your every thought and desire and from whom no act or thought is ever hidden. Not only are you an open book, but there exists an obligation for the things you feel, that not even death will absolve you from.
The other man functions under the idea that he's solely responsible for himself on a social level. He judges himself on a descending scale by proclaiming he's good by comparing himself to the worst society has to offer, i.e. the Hitler's, Ted Bundy's and rapists of the world etc, but he's not answerable to anybody.
Who's the coward in this scenario?
Who is threatened by the now? What is threatening about now as he suggests? We can always fall victim to a thug I suppose and since many do, do we find an over-encompassing God the answer to these things? I doubt it, anymore than anyone thinks believing in God will end wars. Reading the bible will dispel that notion in less than a day.
I think the fact that there are wars and terrible things gives greater testimony to the fact that man is inherently evil and has no belief in God in general. An American President can talk all the shit he wants, but when he enacts policies that indiscriminately kill children in other countries, let alone gives support to abortion at home(and yes both Republicans and Democrats do), he has zero belief in God and the idea that he will have to answer for his horrible acts. Most men do not believe in God and Jesus essentially proved this. Paul expounded by saying before you came to Christ you were rejecting God. That's the natural state of man, to reject the responsibility that he feels comes with having to believe in God.
So what does he do? He, as your movie states, lives for now. Epicureans. All this film does is the exact same thing I said religion does: uses bits of truth to get you to believe it's own doctrine: The truth that religion has been misused and distorted, but that's mans doing, not God's. God/Jesus didn't establish a religion. Man did. God created, laid down his purpose and allowed man his autonomy, after which man ran with it and used it to create the systems of orders. So I understand the disillusion with religion, but I don't think it wise or logical to attribute it to God.
People will take their truth from these things and other people, but they'll fight against simply reading the bible. You've basically admitted that by saying this film has effected your ability to believe in Christ - an historical figure no less, as opposed to simply reading the bible and what it say's about Jesus Christ himself. So who has more influence on every day life, man or God?
Whether or not you believe in God, if we're going to talk in hypothetical ways for the sake of argument, you're at some time going to have to come around to mentioning the devil, which no on really does. They talk about bad things and ask why God, why God? but never acknowledge the other guy. Who Jesus himself called the prince of this world. So, with that in mind, and with the knowledge that we have our own free will at what point do we recognize that we continually give him more of our time than we do God and when do we realize that the consequences of that are not to be attributed to God? You have no time for church or bible study, but you have two hours to watch one of his productions to glean something concerning God? A cartoon narrated by a dead coke-head is being propagated as conventional wisdom. Think about it. Earlier man had their Aristotle's, Plato's, etc and this generation has… George Carlin?
Under that condition, why would you believe in God?
It's fine to seek out what people are saying, but if you don't balance it with what God himself is actually saying, you're never going to get a sufficient answer. At least not the right answer. We make more time for profitless entertainment than for simply reading the bible. We seek out pseudo intellectuals with initials after their names to validate what we want to hear instead of finding out what God himself says.
Don't blame the state of the church on God, there are great churches and great bible teachers. They're just too honest to engage in the marketing and mind games to be sen on a national level. And Jesus wasn't joking when he said strait is the gate to salvation and wide the road to destruction. The majority will take the wide road. Popularity isn't the pathway to God.
Under those conditions why would anyone believe in God?
Change the conditions and you'll understand why it's absolutely reasonable to believe in God.
Mind you I'm not being an ass and saying these things like I have some superior position on you because I don't. That's not my point. I don't go to church and I'm not ashamed or proud of that fact, it just is what it is. But I do study the bible every day and pray and am very well versed in it. And I would confidently say it's because that's exactly what I prayed to God for. For understanding, historically, spiritually and intellectually, (not that I think I'm an intellectual at all). I know what I know because of God.
