Excellent point. Haven't seen the film, but it sounds like you're absolutely right. Belief in God isn't supposed to be about instant gratification and using God to get what you want. Belief is supposed to be its own reward, since you'll know how to live a better life.
It's the Devil that's supposed to give you instant gratification in this world, in exchange for punishment in the next. And that's one of the big flaws with the concept of miracles, as it could be the Devil or something else granting the miracle while you're worshipping a false god. Even Jesus downplayed the point of his miracles, while famously rejecting the Devil's material temptations.
And this film should have resolved with all of the villagers realizing they're being selfish and shouldn't base their belief in God as a way of cashing in for rewards. That's the exact opposite of what Christianity is all about. To paraphrase Kennedy, ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for God.
So it should have turned out that the pastor was right, and that the real Christmas miracle would be the villagers working together to solve their own problems, rather than wait for God's magic to solve anything. Maybe that's how it ends and I'm all wrong about this, but from what I've read, they got their message entirely backwards. The focus of Christianity should always be on sacrifice; not rewards.
reply
share
shwalls2002
9 years ago
Thank you for your reply. I agree with your opinion!
reply
share
Eric-62-2
8 years ago
This is total rubbish. The movie is not about a lack of need for God, it's a commentary on how sometimes we lose our capacity to believe in the miraculous simply because of the modern age we live in now. In the end, both sides were right because the pastor was right to show how God can work miracles within us for the good *without* something supernatural, just as He also has the power to work miracles through the supernatural. Both sides were also at times flawed in their thinking as well, which meant neither side had to emerge as purely good and the other a silly caricature.
I found this movie uplifting and the low regard I have for "Christian" critics who would diss a movie like this by calling it dangerous for the faith etc. (whereas most of these same critics are usually the ones with nicer things to say about some of the most anti-Christian secular movies I've ever seen. This is why I cancelled my subscription to Christianity Today) only increased after I read the comments they made about this film.
reply
share