MovieChat Forums > War Room (2015) Discussion > Question for non-Christians who watched ...

Question for non-Christians who watched this movie

posted 8 years ago by cochrandarin
43 replies | jump to latest

I see a lot of non-Christian/believers on here trashing this movie. My question is simple...if you are not a Christian, why did you bother watching this movie in the first place and then get on here and attack the Christian message/s it conveys? If you don't like seafood, don't eat at Red Lobster. If you don't like looking at naked women, don't go into a strip club. I am not a Muslim, so I would not watch a movie about Islam and Islamic beliefs and then get on a message board and attack Islam. You knew this was a Christian movie about Christian beliefs before you watched it, right? If you thought the acting in this movie was bad, fine....critique the acting. But do not attack it's Christian message. If you don't like them or believe in them, you should not have wasted 2 hours of your life watching this movie. Now I know that some will attack these statements with a lot of little sarcastic comments and jabs, but I would really like to hear from some of the more mature, serious crowd on this matter. If you're not a Christian, why bother?

[–] SadAndSlightlyOverweight 7 years ago

I watched Cinemasnob's half hour lomg review of this because I'm an American and I'm free to watch what I want.

My opinion is that the message of the movie is harmful. It doesn't matter to me that it's a Christian movie.

[–] cochrandarin 7 years ago

Just out of curiosity, why do you think the message of the movie is 'harmful'?

[–] SadAndSlightlyOverweight 7 years ago

Because the man was cheating on her (emotionally) and being an overall jerk and she was supposed to just take it. He turned aroukd, but sadly most abusive, cheating men do not. She should have also gons to a doctor to check for STDs and they should go into marriage counseling so that she can talk in a safe environmemt.

[–] TonyDood 7 years ago

Good question, here's my two cents since you asked, it's really very simple:

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

I watch movies with Christian themes to find out just how truly "out there" Christians might be at any given moment in time--how aggressively they're willing to fight for the absurd things they choose to have faith in. I'm not in the least afraid that "Rogue 1" will encourage the destruction of my way of life as a gay man happily (and legally) married to another man, but "The War Room" isn't "Rogue 1." "The War Room" is propaganda disguised as entertainment, directed at people who will not think of the ideas presented in it as fiction. The movie hopes to reaffirm the message of the people who created it (for the purpose of making money, I might add). What's the message?

If you are a Christian you are obligated to believe that what is in the Bible is gospel, to varying degrees. You may not agree with all of what's in the book (which I've read and studied for years in the same spirit that I watch dumb movies like this), but you can't ignore it. If you are reading an English translation of the Bible, several times throughout the book there are mentions of homosexuality, none of them casting the phenomenon in a positive light. The nature and meaning behind these mentions is hotly disputed, and a Christian has to make a choice about how she or he feels regarding the passages, but you can't ignore the existence of these passages any more than one can ignore mentions of other troubling concepts of ritual, practice and belief that pop up in the book(s). But if you buy into the Bible you have to stand behind it, and the things it says, and as such you are standing up for a tome that would criticize, condemn or control my happy, healthy relationship with another human being. There is no "love the sinner, hate the sin"; you're either on my side or you aren't.

I watch movies like this to get a sense of just how idiotic (and dangerous) people who have "faith" are really getting, in the face of eons of evidence that praying to the ceiling doesn't grant you wishes or save your marriage. I watch to try to educate and condition myself against the insanity of groups of people who do exist who believe there's a sentient being outside the ozone layer who doles out justice and punishment to the individual based on her or his levels of acquiescence.

I write here in the vain hope that some poor soul who was either forced to watch a movie like this, or watched it because s/he was confused into thinking this piece of poorly executed garbage reflected anything resembling a "truth" might hear a voice of reason--reason being the only thing that can deflect and conquer decisions based on the ludicrous "faith" of people who pray to a vague ideal known as "God," people who would throw rocks at the moon because they don't understand what it really is.

That's why I watch these movies. If you are unable or unwilling to educate yourself into understanding that religious belief is dangerous nonsense, if you believe in the balderdash that is pushed in these propaganda films in defiance of rational thinking or even sanity, setting intelligence, rational thought and scientific reality back every time someone pays to watch such tripe, you're my enemy, and I want to know what you're up to. Sorry. To any Christians who would cry "victim" or accuse me of attacking them or the things they believe, I didn't start it, you and your "people" did. My entire life has been spent defending myself against your pitchforks and torches, and trust me when I say, at this point I'm ready and lying in wait for you to knock on my door.

Cheers 

[–] cochrandarin 7 years ago

Well my friend, that's an honest answer. I admire that. Yes, I'm a Christian, I choose to believe in the Bible as truth. Everyone chooses what to accept as truth...some choose science, some choose other religions, some choose...whatever. But all take faith, even science. My faith is in God. Yours is in something else.

I'm not an uneducated idiot...I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology and am working on a doctorate in theology. I do not consider you my enemy, though it sounds like you would consider me your enemy, even though you don't know me or anything about me. Are there Christians that would condemn you and call you evil because you are a homosexual? Sure. There are SO-CALLED Christians who are drug dealers and child molesters, but some of us are the real thing. We are not like that. There are atheists who are drug dealers and child molesters but I don't think they ALL are. So don't judge me based on the actions of others who just claim to know Jesus and I won't judge you based on the actions of other atheists.

Is homosexuality a sin? According to the Bible it is. Does God love the sin of homosexuality? No. But He didn't love my sin either. The truth is, the Bible does in fact call homosexuality an abomination, but it calls many things an abomination. Proverbs calls a 'proud heart' an abomination to God. Many suffer from that plight.
The good news is, He forgave me of my sin and He would forgive a homosexual. He wishes for all of us to turn away from sin and live a righteous life, myself included. Note what Jesus told the poor woman they were about to stone...'Go and sin no more.' That's what I believe. You believe something else as truth. At least you admit that. But don't think that I am evil or your enemy. Again, you don't know me. Real Christians are not evil. And there are some real Christians walking this earth that have a true relationship with Christ.

I will pray for you....whether you want me to or not.

God Bless

[–] TonyDood 7 years ago

Thanks for the civil reply, a rare thing indeed these days. I'll happily respond in kind because I appreciate the discourse, it helps form my own opinion and habits and hopefully those of others who read these things.

Since you seem knowledgeable and eager to respond, maybe you can answer some questions for me that will help me understand. I'm not interested in "Christian baiting" or slamming, I sincerely want to get an educated opinion, something I haven't received in a long time. If you're interested please feel free to respond, if not I don't consider it acquiescing or defeat on either side, certainly, you've made your point and so have I, at this point I'm just interested in details:

1) I respect that people can choose to believe what they want, and those who choose to believe it insist that spiritual matters are as concrete as the earth we walk on...when I want proof of the sun I go outside, when I want to quantify the earth I walk on I use tools to measure it and communicate my findings with others who compare their results. In matters of faith it appears to be more nebulous--even among religious scholars there seems to be a lot of "gray area." I usually offer up the example of Revelations 13:18 (the whole "666" business)--depending on which Bible/translation you study (or which Google page you search) you get a wide variety of responses as to the meaning and origin of that number, or even speculation that the number might be 616, etc. (I'm sure this is old news). It's not like it's a small matter, it's been taken very seriously by large factions. I've spoken to a wide variety of Christians on the subject and the answers I get are all over the place...most of them boil down to, "the specifics aren't important, it's the overall theme that matters, and what I personally believe." Fair enough, but...

2) "homosexuality" is never actually mentioned in the Bible at any point let alone deemed a "sin"...the word didn't even come into existence until the 1800s, and the concept of healthy same sex relations as a lifestyle wasn't recognized at the time the Bible was written; instead, as it continues to be in many countries to this day, homosexuality is considered an "act." The Bible doesn't list specifics about what does and doesn't constitute an official act of perversion, English translations state things like "laying down with a man as if a woman," and the fact that rape comes up in the episode in Sodom suggests sodomy was intended (but it's never explicitly stated)...the overall theme of the Sodom episode is rape is the obscenity, and the same with Leviticus...there's no mention of consensual intimacy between sane adults at all (depending on how you interpret David and Jonathon or Paul of course, but that's another matter)...I haven't yet found anything to support that when I have coffee in the morning in bed with my (legally wed) husband that there's anything "abominable" about it (except maybe his breath)...the question is, where is the line drawn between "I believe this is what it means" and "this is what it says." One person (in this case, without meaning to sound accusatory, but...) claims that "homosexuality is a sin" because that's what he or she chooses to believe, but someone else might interpret the whole thing differently (plenty of people have made cases for and against that hold water). Again, it wouldn't matter so much in matters of sacrificing goats but if you're say, Mathew Sheppard or someone in a nightclub in Florida last summer such semantics matter a great deal, I'm afraid...so do you have an opinion on where the line is or should be drawn? Is it really up to the "individual," even though the Bible was originally written for a specific set of people in charge, and not for individuals in the tribes of Bedouins who couldn't read?

3) You kindly offered that you'd pray for me but I'm curious as to why? If I did something "bad" that needs the assistance, do you somehow think your intervention can help? Isn't that a sin of "pride?" (the whole, "get the sliver out of your own eye first" bit). Furthermore, if I'm "bad" what happens to me? Laws were created by men to control masses of people in a very simple manner (that has gotten more complicated over the years of course). Similarly, if I do something "good," repent or confess or change my wicked ways somehow, what happens then? Many religions don't believe in heaven or hell (Jehovah's Witnesses for one), and I'm always quick to ask what, then, are they so "afraid" of? But assuming heaven and hell exist, for a moment...if I knew my life was going to end tomorrow and I would simply go unconscious and never wake up again I couldn't possibly ask for any more happiness than I've had; to ask for more would be greedy, grasping and pointless. Similarly, if I've done something worthy of having my soul tossed into an eternal fire I certainly wasn't aware of what it was and would make no correlation between what I did and where I ended up, at which point the "punishment" would be too late anyway. "War Room" paints a portrait of a supreme deity as a source of power that can be drawn from and used for personal gain (ie, against attackers or to save a marriage) if you only bow down in humility to it. Do you (personally) believe that praying for something effects change? Again, I'm not asking so I can refute and get into an argument, I'm merely looking for an opinion on the subject. Lastly...

3) Do you personally believe that the message of "War Room" (that rigorous spiritual faith is an effective final solution to personal problems) is a positive one? (I have my own personal opinion on the answer but I have no intention of refuting any response I might get). Do you feel the film is sending out a positive message that is valuable and healthy for people who may not be at a point in their lives that they can make intelligent and rational decisions devoid of passion and emotion? My take, extreme, perhaps, is that films like this do a great deal of damage to people who don't (or don't yet) have the ability to discern for themselves properly, and that using propaganda to push a message (in the place of fair and equal education through comparison and example) is actually shameful. It promotes passive resistance and glorifies lack of education and downplays the value of knowledge gained by studying global history. It preys on working up passions which then turn off intellect. It could be perceived in the same way as films that show women as helpless bimbos who only exist to have sex with the men who desire them or films that perpetuate the notion that African Americans are somehow "less" (and one of the things that actually drew me to the film was that it had a predominantly African American cast but didn't make an issue out of it, a nice sign of the times I choose to think/hope). In a film like this the message isn't presented fairly or equally, which again would be fine if it were being presented as fantasy or fiction, but it isn't. To re-phrase my question, in terms of the original query that drew me to this board...as a non-Christian, these are reasons why I trash the movie...without judging you if you choose to do so, is there a reason you'd defend it?

I think that's about it! 

[–] strangenstein (683) 4 years ago

Why do so many non-Christians feel the need to bash Christian films, even if they haven’t seen them? Simple. Darkness cannot exist where there’s light. Those living in (spiritual) darkness cannot exist when the light of Jesus shines on them. Something has to give. I would go so far as to say they don’t know why they feel the need to bash these films, all they know is something is unsettled inside them.