Kirk Cameron likes to say that he used to be an atheist because that's what he thought smart people were. However he became a born again Christian when the father of a girl he liked took him to church and he did it because he liked her. That girl's name was Chelsea Noble and he later wound up converting and marrying her.

Here's the problem, Kirk isn't exactly the smartest guy in the world and it's obvious his conversion was one part due to him wanting to get in his co-star's pants and another part that is he's easily led. After all, he went to church, felt guilty of the things he did and eventually converted. But what if the woman was Jewish? Or Hindu? Or Scientologist? Or, shock of all shocks, a Muslim? Would he have converted to one of those religions as well? I'd like to think so and if the multiverse theory is correct that means that in some other Universe Kirk Cameron is chumming around with Tom Cruise and trying to protect the world from the evil Xenu.

The movie itself is pretty silly. It boils down to, "This is God's will, his ways are known only to him, he has his reasons for doing what he does and we only find out about them after we die." So if you die without knowing God he doesn't want to know you and you burn for eternity in a lake of fire for believing in the wrong God or wrong version of him.

It's not deep. It's not interesting. And above all else, it's not compelling. I am an atheist but one thing I would love to see is a Christian movie that doesn't preach to the converted like this one and so many others do. I'd really want to see one that is designed to change hearts and minds and not just go on about stuff we all know and weren't convinced of the first hundred times we've seen it.

So if you're a born again Christian and you want to believe you made the right choice, this is the movie for you. But if you're anybody else, don't bother. It's not worth your time and you'll walk away feeling the same as you did before.

First of, this is not a movie, nor is it a documentary, this is simply a sermon like feature where Kirk Cameron tells the story of Creation and the bigger plan behind it all from the eyes of a Calvanist.

Now for someone like me who does not agree with Calvanists at all, because I believe in Liberal free will, this "sermon" did not make that much of an impact, but that does not at all mean that I didn't learn anything from it. In fact Kirk Cameron approached a question (which should not be a question in my opinion) with love and in a way that most Calvanists cannot even imagine to do.

The question is "Why does God let bad things happen to good people" and any Christian who has ever opened a bible would know that there only ever was ONE good person, and He volunteered to let the bad happen to Him. So that's the answer, bad things don't happen to good people, they happen to bad people. But Kirk doesn't conclude with this. Rather he tells the story of creation and by removing free will from the first sin, he makes a good attempt to answer the question with the conclusion that EVERYHING that happens is because God has some end plan He wants to reach.

Even though this is a lazy way of living and thinking, because it implies that Jesus went against The Father's will when He healed the sick and raised the dead, Kirk did make an interesting case that helps us see exactly how the Calvinist views God.

I bought the DVD, watched it, and I'm glad I did. Don't think you are buying a film though, it's a mini sermon inside of a Liberty University awareness campaign. Be warned

My wife and I went to see this on a very difficult day. We had found out just that day that her niece had passed away. Our grief was very palpable as we watched this movie, and though we had many tears and wept along with the various parts of the movie that dealt with death and dying, we did hear the message that Kirk was laying out for the audience.

The "Journey" starts at the beginning, because that's simply what all who become Christians come to understand at some point in their walk with the Lord: That the beginning of the Bible, God's letter to us, lays out the groundwork for everything else that comes after it. The Book of Genesis is indeed a book about beginnings, and has as much relevance today as it did 3500 years ago when it was first written down.

This is the "Spoiler" part for those of you who have not seen the movie. If you're a Christian then you'll forgive me for going into it and "Giving away" the ending. But the answer to why bad things happen to good people, or the reason why if God is good, why bad stuff happens is simply the fact that there is sin in this world. There was originally no sin, and humans, specifically Adam and Eve lived in perfect communion with God. It was evil that crept in, and tempted Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit, after which all of creation was messed up and subject to the ravages of sin and death ever since.

What the non-Christian can never understand is why God would write down this silly sounding story about it if he didn't intend to do something about it. And that, again, is entirely the point. God _did_ something about the failure, and ultimately He considered it His failure so He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross at Calvary to take the penalty for all our sin - on Himself - so that we could be restored to perfect relationship with Him. We won't be perfect of course until after we die and live eternally with Him. But Hallelujah - the message of the gospel does explain why bad things happen, as well as provides the answer to all that bad stuff that we can have now, here, today.

That is not a complete gospel message, and the film does not claim to make anything like a gospel presentation, nor does it. If you wish to hear the full gospel, may I suggest you head on down and talk with a Bible believing Pastor at any Evangelical church and find out for yourself if this amazing story could be true.

I liked the movie very much, and I give Kirk Cameron a lot of credit for the work he did on this movie. It is not perfect by any means, but it is far better than average in terms of good Christian messages in any movies out there. The subject matter is difficult - even for Christians - to deal with. Most folks would rather pretend sin didn't exist, and that it's not really a problem. Well, for those of us in the U.S. it may not be, we have so much wealth and prosperity already. It's difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God Jesus told us.

The reason why is because the wealthy have no need of a "Savior" they already have all they need. Most of those out there who thumb their noses at God and desire to live their own life-style pretending that God doesn't exist are essentially telling everyone they have no use for God either, they're happy to self-medicate and keep pretending that judgement isn't coming. I hope that works well for those of you out there living in your dreams.

I could go on, but I will leave you with some curiosity so you can explore these ideas on your own.