Published on January 16th, 2024 | by Madhudvisa dasa
God’s Not Dead — A Christian Movie Review
“God’s Not Dead” is a Christian film. The plot is a new christian college student enrolls in a philosophy course and his Professor is an avowed atheist. In the first class the Professor asks all the students to sign a paper declaring that “God is dead.” However Josh, our Christian student, refuses.
This is resolved by Josh having to prove the opposite, that “God’s Not Dead”, over the next three classes.
I have posted a cut-down version of the film here. It only contains the main story. There are multiple back stories which are not included in the clip posted here. They are not very good… But the main story is interesting.
From the film it seems to be as hard to be a Christian today as it used to be for us to be Hare Krishnas! Being a Christian today is as strange as being a Hare Krishna in the 70’s? To stand up for God Josh had to sacrifice his academic success, risk his future and loose his loving and devoted Christian girlfriend because he choose to reject the notion that “God is dead…” She demanded that he choose who is the most important person in his life: “Is it me or Professor Radison?” Josh replied: “What if it is God?” So Josh is thinking God is a person, the most important person in his life. More important than his girlfriend.
Josh starts his presentation to the class by saying “They say it’s impossible to prove that God’s not dead. And that is true.” Then he challenges that it is also not possible to disprove the existence of God. “The only way to debate this is to look at the available evidence and that’s what we are going to do. We’re going to put God on trial with Professor Radison as the prosecutor, me as the attorney and you as the jury.” And really his presentation over the next three classes is jumping from one point to another but never really touches the subject of the existence of God. He does not use the Bible as his source really. He tries to establish things using ‘logic’ and science.
He starts with the big bang. Stating that recently science has discovered that the universe was created in an instant. And gives a Bible verse from Genesis that supports this concept and claims that the Bible had it right for 2,500 years and science has just come up with this idea, he claims previously scientists followed the ideas of Aristotle who proposed a steady-state universe with no beginning and end, which was wrong and all this time the Bible was right. He seems to admit the earth was created a long time ago, like 13.7 billion years ago, the scientist’s number, which immediately puts him at odds with a lot of Christians who believe that the Bible states the earth was created only 6,000 years ago.
He claims the entire universe came into existence out of nothing in a trillionth of a second [which it did not of course as we know] and that this is what you would expect from the Bible verse: Genesis 1.3 “Let there be light…” “In other words the origin of the universe unfolded exactly as one would expect after reading Genesis and for 2500 years the Bible had it right and science had it wrong…” “Which all points to a God that created it… Because in the ‘real world’ we never see something jumping out of nothingness. But the atheists want to make one small exception to this rule. Namely the universe and everything in it.” A student asks: “Richard Dawkins says ‘If you tell me God created the universe then I have the right to ask you who created God.'” He replies that Christians believe in an uncreated God. [which is of course the nature of God, no beginning and no end] “Then I have right to turn Mr. Dawkins question on himself and ask: ‘If the universe created you then who created the universe?’ Both the theist and the atheist are burdened with answering the same question, how did things start. You don’t have to commit intellectual suicide to believe in a creator behind the creation. If you don’t allow for God you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find an explanation as to how things came to be.”
That is Josh’s first class. The whole thing is based on a mistake by science. Josh’s mistake here is accepting the scientists as his authority. He believes the modern scientists, at least one of them, there is no agreement among scientists about how the creation comes into existence. But Josh picks the theory that states the universe came into existence from nothing in a trillionth of a second [which is wrong] and clams this is what you would expect to happen when God said “Let there be light”. Which is really not what you would expect would happen. If God said “Let there be light” then the reasonable assumption would be that the sun would be created and there would be light in the universe… We know the universe did not come into existence in a flash like this. The whole scientific process is described elaborately and very scientifically in Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the creation of the universe happened in stages over a period of time. Not that everything appeared out of nothing in a flash. So you can see that here Josh has no idea what happened from the Bible. His idea of what happened is from the scientists and he is trying to say “that is what you would expect to happen when God says ‘let there be light'”. Which realistically is not what you would expect to happen… So we can not really give Josh very high marks for his first class…
The Professor ends this class by challenging him with a quote from and Stephen Hawking, “the most intelligent man in the world…,” that it is not unreasonable to assume that the universe designed itself and in the beginning of the next class Josh rightly proves it is circular logic by quoting from another unknown scientist who is presumably a believer. And he points out that Hawking also said “Philosophy is dead,” thus questioning the infallibility of Stephen Hawking. Which is quite reasonable of course, but does not help in proving that God is not dead.
Josh goes on to talk about evolution. Again his source of facts is not the Bible but Science. He uses archeological evidence to show that it appears all the species appeared very quickly, almost instantly in geological time. So here his source of knowledge is the geologists. He uses this as proof for Genesis 1:20. “God created all the creatures and saw it and it was good.” Which is not a very detailed or scientific explanation of how the creation of the creatures took place. But is correct in a very short and summarized way. “Creation happened because God said it should happen and even what appears to us to be a blind unguided process could really be divinely controlled from start to finish.” Again nothing very conclusive here.
This is the end of Josh’s second class. The first half wasted by disproving a bogus quote from Stephen Hawking which did not help him in any way prove that “God’s not dead.” And in the second half he just says that there could be a divine hand behind the creation but is completely unable to give any details about how that divine hand went about creating all the creatures. Because the Bible does not provide any details: “God created all the creatures and saw it and it was good…” No science there, no philosophy. We just need to have blind faith.
After the class the Professor reveals to Josh that he came from a Christian family with a deeply devoted mother who died when he was 12 years old. He did believe in God then but prayed fervently to the Lord to save his mother. But his mother died anyhow. So this problem of suffering in the world Josh admitted is the atheists strongest weapon against the Christians. The problem of evil in the world.
Anyhow the loss of his mother turned the child professor into a God hating atheist. When Josh heard the story his only explanation as to why God did not answer the Professors prayers to save his mother was “Sometimes the answer is no…”
So this sets the tone for Josh’s final class. “The atheist’s greatest weapon. Evil in the world…” So instead of trying to establish that “God is not dead” he fails to explain why God allows so much evil in the world.
Josh’s explanation of evil in the world was so bad. “God does not want evil in the world. God does not want us to suffer. One day God will come to the world and destroy the evil…”
“God is all good, God is all powerful. Why does He allow evil to exist? The answer at its core is remarkably simple. Free will. God allows evil to exist because of free will. From the Christian standpoint God tolerates evil in this world on a temporary basis so that one day those that choose to love Him freely will dwell in Heaven free from the influence of evil but with their free will intact. In other words God’s intention concerning evil is to one day destroy it.” That’s it on evil… Then the Professor fortunately gives Josh the chance to change the subject to moral absolutes. It is a very clumsy, confused explanation that does not at all answer the question. It is completely illogical. God allows evil but actually intends to destroy evil. It makes absolutely no sense at all. Josh did not answer the question. So moral absolutes… He goes on to try to establish that without a belief in God there can be no moral principles. Which is not on topic. Nothing at all in this third class is in any way contributing towards proving that “God is not dead…”
The Professor strangely and illogically interjects “Well this is ridiculous. After all your talk you are saying it all comes down to choice. Either you believe or don’t believe.” And Josh agrees, “That’s right. That’s all there is. That’s all there has ever been. The only difference between your position and my position is that you take away their [the students] choice. You demand that they choose the box that says ‘I don’t believe'”.
At this stage we loose all logic and Josh has completely given up on trying to present anything scientific and it is just about the right of his class members to choose to believe being take away by the evil professor. Thus freeing Josh from having to actually philosophically or scientifically establish that “God’s not dead.” Which he can not do because the Bible does not provide the philosophy or science to establish this or understand it intellectually. The Bible demands blind faith and now Josh is just fighting for the rights of his fellow students to choose to believe. “What I want is to let them make their own choice. That’s what God wants.” Which is a lie of course. He wants them to choose to be Christians like himself. His whole purpose there is to influence their choice. He is using every trick in the book to try and win the students over to his side. He does not want them to choose. He wants them to choose his side…
The final defeat of the Professor is Josh convinces him to admit that he hates God. And Josh’s victory line is “How can you hate someone if they don’t exist?”
The Professors final comment is “You’ve proven nothing.” Josh replies “Maybe not.” and looks to his classmates and says “They get to choose. Is God dead?” They all stand up one after the other saying “God’s Not Dead.”
I feel very touched by the film as it is obviously produced by Christians who have really got very strong faith in God. But of course Christians know very little about God. They have no idea what God looks like. Even Josh doesn’t know. He is asked by one of his classmates in the film “Do you think Jesus is God” and he replies, “Yes, or the son of God.” He does not even know. Very vague. And there is very little science and logic in the Bible. Rather Jesus and the Bible stress blind faith. And really that is what Josh’s presentation comes down to. The choice to believe or not believe.
So honestly I can not see really anything in Josh’s presentation that would convince someone that God exists except on a sentimental basis. But of course there is a happy ending.
There is something about this film. Otherwise I would not be posting it. I feel it is a great exposition of faith. But blind faith. Christianity is almost completely void of science and philosophy and really does rest on blind faith in God. Of course it does not matter how one surrenders to God. It is not that one who surrenders to God knowing the science and philosophy is any better than one who surrenders to God on the basis of blind faith.
But the Christians are not able to logically and philosophically prove anything because the Bible is not based on science, logic or philosophy. It is faith.
So watching this film has revealed to me that there is a great deal of faith in many Christians but they have no logic, philosophy or science to defeat the atheists who are constantly attacking them.
So in Krishna consciousness we have the science, philosophy and logic. I think we should give it to them. I did even experiment by going to one college and speaking with some Christians who were so happy to hear the science, philosophy and logic we have that supports their faith. Actually that was my personal feeling when I started reading Srila Prabhupada’s books so many years ago. I was brought up as a Christian and still till today I believe and accept the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible. And I could immediately see that there was no contradiction in Srila Prabhupada’s books with what I already believed in. But I could also see that in Krishna consciousness there is complete logic, science and philosophy that took everything I knew from Christianity and suddenly everything made sense. Logical, scientific and philosophical sense.
It is said that religion without philosophy is sentiment and philosophy without religion is mental speculation. So, particularly in this modern age the blind faith that is practically demanded of the Christians by Jesus does not give them the ammunition they need to convince others of their faith. They can only bluff like Josh in this film and ultimately hope that the people will surrender to Jesus out of blind faith in him. Ultimately it is a choice. You choose to believe or disbelieve. That is only because Christians can not prove that “God’s Not Dead.” The Bible does not give them the science, philosophy and logic to do this.
Jesus is the son of God, and Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so Jesus is a Vaisnava, he is a devotee of Krishna. Son of God. Jesus is presenting Krishna consciousness to the fishermen and others living in the desert to the extent that they could appreciate it. And the fishermen could not appreciate much science, philosophy and logic. And as Jesus says: “There are so many things I have not told you because you could not bear them.” He said they will be revealed later by the Holy Spirit I think. But of course everything is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures.
Anyhow I feel a great deal of faith and sincerity coming through this film coupled with a complete inability to present that faith in any way that is even vaguely convincing from the perspective of science, logic and philosophy.
I feel strongly that if the Christians could combine their strong faith with the logic, science and philosophy of Christianity they will find in the Vedic scriptures from India then they could actually prove beyond any thread of a doubt that “God’s Not Dead.”
Also the conclusion of the film is something of an anti-climax. Josh appears to have converted all his class members from atheists to Christians and what does that mean? Nothing much apparently. The final scene is they are all dancing at a Christan rock band’s performance. So becoming a Christian means going to a NewsBoys Concert? Is that all? Otherwise life goes on as before…
What I sense from this is a group of Christians who obviously have great faith and a real connection with God but who have no philosophy or science to explain God, they have no way of understanding or explaining such basic problems as why God allows evil in the world and why bad things happen to good Christians. So, although they may have strong faith themselves, they are going under in this modern world that demands a scientific and philosophical explanation for everything.
For today’s “educated” people the blind faith Jesus demands of his followers does not seem like a reasonable proposition. The Christians need the philosophy and science of their faith and they will find it in the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic scriptures.
Anyhow I feel a bit strange posting this video but again the faith of these Christians who made it is quite moving to me.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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Hare Krsna prabhuji. You said if you watch television and play games you are not Krsna Conscious. And also to use television in Krsna Consciousness like watching Srila Prabhupada dvds then it becomes spiritual. Actually in short and in summary anything even if it is material in nature like television is good if used in Krsna Consciousness and as a result becomes spiritual There are three links in which you wrote about how “today’s television program is completely materialistic, complete maya.” and that televison is 100% complete waste of time, etc.
https://krishna.org/the-best-welfare-work/#comment-56696
https://krishna.org/the-best-welfare-work/#comment-56876
https://krishna.org/what-is-action-and-what-is-inaction/#comment-55880.
You said in the article above you feel strange posting the video and “Is it because of this?” And plus to me along with the video it seems sort of strange that you saw the movie and wrote in relation to it. Please do not feel offended but do you also feel strange watching a movie and writing a article in relation about it.
Prabhuji i am not saying all this to make you feel offended and to offend you or make you feel strange from my side. And i do not intend to do what i said in the sentence above. It seems strangeand/or odd to me also about this you watching a movie that is materialistic more or less and writing in relation to it and even posting a video(which i did not think until you mentioned it.)
It seems strange/odd and maybe even confusing/bewildering that you of all people who preach pure Krsna Consciousness would do something like this. But i like and appreciate the article you wrote and the purpose behind it and how it is helpful for the christians to understand and explain to other people about God and even become pure devotees of Krsna. I do not have to use the word God along with Krsna because you of all people understand that Krsna and God is the same thing and that Krsna is just one of the names of God and that the potency is the same(if i am right) whatever name of God you chant but Krsna is the supreme of all the names of God.
Hare Krishna Rohit
Yes. The point is the Christians have no philosophy in the Bible to scientifically prove that “God’s Not Dead” and he did a terrible job trying to prove it in this film. But we have got that scientific knowledge in the Vedas. But we are not doing anything about it to tell the world. I guess that is the point for posting this film. If we would preach with the enthusiasm of the Christians then that would change the world. But we are lazy. We don’t preach. That is the problem. And that is the point of posting this film.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Let me be very honest, straightforward, and open. You have not answered my inquiry above quiet yet. Why would you do something which you tell us aspiring devotees not to do and even something you mentioned you do not do if you are Krsna Conscious or pure devotee which is watching television which is in the form of t.v shows and movies for any reason. How did you come across this movie you wrote a review in the form of an article? And have you or do you watch any more movies or t.v shows like you have with this movie or in general? The point is not you posting the video. Even if you did not post the movie or the video it is obvious you watched a movie which is not Krsna Conscious. Please answer all the questions I have asked for my sake please. This has gotten me sort of confused and bewildered or fully confused and bewildered. Please do not dodge any questions please. I am having doubts about Krsna Consciousness in general because of these actions of yours above. And plus you are the one I am truly looked in terms of Krsna Consciousness. If you watched a movie does it mean that what you said about television does not apply to me? Or that it applies only to you and not others? My intentions are not trying to find faults in you but in helping myself free of doubts, confusion and bewilderment and unpleasantness as a result of the doubts,confusion and bewilderment. If you want to preach with the enthusiasm of Christians you can do it without the movies and/or t.v shows or even the literature of any kind of the non devotees whatsoever. I am very disturbed in life and in terms of Krsna Consciousness. So please answer me to the fullest extent of my inquiry with all the answers to the questions I have asked and with a answer that can fix all the unpleasantness away as a result of the doubts, confusion and bewilderment and plus take away the doubts, bewilderment and confusion.
Hare Krishna Rohit
Your bewilderment, doubts and confusion have nothing to do with me. It is your problem, your fault. You have to take responsibility for your problems. From my part I have given you the perfect advice. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours every day. If you will actually surrender to and follow these simple points then there will be no question of bewilderment on your part. And this is independent of my position. Even if I am totally fallen, totally in maya, still if you follow these basic points you will become a pure devotee of Krishna. So it does not matter about me. If you simply follow these points sincerely you will become a nice devotee of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. But because you say you are bewildered, confused and very disturbed this means you are not following the basic points. You are not chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. You are not strictly following the four regulative principles and you are not reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Otherwise, if you were actually doing these things, there is no question of you being doubtful, confused and bewildered.
As far as television, movies, etc, I do not watch it because there is nothing interesting on it for a devotee. But that does not mean the medium of film is in itself evil. Anything can be used for Krishna. And if you read Srila Prabhupada’s books you will find out that Christianity is not actually outside of Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada accepts Lord Jesus Christ as an empowered incarnation of Krishna. A shaktevasa avatara. So we have to accept Jesus like that. So the teachings of Jesus are also Krishna consciousness. It is not very elaborately or scientifically explained, and that is the problem the Christians who have produced this film, “God’s Not Dead” have come up with. From the teachings of Jesus they have developed faith in God but there is no scientific information in the Bible that actually allows them to prove that God’s Not Dead.
But the idea of trying to convince the world that God’s Not Dead is a very noble idea. So we have to give them all credit for this attempt to preach. The problem is, because of the lack of scientific information about God in the Bible, they really have nothing convincing to say, in a scientific way. So the attempt is not very successful. As I tried to explain to you we, as devotees of Krishna, do have the scientific knowledge of God, and we could produce a very convincing and scientifically based film: “God’s Not Dead”. But we are not interested in preaching. That is our problem.
When I saw the name of this film: “God’s Not Dead” it reminded me of one of Srila Prabhupada’s first press conferences in the United Kingdom. The reporters asked Srila Prabhupada: “Why have you come to London”. Prabhupada’s reply was that: “I have come here to teach you what you have forgotten.” And they asked him: “What is that?” So Prabhupada’s reply was “I have come to teach you that God’s Not Dead.” So following in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada it is also our responsibility to teach the world that God’s Not Dead. But we have no interest in that unfortunately. That is our maya.
So as I have already mentioned I have all respect and am impressed by the faith and devotion and the effort of the producers of this film “God’s Not Dead” even though the film is more like preaching to the choir, it is really for the people who already believe that God’s Not Dead, it is not really for convincing people who don’t believe in God that God’s Not Dead.
So you know it is not only us who believe in God. Others also have faith in God and worship God. And that is also devotional service. That is also Krishna consciousness.
And maybe if you take Krishna consciousness more seriously you will also be able to help these people who have faith in God but do not have a scientific understand of God. Perhaps you can teach them about Krishna scientifically. That would be a great service.
So really Prabhu I do not know what you are complaining about and why you are trying to criticize me. It seems you are just looking for some fault and trying to criticize me for that. Of course I have so many faults. That is why I suggest you chant Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day, I suggest you strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and I suggest you read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you do these things you will naturally develop to a point where you will become disinterested in watching TV, films, etc. That is what is required. We have to come to the point where we are only interested in Krishna and we have no interest in maya. Actually a film which is sincerely trying to establish that God’s Not Dead is not maya. This is Krishna consciousness. Although not very well executed because of a lack of knowledge on the subject of God.
So anyhow I am not suggesting you watch the film. I am suggesting that you chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. I am suggesting that you actually strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and that you read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Your disturbed mind, your doubts and your confusion are caused only because you are not following these basic points.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa Dasa prabhuji. Thank you for your reply. You have answered everything I asked and wanted to know in my inquiry. I am very sorry again for anything bad. And I am sorry again.My intentions as I said in my inquiry was not to find faults with you. I was confused and bewildered where did watching movie like god’s not dead which seemed before now and still seems to a certain degree like materialistic t.v or movie match with your advice/guidance of not watching t.v movies or games in terms of Krsna Consciousness and what your watching of the film and writing a review about the film of yours and your advice about television in general and in terms of Krsna Consciousness was for me. (Sorry if the previous sentence seems long and sort of unorganized. It is my thought expressed.) And thank you for your guidance to be more serious about following Krsna consciousness by surrendering and pleasing Srila Prabhupada by following strictly and fully his four basic instructions/ principles.
Hare Krishna Rohit
We are not fanatics. We can use everything in the service of Krishna. A film that is trying to establish that God Is Not Dead is not maya. The motivation of the producers of this film is sincere. They are trying to convince people that God Is Not Dead. So as devotees of Krishna, who is God, and who is not dead, naturally we are interested in such a film. Not that we can learn anything about God from it because the Christians don’t know anything substantial about God. But they are pious people. They believe in God and they worship him in their way.
So you may have read in the Bhagavad-gita that it is only the pious people who have got rid of their sinful reactions from this life and previous lives who are able to take to Krishna consciousness seriously. I think it is yesam tu anta gata papam punya karma vibhagasa… And we have seen it in the past in ISKCON a large percentage of the devotees were Christians before.
If a preacher watches this film he can get quite a good understanding of the problems a Christian finds himself in. You know devotees often find when they take to Krishna consciousness seriously their friends and family members reject them. And this is what happens to Josh in the film also. But the problem Josh faces is that the Bible and Christianity does not give him an scientific knowledge about God to work with. When he is challenged to prove that “God’s Not Dead” from the Bible he can not do it, he fails miserably.
When he is asked “Why did God create evil in the world?” Josh can not answer. He is lost. And it is only his great fortune that his cruel atheistic teacher conveniently changes the subject and does not peruse this line of questioning…
So the point is we are not fanatics and we can see Krishna in everything and I am seeing this film as not something that really contains anything valuable about God in it but it is a window into the hopeless and helpless position a Christian finds himself in when he tries to preach to a scientist, a materialist. It is because there is no science in the Bible. The Bible demands blind faith. Which is fine. If one just believes in God and surrenders to Him and serves him then the result is just as good as one who surrenders to God and serves Him after scientifically understanding Him.
So the real message that we get from this film is that Christians are lost. They can not answer the question “Why did God create evil?” They can not handle it when bad things happen to good Christians. They do not understand anything about this material world or God very deeply.
But they have faith in God, they are pious. So these are very good qualities. And if we would simply introduce them to Srila Prabhupada and the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavatam they could study the science of God and actually become empowered to defeat and convince the atheists that God’s Not Dead…
So there are many thoughts and inspirations that may come into the mind of a serious devotee preacher on seeing such a film. So it is not maya. It is an admittedly imperfect attempt by some sincere souls to broadcast to the world that “GOD’S NOT DEAD” and for that reason it is glorious. You know Srila Prabhupada starts the Bhagavatam by quoting that verse: tad varga visargo janatviplava yasmin… that even if these literature’s are irregularly composed and have mistakes still the genuine message will be recognized by the sincere reader. So this file is certainly irregularly composed and full of mistakes but to me the genuine cry of the producers that “God’s Not Dead” comes through loud and clear. And for this reason it is glorious. It is a glorious imperfect attempt by sincere souls trying to glorify God…
But they are lost, helpless, hopeless. They are looking for Krishna but we are not telling anyone about Krishna. If we were preaching they would know about Krishna and the film would have come out so much better.
But we are not preaching. We are not telling anyone about Krishna. We are the Sankirtan movement that never goes out on Sankirtan. It is a disaster for the whole universe.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
excellent
According to the bible God created good and evil
Isaiah 45:7 “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” What do vedas say about that? And also is it possible to prove that Krishna is God or do we just have to believe like the Christians?
Hare Krishna
It is hard to understand anything clearly from the Bible. What is said there is correct. So for example: “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things” is of course correct. Ultimately Krishna does everything. But this is not a very detailed understanding. Krishna is the light and darkness is the lack of light. So darkness is only possible when there is no light. Darkness is possible when the light is covered. In the light there is no darkness. As far as Krishna bringing prosperity an creating disaster. It is true in the ultimate issue. But actually Krishna has created the system of karma and work and the reactions to work. So we experience prosperity and disaster not directly because God is causing it but as a reaction to the good or bad work we have done in the past in both this life and in previous lives. So this system is established by Krishna and you can say that ultimately Krishna is the cause of this system. But realistically we create the prosperity and disaster in our lives as a result of our past sinful and pious activities.
So if there is something disastrous happening in our lives we can not blame Krishna for creating that. No. That disaster is a reaction to the sinful activities we have performed in the past. It is bad karma. So this Vedic understanding is complete and clear and logical. Whereas the words of the Bible are not clear or complete or logical.
And your mind does not seem to be working very logically either. You say the Bible says God created good and evil then you give a quote from the Bible that doesn’t say that God created good and evil. Your quote says God “forms the light and creates darkness” [which actually does not make sense as darkness is the lack of light. Darkness is available. It does not need to be created…] and “brings prosperity an creates disaster”. So none of these things [light, darkness, prosperity and disaster] are good and evil. So this quotation does not say that God creates good and evil. So we are still really uncertain what the Bible says God does in relation to good and evil.
Maybe other Bible scholars can shed more light on this. Personally I do not know what the Bible says.
But I do know that God does not create evil. Evil is the result of us, the living entities, misusing our limited independence. Krishna gives us a limited amount of independence which we can use properly by surrendering to Him and serving Him or we can misuse by rejecting Him and trying to become the lord and master ourselves in the material world. So this evil is created by us misusing our independence. It is NOT created by God.
As far as devotees of Krishna they know Krishna is God and practically experience that Krishna is God at ever moment. This is directly perceived by the devotees. As far as proving that Krishna is God, yes, we can prove that Krishna is God based on the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. The convincing proof is there but one has to accept the bona fide authority.
To come to Krishna consciousness requires faith in the authority. There is a process to become Krishna conscious. And that process starts with surrender to the bona fide pure devotee spiritual master. So if one is not prepared to surrender then he can not come to the platform of Krishna consciousness and without coming to the platform of Krishna consciousness he can not practically perceive and experience that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that “I do not reveal Myself to the nondevotees.” So the nondevotees can not see Krishna, they can not realize that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So yes. We can logically prove that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead but that proof rests on the authority of the Vedic scriptures. So one has to accept the authority to accept the proof.
Therefore faith is required. But it is not the blind faith demanded of by the Bible. No. There is complete science, logic and philosophy in the Vedic literatures to back up every single point. So it is not blind faith.
If you take the example of the creation in the film. There is no information whatsoever about the creation in the Bible except for the concept that ‘God created the universe…’ So he was accepting that what the scientists say about creation is correct and he was saying the Bible agrees with science. Which is a big mistake. The scientists are totally wrong about creation and if the Bible agrees with them then the Bible is also totally wrong. But actually the Bible is not wrong. It just does not give any details about the creation… No details. No science. But if you read Srimad-Bhagavatam you will find many chapters detailing the complete scientific details of exactly how Krishna created the universe. So you find out about the creation with all scientific information that is very satisfying.
So yes it is possible to prove that Krishna is God.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Srila Prabhupada Padma Vakya (for the benefit of the readers)
December 29, 1972, Bombay
Bhagavad-gita 13.1-2
“You’ll find old men, those who are not spiritually inclined, they’re very morose. Morose because they cannot use anymore the senses. They sometimes take medicine. But how it can be done.”
December 29, 1973, Los Angeles
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.1
“Cow protection is very, very essential in human society because it gives the milk, the miracle food. You can prepare hundreds and thousands of preparation, all not only delicious, but brain-maintaining. You can get good brain.”
December 29, 1974, Bombay
Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.20
“If we have little faith that we require awakening of spiritual consciousness, we should not sleep under the spell of this material consciousness… A little faith will help us.”