"Oh, God!", featuring George Burns & John Denver (2007)
The comedic story centers on Jerry Landers, a kind-hearted and diligent assistant supermarket manager and a non-believer, whom is chosen by God, a disguised old man, as a messenger (a 'contemporary' Moses) to spread his words and testify his existence. A non-believer, he was extremely skeptical of the God's existence but still obeyed reluctantly approached the media about his encounter with the divine. As the story flows, he subsequently believe after witnessing the God's mysterious appearance and performed miracles and began to have unyielding faith in him. It was commendable for his total trust in God in such a short time despite the God's seemingly ridiculous requests to slander which later invited a lawsuit, which reminded us about Moses being told by God to kill his beloved son to test his faithfulness, in addition of vis-à-vis the distrust of his closest kins, pressure of religious authorities and mocking from the media and public.
As a modern audience who has a myriad varieties of great movies (advanced visual effects from 3D to CGI) to pick, this old movie and plot totally appeals to even today's viewers with its humor and shooting style notwithstanding being overall simple. Unlike many films that utilized sexual appeals, body function jokes or bring-to-the-table messages that they want to convey, this film is light-mooded, humorous, plays no emotional tricks and leaves room for thoughts.
The best parts, in my opinion, were:
1 when Lander asked God about which world's religions is the closet to the divine truth, God answered, "The divine truth is not in a building or a book or a story.. Put down that the heart is the temple wherein all truth resides."
2 and whether Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he answered, "Jesus was my son. Buddha was my son. Mohammed, Moses, you, the man who said there was no room at the inn, was my son."
Here, some food for thought.
Although the screenwriting about the God is varied from what we understand from the scriptures in order to cater to the audience (humor, surprises, the thrilling unexpected etc), it is a great feeling to see how benevolent and accepting our Lord God is.
The following video depicts the final part of the story. After an intensive period of mental turmoil, God finally appeared to Lander's rescue in clearing his name and dispelling the public's doubt about his 'second coming' and bringing the truth to light.
At the end of the day, the morale of the story tells us we hold the ultimate decision to believe in whatever we see or hear - faith.
One memorable quote by God in the movie, "I know how hard it is in these times to have faith. But maybe if you could have the faith to start with, maybe the times would change. You could change them. Think about it. Try. And try not to hurt each other. There's been enough of that. It really gets in the way. I'm a God of very few words and Jerry's already given you mine. However hopeless, helpless, mixed up and scary it all gets, it can work. If you find it hard to believe in me, maybe it would help you to know that I believe in you."
Amen.
More quotes from "Oh, God!"
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