I personally think that the stories of the side characters are better than the main story. The film revolves around the entanglements between some characters and lists the challenges and confusions that a believer may have to face in life. So I'm just going to talk about my thoughts on these side stories.
Believers and unbelievers are not yoked
Although the professor in the film calls himself an atheist and hates God, he has a religious girlfriend. I think there are still some friends in life who devoutly love their beliefs, but out of control fall in love with someone who is different from their beliefs. Maybe he loves you very much, makes you feel that he is indispensable, and makes you feel that faith cannot be a hindrance between you. But in such a situation, although there are some who finally achieve a positive result, but most of them, if they want to be together, either the unbelieving party will eventually be influenced and have faith, or the believing party will finally give up on God. I think the professor's girlfriend is still rational. Her beliefs are ridiculed and ridiculed by the professor's relatives and friends, which is also a pain and injury to her. If they end up getting married, she may face long-term verbal harm from people who don't understand her beliefs, but who won't. Having sex before marriage is a sin in Christianity. I don't know if they ever had such a relationship, but as a devout believer, if her boyfriend really proposed it, would she be able to firmly reject it again and again? Think a little further, if they have children, do the children want to believe it or not? How to educate children? Does she have to go to church every week by herself? etc. If it is just a relationship, some problems will not be exposed, but the gap in concept between the two will only gradually be exposed after marriage. So thumbs up for her decision.
Not everyone who calls themselves Christian is a Follower of Christ
This subtitle was summed up by a friend of mine who wrote it. He said that now many people may go to church a few times and look at the Bible before claiming to be a believer, but they back off immediately after being tested. The male protagonist's girlfriend is a representative of this category. There are more than 80 people in the male protagonist's class, but from the perspective of the camera, except for the male protagonist who has been hesitating, the others will fail when they hear that they don't write, so they just write it. Maybe there are people among them who share the same belief as the male lead, but they backed off and they didn't stand up. The male protagonist's girlfriend is also, and some problems have been revealed from the dialogue between them: they have known each other for many years because of the same belief, but this small test made his girlfriend less confident. In order to persuade the male protagonist to give up and even some coercion and temptation, he used his "love" to make the male protagonist give up, thinking that the male protagonist must take her as his everything. However, among my Christian friends, there are some couples who are very loving and happy, but they all admit that their faith comes first, and then their spouse and family, because they believe that everything is given by God. From the dialogue between the two in the film, it can be seen that the girlfriend is obviously dissatisfied with the male protagonist's belief that she values more than her, and she lost her temper, so the final breakup is inevitable. I think this is a good thing. If there is no such thing as a test, if you get married and have children and then try to tear it apart, the damage may be deeper.
Conflict of Faith and Family/Cultural Background The
film features a girl from a Muslim family who is kicked out of her home by her father after she was found listening to a recording of the Bible. Although it is easy to misunderstand Muslims by using Muslims as an example, I prefer to believe that this is to show that when you have different beliefs from your friends and family around you, you may also have to face the crisis of breaking. The test that must be passed.
As for the Chinese student, I think it was probably trying to use a case where someone without a religious background suddenly decided to take Christ as a belief. It was after studying abroad that I came into contact with Christian teachings, because some things happened in the middle that decided to believe. But on the one hand, there are still some scruples about whether my family and friends will understand and whether they will alienate me because of this. I think the boy in the film also encountered such a problem. He had his own ideas, but after telling his father, he was scolded by his father to go abroad to study hard and should not think about these messy things. Can he make this decision in a foreign country without being understood? (This boy seems to still show his face in the second part)
Illness
The reporter in the film was not friendly to Christianity at first, but later found out that he had cancer and felt that he was finished, and his boyfriend broke up because of this. I think this is an opportunity, not a punishment from God. There are a lot of people who are not religious and healthy, and there are a lot of people who are religious and died of cancer (I know of two that happened around me this year). Therefore, the female reporter realized that her boyfriend's relationship with her was just a transaction. Her boyfriend thought that she was ill and had no value to continue. But when she went to interview the members of Newsboy, she was obviously a stranger, but she was comforted by them, they prayed for her, I think her heart was influenced by it. I was in a very bad situation studying abroad for a while. Even my mother was disappointed in me and suspected that it was wrong for me to come out. The Christian teachers and classmates around me were still praying for me. What impressed me the most was my AP Language teacher. She had cancer when she taught me, but she was so peaceful and gentle. She always gave the introverted me the opportunity to speak and listen to me when I was misunderstood and hurt. confide. She went quietly at the end of February this year, but she left me too many precious things, and even influenced my future planning, making me determined to become an infectious teacher.
There is also an old mother in the film who has been devoutly religious all her life but becomes idiotic and stupid when she grows old, but when her son questioned her, God gave a clear answer through her mouth.
Sometimes things don't go well, it's just that the time hasn't come
. The pastor in the film is surprisingly unlucky when he rents a car. No matter what the car is in his hands, it won't start, so the trip is delayed, which makes him annoyed, but he didn't expect this God intended. And for this, so that he could come to him on the rainy night when the professor had a car accident, so that he could be redeemed before he died. I also don't quite understand why the professor was killed. Maybe this is not God's revenge on him, but what is certain is that God has left him a chance for redemption. I also asked my friend, she thought it might be because the professor said to the male lead that he is God in his class and that he was punished for killing or suppressing many students of faith before the male lead, but Because there is no evidence, I dare not jump to conclusions.
In the end, I think the director's a bit open ending is to explain that if you believe in God, you will still be tested, but because some examples are listed too extreme, it will cause some people's disgust. As a believer, you will inevitably encounter trials and even painful choices in life. The believers who are stuck in the side story at the end and the people who just believed are still struggling. Most of the people who received the text messages do not understand this. I think this is to show that everyone is still facing life, struggling with suffering, and still Trying to get more people to understand their beliefs. Deliberately not ending with the happy end of victory, leaving a suspense, let us find the answer by ourselves, and maybe even foreshadowing for the second part.
Two stars in the rating for great music!
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