He Is The Only One Who Can Save You From Your Sins!
Movie – Son of God (2014) PG-13 2 Hr. 18 Min.
Partial Cast List – Diogo Morgado, Darwin Shaw, Sebastian Knapp, Adrian Schiller, Paul Brightwell, Greg Hicks, Amber Rose Revah, Joe Wredden, Simon Kunz, Paul Marc Davis, Matthew Gravelle, Roma Downey
Son of God is another movie version depicting the life of Jesus Christ. It starts with one of His disciples narrating Jesus’ ministry. He stated, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1: 1-2) In the first two minutes of this movie, John stated that Jesus was present with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and Moses through the struggles for the promised land. Then he said that Jesus was the light shining in the darkness, and then He came into the world. The medley of those scenes illustrates how Jesus was present throughout the Old Testament stories.
This movie could have had all the earmarks of past movies about Jesus’ life and ministry; instead, there were some distinct differences. First, there was more emphasis on the background story of Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and the local Pharisees in Capernaum.
Secondly, Jesus showed more of his human traits than His Godly ones. This was illustrated when a Pharisee told Him that John the Baptist died, and then He stopped for a moment with a surprised expression. This was not shown in Scripture.
Yet, there were good Scriptural moments in the Son of God movie. One of them was when Jesus told the parable of two men praying in the temple. “Two men went up into the [a]temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18: 10 – 14)
The rating for the Son of God movie is appropriate even though there was a brutal attack on protesters, a sword dual between Pilate and a Roman soldier, and the whipping of Jesus.
I was disappointed that one of Jesus’ teachings was spoken in the background of a scene between Peter and a Pharisee. Jesus said, “Any man who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery.” Why would the filmmaker put the focus on an interaction that was not recorded in the Bible?
Yet, I still recommend this movie based on its style, cinematography, and musical score. This movie is really an edited version of The Bible Series produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. After watching episodes 6 through 10, dealing with Jesus’ life and ministry, I quickly watched the Son of God. I found many scenes deleted from The Bible Series to produce this movie, which didn’t give any cohesion to the story of this film. Hopefully, this movie will encourage you to grab a Bible and read the Scriptures dealing with Jesus’ ministry and miracles.
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