I enjoyed the film as entertainment and never once confused the character with God, the Creator as described in the Bible; hey, it’s a movie. Greg Kinnear has the ability to play a perfect con artist and pulled off a fun hour and a half Saturday matinee kind of flick.
Would you write to Greg Kinnear for spiritual guidance, believing in some deranged sort of brain cramped way that by doing so you were actually inviting God to answer; if you answered yes I’ll watch for you on the next Oprah show. I’ll bet there are some who actually would, sad as that sounds.
Speaking of Oprah, there’s another interesting phenomenon, similar in that folks have put the book on the best seller’s list and which the “O” has put her seal of approval. This isn’t the first time Oprah has jumped on the band wagon for a “feel good about yourself” substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The book is called, Conversations With God , by Neile Donald Walsch. I looked for information on the book, it being somewhat controversial among Christians, and found this statement on Wikipedia:
“In an interview with Larry King, Walsch described the inception of the books as follows: at a low period in his life, Walsch wrote an angry letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?" Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing dialogue became the Conversations with God books. However, in the interview with King, Walsch freely admitted that he couldn’t be sure that it was God speaking and that the books could have been the product of his own subconscious, but he stated that he truly believed it to be the voice of God speaking to him.”
Walsch took that to another level and began fielding questions from an adoring public, answering their most sincere inquiries as if he were God, having the wisdom of the ages. “Those are some mighty big kahones you’re sporting there, my friend”, pardon the crude and yet appropriate observation.
I went over to snopes.com and found some additional information on Conversations With God.
“The author purports to answer various questions asked by kids using the "voice of God". However, the "answers" that he gives are not Bible-based and go against the very infallible word of God. For instance (and I paraphrase), when a girl asks the question "Why am I a lesbian?"
His answer is that she was 'born that way' because of genetics (just as you were born right-handed, with brown eyes, etc.). Then he tells her to go out and "celebrate" her differences.
Another girl poses the question "I am living with my boyfriend. My parents say that I should marry him because I am living in sin. Should I marry him?"
His reply is, "Who are you sinning against? Not me, because you have done nothing wrong."
Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin. His reply "I do not forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong, because the rule is "'judge not lest ye be judged."”
Did you catch that? Walsch would have us believe “there is no such thing as right or wrong”. This goes beyond entertainment and falls, interesting how that word “falls” came to mind, into the category of false doctrine; not a simple variance as would occur from one denomination of Christians as they interpret scripture, a flat out lie.
I’d have to say Walsch has been led down “the path” by the Father of Lies, propped up by his own sense of self worth. Satan’s never ending battle has taken another spin, one which targets well meaning folks who really want God’s help. Unfortunately, instead of putting their faith in God, they’ve chosen an author from the New York Times Best Seller’s List.
Yet another warning from the Snopes.com page:
“If you have children or grandchildren, work with children at church, or you have neighborhood children whose parents you know, please take note of the information below and pass it along to others. Schools are distributing this book to children through the Scholastic Book Club.”
Isn’t that just wonderful; kids can check out this book; but the public schools won’t let them read from the Bible. What’s it going to take for folks to wake up and figure out what is going on?
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