Reviews of Expelled

Here some reviews of the movie Expelled:
Triablogue: Expelled: A Brief Movie Review & First Impressions on Expelled
Bock’s Blog: Interesting to See Reviews on Expelled April 18.08
Answers In Genesis: Expelled Reviewed
CampOnThis:  Expelled: ....... no intelligence allowed 

Now I admit that the above reviews do not include the many anti-Expelled reviews on the internet, just Google “Review of Expelled.” I simply put some on that I ran across that seemed to be fair reviews and gave an overview of the film. As with many documentaries there will be those that do not like what they see and will thus write not so glowing reports of the film while those that like the outcome of movie often write elaborated reviews. So I chose the four above and while there are many more out there these should give a feel for the movie.

Now some thoughts on the movie, or better yet its premise, that I admit I have not seen yet.

I am not sure if I will see the movie at the theaters as they cost so much and with 5 people to pay for there is a side of me that asks if this is a good use of the funds available. Also, I am sure as with most movies of this type I will probably be left wanting. I think the premise is good, that the academic world is not really open to free thinking, but I pray that Christians do not again see this as some great, or even the greatest, witnessing tool sent by God. All too often Christians seem to think that every movie or other entertainment event that somehow has Christian overtones, or undertones, is such an event. Truth is from what I have seen and heard the focus is mainly on evolutionary thought versus Intelligent Design (ID) and I do not think that ID is the answer to the evolutionary debate. Yes, I do believe there is an intelligent designer but why can we not simply call Him God. Disguising God by some other name such as “Intelligent Designer” seems to sort of be a bait and switch and an attempt to get a foot in the door but is it necessary. What ID does is simply say that we as Christians can play on the scientific community’s court and to their rules and here is how we see creation by your standards. True the people in academia who own the court do not like to play with others the truth is until we as Christians lose the fear of simply saying that even though there is plenty of proof of what we believe the only proof we truly need is the infallible word of God we will always be fighting an uphill battle. The reason for this being that the scientific community will invariably continue to change the rules to meet their needs and until God changes their hearts they will not believe, in a saving manner, simply based on good argumentation.

So at the end of the day I will probably rent the movie when it comes out and I do think that it may be a good place to begin conversations but let us not see it as the panacea for evangelism as was done with so many things to precede it. Also, it is good that the world, whether they buy into it or not, see the often one sidedness of the academic institutions our tax dollars often pay for.

By the way I would imagine that my unashamedly young earth views would probably be laughed at by both sides as many IDers seem to not see it as viable.