For those who want the quick answer – I really did not enjoy this movie. It was long, scattered, disjointed, and led down bunny trails that did not congeal to the rest of the story line.

The Leading Girl – A college student who sets off to interview a hockey player, who starts their conversation off setting the record straight that she is Chaste and Pure, and wants to spend time asking him questions.  She follows him to bars, where not only are all of the students drinking, but they are drinking from 32 oz mugs instead of pints or glasses.  Beer is a constant prop in the movie. (I do love my afternoon Deschutes Brew here and there, but it didn’t sit well that the girl would follow it around.) Although she is the main character wanting all of the other characters to believe that the Bible is Truth, she is the start that pulls the group to change the bible to fit man’s desires.

The Leading Man – A college student who has gone through years of grief and has a mother in a coma in the hospital. He is a seeker. He has had little reason to believe in hope or peace or joy. I don’t think he has a reason to disbelieve the Bible, but he has not experienced forgiveness and hope – he doesn’t know that these things exist. He lives his life in regret for a statement he made to his mom.

The Genesis Factor – I tried to stay objective – see it as a fictional movie – but it hit on too many nerves.  I tire of hearing people say that one has to believe in creation to be a Christian.  I read this more from atheists or evolutionists as an excuse to not have faith in Christ – than I do from Creationists who are spending their lives in observational operational science activities. To have a move that says that God was in chaos for millions of years and had no way of letting us know or giving us understanding of time, so he wrote the Days as Thousands Of Years, grieves me.  I do have friends who believe the ‘day is as a thousand’ between creation periods, I entertained the thought in my youth – before I really read the bible.  How can a God in Chaos not know what a day is, and then go one a few chapters later to know the exact time a person was born, had a child, and died. No where else in the bible do people wonder if God is clueless about time frames. He’s pretty exact.   Believing in Creation does not make you a Christian. Believing in Evolution does not cancel you out from being able to follow Christ.

The Church Factor – She invites him to church – and it is a Stained Glass, Stiff Wooden Backed, Pastor in Robes, Hymns and Lecture congregation. For me, personally, I am sad that movies still portray “Church” as a place that you clean yourself up to enter. There is no mention of Jesus in the entire movie. There is no mention of Relationship. The Gospel is defined as if you can form creation to fit evolution’s timeline, then you become a Christian. If you pray to “God” then you are a Christian. I am a Christian because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He Is God, the I Am, and I put my faith and trust in His Word. I put my daily walk in His Hands.  My hope is in His return, and my peace and joy come from the experience of knowing him. It grows daily. As I learn about observational science, as I read the old testament, as I learn about Hebrew and World History – and I look through the lenses of the Bible, I can see where the Bible is true. The Holy Spirit reveals truth. Church to me is a gathering of people together, celebrating this journey we are all on. Hard, suffering, joyful, triumphant, crazy journey. Going to church will not make you a Christian either. . . .

On  a crazy side note – there are a few scenes that I would have left out, the views of Michelangelo’s chapel (I think) and the pause while sweeping over the nudity, the reference to female circumcision and the brief conversation that brought up, the storyline with the school counselor that made it clear that one may not have a  career in science if you believe the Bible is true. It has to be one or the other.

I watched this movie with 3 other people, and they were all baffled. A couple had a really hard time tracking where the movie was going. I kept it on to see where it was going to turn full circle towards at the end. I was disappointed.

I know this is getting long, and without watching the movie it may not make sense – but the timing does give me opportunity to set out my baseline beliefs, as you read this blog – and I share our Nature and Science studies –

I believe the Bible is the true inerrant word of God. I believe the Spirit directed the thoughts and pen of man to write it down. I will not entertain that there would be a time that God lived in Chaos. I believe in many covenants that God made with man, broken by  man,  leading to the New Covenant of Christ – and his shed blood for the forgiveness of sins. Given freely – accepted by us, grace and mercy – to bring us into relationship with him. Anything I do after this acceptance is to know God better, not to make me better. It is my desire that all of my friends come into a relationship with Christ. That they spend time in the Word, and that they look through the lenses of Christ to see people, events, and the world.  I, personally, need a gathering of other believers, frequently, to share my joy and passion for  Christ and the Word. To worship Him together. To sing His Praises. To read His Word together, but I also enjoy paddling on the lake singing from my head phones annoying the neighbors, talking about the Word with friends in my home, and walking in the forest observing His creation.

Well – like many a blog post, this one has been interrupted more times than I can count, people coming and going from the house, family getting ready for the day – I am going to click Publish and let it be.  I will not be actively promoting this movie. I did receive it free to review on this blog, and I had thought about contacting my social media review source and saying – I just can’t give it media attention – but I felt the need to speak about the issues of the movie.  Below are links from the movie –

The Story

Kerry Wells (Kelsey Sanders), a college journalist and committed Christian with an effervescent personality, has been assigned to do a story on Blake Truman (Logan Bartholomew) the college’s newest and very popular hockey superstar. As a relationship between them begins to develop Kerry finds that Blake, who hides behind a tough and independent façade, is actually struggling through a difficult personal crisis and that he bears the cross of a secret he has kept hidden for years. Blake rebuffs Kerry’s suggestion that prayer might help ease his burden; he is convinced that modern science completely disproves the Bible, especially the opening verses of Genesis. Kerry — who is herself suddenly confronted with a challenge to her faith on another front — sets out to prove that science and Genesis are not in conflict and her quest leads to a startling revelation. Could it be that what science teaches us about creation and the Story as told in Genesis are both true!

Movie Review: The Genesis Code, by Dr. Terry Rowland, Guest Columnist, Answers in Genesis, October 5, 2010

“Only the most ardent of creationists, televangelists and hidebound academics, whose livelihood depends on rubes buying into their interpretation of Genesis, would find anything but admiration for the hard work and enthusiasm of the students.” http://blog.thegenesiscodemovie.com/

“Those who prefer not to waste time exploring such unfathomable concepts as infinity and the force behind the forces that led to the Big Bang are content knowing that neither Darwinian scholars nor fundamentalists of all religious stripe haven’t the vaguest clue as to what constitutes biblical time”.  http://blog.thegenesiscodemovie.com/