These are the questions that are heard over and over, from people of all backgrounds and faiths:
“Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
“If God is love and He has the power to heal, why doesn’t He do it?”
In his latest documentary, Unstoppable, Kirk Cameron asks the tough questions that have damaged and even wrecked so many people’s faith.
Sitting on his front porch, Cameron (Growing Pains, Fire Proof) tells the story about the passing of his young fifteen-year-old friend named Matthew, who had been battling cancer for the past ten years. Cameron found himself struggling and asking God, “Why this family? They go to church every Sunday, they love you Lord. Why didn’t you heal my friend?” The passing of this young boy was clearly what triggered the inspiration for this documentary. According to Cameron, Unstoppable is one of the most personal projects regarding his faith that he has ever done.
Kirk Cameron speaks very candidly about the nature of God. Photo Courtesy of Provident Films.
The adventure in Unstoppable is of the spiritual kind. It’s to help us better understand why we have pain and suffering in our lives, and to ultimately give us hope. We start off by looking back through the beginning of time at the book of Genesis, the Bible in general, and hearing Cameron’s own thoughts about God’s Character.
Back in Cameron’s living room in an intimate one-on-one setting, we start to discover a little of why things are the way they are. Cameron begins by taking a look at Genesis 1- 9. We see some creative and edgy clips of: the creation of man out of mud, how Eve came into the picture, the fall of man and how sin entered the world, as well as Cain and Abel in the first murder. There’s even a humorous Hollywood movie pitch meeting about Noah and The Flood.
While Cameron stays very biblically focused and maintains an incredibly strong gospel message, the movie was initially too concentrated on the sufferings of humanity and an apparently indifferent God. Most of the documentary seemed dark and I felt unsure of where Cameron was trying to take the film. However, it seemed he was building to a climax of some kind.
Scenes in the movie reenact pivotal moments in the Garden of Eden. Photo Courtesy of Provident Films.
In the last few minutes of the documentary, Cameron fills the viewer with hope as he reveals another – much more loving – view of God in each of the stories that he had shared. Showing truly how amazing, compassionate and trusting our God is.
Unstoppable reminds us that God is not immune to pain and suffering. He experienced our world: the joys, tears, suffering, pain and death. He stepped into it willing, because of His love for us. He does care for us. Seeing the young boy’s funeral and the family releasing balloons in the film reminds us that the grave is not the end, but the hope and beginnings to something better.
Overall, Unstoppable emphasizes that God is here, He is good and He loves us. We can trust Him knowing that His purposes are unstoppable, and that He has a plan for our lives. If you find comfort in this, you will be thrilled with what this movie has to say.
However, even Kirk Cameron himself says that this side of Heaven, we may never know the answer to the specific question of, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?”
Unstoppable is now available on DVD! Watch this journey with Kirk Cameron and see if you can become Unstoppable in your faith.
Watch the trailer here:
Biblical Worldview
In Unstoppable, Kirk Cameron sticks to the Bible and really focuses in on the Genesis account to explain why there is pain and suffering in our world.
Part of Cameron’s answers to his questions in this documentary can best be described by Romans 5:3-5 (HCSB) “We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
There are some things to beware of in the documentary. At “Adam’s” creation he is covered in mud, several shots are full body… nudity implied, but nothing is ever seen. For the rest of the garden clips, “Adam” walks around the garden bare chested, and “Eve” is shown with bare shoulders and arms.
There are a few violent scenes that take place between Cain and Abel. Cain chases down and beats Abel with a stick and a large rock. Blood is seen on both boys, and then blood is seen flowing on the ground after Abel is assumed to be dead.
Due to the topics being discussed and the violence in the documentary, I would recommend this film for ages twelve and up. There may be some more mature children who can handle it, but I would highly recommend that parents watch it first.
No matter the venue, Kirk Cameron speaks very personally about his faith. Photo Courtesy of Provident Films.
Biblical Discussion
We hear the story of creation and about the entrance of sin into our world, which causes pain, suffering and death. As Kirk Cameron said in the film, if there was ever a time that God could have given up on humanity it was at the very beginning. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Cain murdered Able, and when the whole Earth was so wicked that he could have wiped every single living creature out. But he didn’t.
God loved us so much that He sent His perfect, sinless, son Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the world. God took a tragic event and turned it into the best thing to ever happen to mankind, salvation for our sins. Christ loved us so much that He even died for the people who rejected him and considered Him an enemy.
If God can do that with such a horrible event, what amazing transformations can he perform in us in difficult times?
In the middle of hard and even tragic experiences, we can’t always understand why we are going through them, and we may never know the reason. It’s important to remember that God has a plan for your life, and He’ll never leave you and never let go of you!
“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2(NLT)
Do you lean on God in the good times and the bad? How is God molding you? How can your past experiences be used to help others?
To learn more about this documentary, please see its page on the Christian Film Database
Want to read another Christian movie review? Check out Gimmie Shelter – Movie Review
To learn more about this film critic, visit her site Cross Shadow Productions
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