A Matter of Faith (2014) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Audience Reviews

Mary M Interesting debate regarding the origin of life. The acting was good and the storyline was captivating...if you have an open mind. Watch it without bias and you'll learn a few things. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/13/24 Full Review Carter E This movie was very short and I want my time back Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/11/24 Full Review Audience Member Creationism is indeed a matter of religion -- Some creationists insist that their position is a matter of science and not religion. This movie shows that's clearly not the case."A Matter of Faith" is a Hallmark Channel-esque movie dipped in religion. A young girl Rachel Whitaker goes off to college. She enjoys her classes and makes new friends. For what appears to be the first time, however, she gets exposed to science viewpoints that conflict with the beliefs she's been taught that the Biblical God created the universe and all life. Her biology Professor Kaman teaches that, based on evidence - imagine that -- life evolved over the course of billions of years from simple forms to complex forms. Rachel's creationist father isn't happy with this at all and goes to the college to confront the professor. The professor invites him to argue his side in a campus debate.Along the way to the debate, a creationist journalism student argues that if your parents and grandparents weren't apes, you couldn't have evolved from apes - a laughable argument that swirled around during the Scopes Monkey trial of 1926. He also points out to Rachel and her father that another professor, Portland, was fired several years earlier for teaching Biblical creationism as science.During the debate, Kaman explains that, according to Sigmund Freud, religion grew out of fear and ignorance of the unknown and fear of death. When things go wrong or disasters strike, people consider it to be divine punishment. When Kaman presses him to support his position, Mr. Whitaker concedes that he has no scientific proof of the afterlife and that the Bible was written by man. Kaman says, "So, your betting your afterlife on a book you can't explain about a god you can't prove." The scene is almost as good as Henry Drummond's confrontation with Matthew Brady in "Inherit the Wind" on the holes in the Genesis story of creation. (Up to this point, Kaman is treated with better respect than the philosophy professor in "God's Not Dead" was treated.)The former professor Portland then steps in with some worn-out creationist responses to evolution. He claims that laboratory experiments aren't enough to explain the development of complex organisms, that a designer was needed, that fossil records don't show the continuous development of life from one form to another, and that the Earth is not millions (much less billions) of years old (tipping his hat to the Young Earthers). Portland says what amounts to a concession that creationism is all about religion and not science, "The one who holds to Creation has his beliefs firmly rooted in the truths contained in the Bible and a personal God who created everything." He adds, "You can chance your eternity on the views of Freud and Darwin if you want. I'm putting my trust in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again on the third day." The debate ends with Kaman offering no responses to Portland, which is not surprising for a slanted movie like this one."A Matter of Faith" is obviously a movie for creationists. The lesson is that if your creationist viewpoint doesn't stand up to the mountains of scientific evidence supporting evolution and the 4.5 billion year age of the Earth, just respond by saying the Bible supports your position. Anyone who doesn't believe in the story of Genesis will either laugh or cringe at this movie. The movie was released in only 52 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. Were the producers worried that showing the movie to a wider audience might expose the weak arguments used to support creationism to widespread ridicule? Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member The movie was a fun watch if you are a Christian. However, the message of God throughout the film is very forced. The force-feeding of the film's message ultimately will put off any viewer that doesn't already have the point of view presented in the movie. Other complaints are that the video is very white, with little to no diversity presented. Also, the dialog and acting are? not the greatest. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Intelligent, enticing and thought provoking. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member I appreciate this movie attempting to do a Christian movie about college students and some of the challenges they go through, especially if they are religious. However, they only really present two views when attempting to reconcile the Bible and science. This is a fallacy of setting up a false dichotomy. There are other views besides young-earth creationism and naturalism. For those views, see the book 4 Views on Creation and Evolution put out by Zondervan. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XFN3TW6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

A Matter of Faith

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