Analyzing Christianity
Magic Christians Seek the Perfect Sales Pitch in ‘Only God Can’
Today, let me show you what the Perfect Sales Pitch looks like–and why Magic Christians can’t let go of the idea.
Analyzing Christianity
What Conversion Actually Did For the Women of ‘Only God Can’
Even in a movie made by Christians to completely pander to other Christians, Only God Can peddles neat, tidy endings for these converts that don’t even halfway look like reality. Today, we look at their conversions–and where they’d likely end up in the real world.
Analyzing Christianity
The Jesus Beatings Shall Continue Until Salvation Improves (Only God Can)
Lately we’ve been talking about the horrible Christian movie Only God Can. In it, we encounter a great many tropes beloved of evangelicals. And one of their very favorites–said on that Zorg voice of course–involves how they see their god engaging with humanity. See, he’s got a novel approach to winning friends and influencing people: he destroys their lives till they bend the knee. Yep! Today, my friends, we look at the Jesus beatings that shall continue until salvation improves!
Analyzing Christianity
The Poor Widdle Heathens in ‘Only God Can’
Hi and welcome back! We saw a movie recently, Only God Can, that covered quite a few tropes in fundagelical thinking. Today, we’ll be covering one of the most-beloved ones of those tropes: the idea that TRUE CHRISTIANS™ are much happier and more functional than poor widdle heathens ever could Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Only God Can: The Huge Official Mega-Riffic Review!
We’re kicking off our review of the 2017 Christian movie Only God Can. In this movie, a bunch of really privileged women discover that they actually needed self-induced religious euphoria Jesus all along and all that Problem of Evil stuff is just silly. Get your intoxicants of choice lined up!
Analyzing Christianity
Only God Can: Pre-Review Warmup!
Today, we’re reviewing a 2017 Christian movie called Only God Can. It’s the annoying heartwarming story of a bunch of middle-aged Christian women living in one of the most privileged countries in the world as they try to find a solution to the Problem of Evil. To get through this experience, we’ll be drinking. A little. Join me here for some pre-review observations, and then please feel free to head down to the comments as we watch together!
Analyzing Christianity
Magic Christians: Gosh, If I’d Only Known!
We’ve been talking lately about the lamentably-common trope of Christians expressing great sadness over our non-belief. I’ve been noticing one outgrowth of that sentiment: the idea that ex-Christians would never have lost faith if we’d only encountered the best and most correct form of Christianity. And lucky for us, Magic Read more
Analyzing Christianity
The Handbook: The Magic Christian (Doesn’t Exist).
Christians often pull out the stops when they discover that one of us has left the fold. Everything but the kitchen sink gets thrown at us to read, watch, or listen to. We get invited to “casual dinners” that turn into full-blown interventions. We can’t even visit a friend’s house without discovering a church friend there to try once more to “just talk to us” to “make sure we’ve really thought about this.” And then, once we think we’ve weathered all of it, along comes just one more Christian into the fray, often totally convinced that “God” told him or her to say some particular thing to us.
Analyzing Christianity
The Christian’s Guide to Ex-Christians: The Things We Did Wrong.
I’ve mentioned before the Pentecostal-yardstick act that erupted whenever I or someone from my church met another Christian, haven’t I? When meeting someone new, I couldn’t just be happy to know someone new and get to know that person. I had to figure out if that person needed saving–or correction Read more