Funny how things happen sometimes. My daughter brings home movie passes from time to time as a benefit of working at the theater. So, just a few hours after writing yesterday’s blog entry about science and faith, I was on my way to see the film God’s Not Dead.
I’m really not in the target audience for this film–that would be my wife. I don’t particularly care for Christian fiction as a genre for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I’m not in the target audience for the genre. While I discuss religious topics on this blog, what I don’t discuss are my own personal beliefs. My beliefs do not dovetail cleanly with established religions and they are very personal, so I choose not to share them with anyone.
The bigger and more important reason I don’t care for Christian fiction is the stories are very formulaic. The climax to the story is always a character’s salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. It’s like listening to a homily, where I look around the church and see many eyes counting the dots on the ceiling. The plots are trite and predictable, the conflicts contrived, and on film, the acting seems forced. Simply put, I have not read or seen a story in this genre that could be considered a good work of fiction.
Now, those in the target audience may disagree with me, and I respect that. There is definitely a market for this kind of fiction. It sells. It just isn’t for me.
