Sunday, February 21, 2016

APOLOGETICS FILMS WORTH WATCHING


Here is a list of apologetics films. I highly recommend the first 13. I have not seen the others, but they look like solid resources....
  1. Risen is at theaters as I post this (February 25, 2016) and it is getting solid reviews from lots of people that I respect. You can find a trailer and links to a theater near you at the title link. Here is a review from Sean McDowell. And here is another from Craig Keener.
  2. The Case for Christ: (FREE at title link) Award-winning legal journalist for the Chicago Tribune interviews experts about the evidence for Jesus Christ. "The documentary The Case for Christ follows reporter Lee Strobel as he interviews a number of religious and historical scholars in order to find out if there is any proof of the resurrection, and to discover the historical veracity of the New Testament. In trying the case for Christ, Strobel cross-examined a number of experts and recognized authorities in their own fields of study. He conducted his examination with no religious bias, other than his predisposition to atheism. (72 minutes)
  3. The Case for a Creator with Lee Strobel (60 minutes). FREE
  4. The Case for Faith with Lee Strobel (79 minutes). You can also purchase the set of all 3 Strobel documentaries on DVD.
  5. Patterns of Evidence: Exodus: An excellent documentary exploring the historical and archaeological evidence for the Biblical account of Israel's exodus from Egypt. If you have a subscription to Netflix, you can watch it for FREE (that is, at no additional cost).
  6. Mining for God (64 minutes). Highly recommended by many of my friends. And it was just rated as the best Christian movie of the past 20+ years by the Christian Movie Shop (see the review in the image at the very bottom of this page and the link to their website in the list just above the review). It can be Streamed/Downloaded for $10
  7. Unlocking the Mystery of Life by Illustra Media (67 minutes). An excellent look at the mind-blowing complexity of the "simplest" living organisms and why they could not have come about by natural causes. FREE
  8. Biology of the Baroque produced by the Discovery Institute and based on the work of Dr. Michael Denton's 2016 book: This 20-minute video is beautiful to watch and intellectually stimulating. It examines non-adaptive traits to present a powerful aesthetic argument for how God's creative touch is seen in nature. And (at the end) it also gives a very cogent anthropological argument, showing significant ways in which humans are completely distinct from all other creatures on the planet. These issues are an insurmountable challenge to naturalistic evolution, but they make perfect sense if the world is designed. They also coincide perfectly with the revelation about creation and humans (created in God's image) given in Genesis. FREE
  9. Icons of Evolution (52 minutes). Rent it for $1.99.
  10. Information Enigma (21 minutes). FREE
  11. The Privileged Planet by Illustra Media (92 minutes). FREE
  12. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed with Ben Stein (98 minutes). FREE
  13. God's Not Dead: A drama in which a student defends his faith against a hard-core atheist professor. Features Kevin Sorbo and the Newsboys. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can watch it for FREE
  14. God's Not Dead 2: This sequel to the movie listed above will be in theaters on April 1, 2016.
  15. About Miracles is a 59 minute documentary that "features four dramatic, true stories about modern day miracles. Told by the actual people involved and featuring gripping reenactments...." Produced by Vision Video. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can watch it for FREE
  16. Bible on Trial: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a 45 minute video by Vision Video produced in a courtroom setting. There is a 4-part Bible study available to go with it. The film features attorney Craig Parton and scholars Dr. Paul Maier of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Dr. Randall Price of Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va.; Dr. Jeff Kloha of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. and Joel Lampe of The Bible Museum, Goodyear, Ariz.  If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can watch it for FREE here.


ARTICLES FOR USING MOVIES IN APOLOGETICS MINISTRY
*"How To Get Apologetics In Your Church: Apologetics Movie Night" at Apologetics315
*"Ten Great Movies to Use in Apologetics" by Lenny Esposito at ComeReason Ministries

Still looking?....
The following websites have their own lists of apologetics films:
*VISION VIDEO lists about a hundred films when entering the query "apologetics." They are found under the website's categories of: Biblical Worldview, Defense of Bible, Modern Apologetics, Science, and World Religions.
*ILLUSTRA MEDIA is the premier producer of documentaries on intelligent design. I have listed a few of them above. This link will take you to the trailers for their documentaries, which include Living Waters, Flight, Metamorphosis, Darwin's Dilemma, The Privileged Planet, Unlocking the Mystery of Life, and Case for a Creator.
*ASSOCIATES FOR BIBLICAL RESEARCH has 18 films in the category "Apologetics DVDs."
*CHRISTIAN FILM DATABASE has info for over 2000 Christian films. They do not have the category "Apologetics" but they do have the following categories: Abortion (46 films), Archaeology (8 films), Bible History (15 films), Biography (135 films), Creation/Science (76 films), Cults (1 film), and dozens of other topics. Helpful filtering categories, also.
*CHRISTIAN MOVIE SHOP lists 30 films under the category "Apologetics/Evangelism" DVDs and 49 under the category "Creation Science" and nearly a dozen under "Intelligent Design." You can also RENT most of the "Intelligent Design" movies via streaming video.
*FISHFLIX lists 39 films under the category "Apologetics & Creation."
*PUREFLIX lists 83 films under the category "Apologetics & Faith." CAUTION: There are some really bad and flaky films mixed in here!
*A MOVIE MINISTRY lists 8 films under the category "Apologetics."
*CHRISTIANANSWER.NET has 4 under the category "Apologetics" and many more under "Creator's World."


6 comments:

  1. Great list. Thanks for sharing.

    Don't forget "The Case for Faith"

    Others that you could include:

    "Expelled"
    "Prophecies of the Passion"
    "Cosmic Origins: The Scientific Evidence for Creation"
    "The Toughest Test in College: Why Students are Failing to Keep Their Faith on Campus"
    "The Christ Files: A Search for the Real Jesus"
    "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes! I will add The Case for Faith. Thanks for the other recommendations, also. I will check them out. :)

    ReplyDelete