"Interviews" with God

There's a flash presentation on the Internet called "Interview with God" (click on "view presentation"). It takes beautiful Nature scenes and displays an inspiring poem about God. Supposedly it has "touched" a lot of people around the world.



Meanwhile, Ray Comfort's ministry put out another flash presentation in response, called "Another interview with God." This one attempts to be more straight-forward in presenting the Gospel message, while adhering to the same style.



I was looking for reviews and didn't find a lot online, so I'll give it a try myself. Check out the two links and then read what I thought of them.



My reactions:



"Interview with God":



1) Way too "warm and fuzzy" for my taste! It borders on emotional manipulation, in my opinion.



2) Along the same lines, the Gospel presented is too watered-down. It portrays some characteristics of God and paraphrases Biblical passages, but there is no direct mention to Christianity. So what is the point? To attract seekers gently? Stated vision: "Inspiring the world, one soul at a time." Then in the sidebar there is a verse from Isaiah and ads from Christian sponsors. Christian or not? I'm confused.



3) I'm not sure I even like the idea of guessing what God would say if he talked to us. I do believe He could talk to someone in this way, but fabricating it just seems pointless, and pathetic compared to the glory that shines through His actual words.



So from a Christian viewpoint obviously my reaction is negative, although the technical and artistic quality isn't bad.



"Another Interview with God"



1) I Immediately notice more of an adherence to Scripture than in the first one. Portrays God as God and not as a chatty old guy speaking through the clouds.



2) Technical and artistic quality not as good.



3) Although a lot of Scripture is quoted, it seems a little forced with all the verses strung together. The goal is clearly to present the Gospel and not to tell a flowery story.



I'm a bit torn here, because I think that Christians should aim for excellence in areas such as film production, yet at the same time the Gospel should not be dressed up merely for entertainment value.



I had already come to these conclusions, when I stumbled upon a third site, quite similar to the first two! In fact, I first thought it to be the original "Interview with God" that I had watched. But as I watched one of the films, it seemed to contain corrections that I had mentally made while watching the film from the first site. I even liked the music! Had they made an updated version? Upon closer look, I noticed a slight difference in the web address. It turns out it is made by a different organization, and this one proclaims the Gospel on their homepage.



Moral of the story: Investigate! There are a lot of messages being marketed today, especially on the Internet. Don't settle for a substitute "version" of the Truth. Go after the real thing!