God's Not Dead (2014)

Shane Harper: Josh Wheaton

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Quotes 

• Josh Wheaton : Only a real risk can test the reality of a belief.

• Josh Wheaton : How can you hate someone who doesn't exist?

• Josh Wheaton : I could drop the class, run away, pretend like it never happened, which is what my girlfriend wants. I could sign the paper saying something I don't believe. Or I commit academic suicide in front of a live audience by trying to prove that God exists.

  Reverend Dave : How many people in that class?

  Josh Wheaton : Eighty maybe.

  Reverend Dave : And how may of them do you think would ever step foot in here, or any other church for matter?

  Josh Wheaton : Well, none probably.

  Reverend Dave : So, your acceptance of this challenge, if you decide to accept it, may be the only meaningful exposure to God and Jesus they'll ever have.

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah. Yeah, I suppose so.

  Reverend Dave : Check out Matthew 10:32-33.

  Josh Wheaton : What, that's it? That's all?

  Reverend Dave : Yeah.

  [gets up to leave] 

  Josh Wheaton : Just a Scriptural citation?

  Reverend Dave : If you're still undecided after that one, look at Luke 12:48.

  Josh Wheaton : It can't be that simple.

  Reverend Dave : Sure it can. You're here because that still small voice inside you isn't happy with the choices everyone else wants you to make. Personally, I think it's the Holy Spirit talking to you. That's how He interacts with us if we allow him to. All you have to do is decide whether or not you're willing to listen. It's not easy, but it's simple.

• Josh Wheaton : I just keep thinking of that C.S. Lewis line, "Only a real risk can test the reality of a belief."

  Kara : So, you're gonna risk our future over your yearbook quote?

• Freshman Registration Advisor : You might want to think about a different instructor.

  Josh Wheaton : Because?

  Freshman Registration Advisor : Let's just say you're wandering into the snake pit. I'd recommend Patel or maybe Mueller.

  Josh Wheaton : Come on, man, it can't be that bad.

  Freshman Registration Advisor : Think Roman Colosseum, lions, people cheering for your death...

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, but I'd have to rearrange my whole schedule. I don't think I can really...

  Freshman Registration Advisor : It's your funeral. Last drop date is the 22nd; you might want to keep that in mind.

• Reverend Dave : [Josh is sitting in a pew in the church when the preacher walks in]  Waiting for someone?

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, you could say that. It looks like he's out at the moment.

  Reverend Dave : Well, maybe that's why he sent me.

• Josh Wheaton : At the end of last class, Professor Radisson quoted Richard Dawkins, and, to be honest, I didn't know how to refute him. After all, Mr. Dawkins is a genius. But, John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics and Philosophic thought at the University of Cambridge, famously quoted in response to Dawkins: "Nonsense remains nonsense, even when it comes from the mouths of famous scientists."

  Professor Radisson : This is ridiculous! Are you, a college freshman, saying Richard Dawkins is wrong?

  Josh Wheaton : No, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying that Professor John Lennox is saying that Richard Dawkins's logic is faulty, and that I agree with him.

• Josh Wheaton : Hey, you're in my philosophy class, aren't you?

  Martin Yip : Indeed.

  Josh Wheaton : Hey, is that required reading?

  Martin Yip : Oh, no. Umm, can I ask you a question?

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, sure.

  Martin Yip : Umm, why are you doing what you are doing?

  Josh Wheaton : I'm glad someone's on my side. Everyone else thinks I'm crazy. My girlfriend dumped me over it, my parents don't want me to do it, and at the end of the year I'll have to work like a dog just to make up for everything I missed.

  Martin Yip : You have described your difficulties, but have not answered my question of why.

  Josh Wheaton : I dunno. I think Jesus is my friend. I don't want anyone to not believe in Him, just because some professor says so.

  Martin Yip : So... .. you think Jesus is God?

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, he's God.

  Josh Wheaton : See you around Martin.

  Martin Yip : Bye.

• Ayisha : [At the Newsboys concert]  It was you young man, wasn't it? You were the one who defended God!

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah. How did you know?

  Ayisha : I overheard you talking in the cafeteria. Only a real risk can test the reality of a belief, right?

• Josh Wheaton : Evil. Evil has historically been the most potent weapon atheists use against the Christian faith, and they're right. After all, if God is all powerful and all good, why would he let evil exist? Well, the answer itself is remarkably simple, and it's two words. Free will. God allows evil to exist, only on a temporary basis, so that those that choose to love him freely can one day, be united with him in Heaven, saved from all evil and forever in the Kingdom of God. In other words, God's only intention with evil is that he will one day destroy it.

  Professor Radisson : Well how convenient. One day, He will destroy all evil, but in the meantime, you all just have to deal with all the wars, hurricanes, poverty, starvation, tornadoes, holocausts, tsunamis, massacres, and AIDS. Have a nice life. Next he'll be lecturing us on moral absolutes?

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, but why not? Professor Raddison, who's clearly an atheist, says he does not believe in moral absolutes. Yet, I bet if I was to get an A on the final exam by cheating, he would suddenly start sounding like a Christian, insisting that it's wrong to cheat, that I should know that, yet, what basis does he have? If my actions are calculated to help me succeed, then why shouldn't I perform them? Because, for Christians, lying, cheating, stealing, stealing a grade I didn't earn, as in my example, are completely forbidden, but for atheists, nothing is forbidden.

  Professor Radisson : So, what, you're saying, that, a moral atheist is some kind of impossibility?

  Josh Wheaton : No, it's not, but if there's no God there's no real reason to be moral. As Dostoevsky famously once pointed out, if God does not exist, then everything is permissible.

  Professor Radisson : Why don't you admit the truth. You just want to ensnare them in your primitive superstition!

  Josh Wheaton : What I want, is for them to make their own choice, that's what God wants. The only difference between me and you, is that you take away their free choice. You demand they check the box that says I don't believe.

  Professor Radisson : Because I want to free them. Because religion is like a mind-virus which parents pass down to their children. And Christianity is the worst virus of all, it slowly creeps into our lives when we're weak, or poor, or helpless!

  Josh Wheaton : So religion is like a disease?

  Professor Radisson : Yes. It infects everything, it's the opposite of reason.

  Josh Wheaton : Reason, professor you left reason a long time ago, this isn't philosophy. It's not even atheism! What you're teaching is anti-theism!

  Professor Radisson : You have no idea how much I'll enjoy failing you.

  Josh Wheaton : Yeah, but it's not about failing me, is it? It's about failing God.

  Josh Wheaton : Do you hate God, professor?

  Professor Radisson : That's not even a question.

  Josh Wheaton : Okay, why, do you hate God?

  Professor Radisson : This is ridiculous.

  Josh Wheaton : Why do you hate God? You've seen the evidence and the science, it supports His existence, you know the truth! So why do you hate God, professor? Why do you hate Him? It's a very simple question, professor, why do you hate God?

  Professor Radisson : BECAUSE HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! YES, I HATE GOD! ALL I HAVE FOR HIM IS HATE!

  Josh Wheaton : How could you hate someone, who doesn't even exist?