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The Gospel according to Bruce

© Francois Tremblay

In essence, it brushes away the enormous evil in this world as an abstract issue which is beyond God's capacities. Even though God's power can move the Moon, part seas, and make people win lotteries, it cannot produce food, or give people knowledge. The "sob story" theodicy is a sad excuse for a transcendent God, but a nice, convenient rationalization for Christians to shrug at the incalculable amount of suffering in the world.

In the end of Bruce Almighty, we learn that God was really testing Bruce (nice how we cannot test God, but he can test us). He was supposed to learn unselfishness and humility.

God: Grace. You want her back?
Bruce: No. I want her to be happy, no matter what that means. I want her to find someone who will treat her with all the love she deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who will see her always as I do now, through Your eyes.
God: Now THAT'S a prayer.

Redemption accomplished, cue the swelling symphonic music, and finally a crappy movie ends.

* Apparently, a being with God's powers can learn things. Therefore God is not all-knowing. Why else would Bruce need to be "tested", if he already knew the minute he had God's powers?

* God's words here are prideful. He wants Bruce to pray like he wants. He wants Bruce to see things like he does.
And of course, why does God even want prayer, if not for vanity? If he was all-knowing, he would already know what Bruce thinks and feels. If he was all-knowing, he would know everything about our thoughts. So either prayer exists to humiliate ourselves and make God prideful, or God is not all-knowing.

It's also interesting that nowhere in Bruce Almighty is the afterlife even mentioned. Looks even more materialist to me. It looks like, in the Gospel according to Bruce, God is little more than a cosmic janitor who works by coincidences and parlor tricks.

The movie is peppered with nice Christian hatred and intolerence, like insulting Ghandi, a man who alone has done more for this world than a great majority of all the Christians who ever lived. But then again, what do you expect from Christians? Just another "sob story".

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