Wwjd - What Would Jesus Do?

Christian movies frequently suffer from flat, one dimensional stories that only appeal to so-called Christians while the rest of the world sees them coming a mile away and instantly reject before ever given a chance. Not exactly so for this one. This movie grapples some tough, real-world challenges and does a good job despite not having the luxury of a big budget or high-paid Hollywood actors.The movie was no doubt brought to fruition by dedicated people trying to bring an important message to the world and they succeeded. The movie uses such cinematic elements as decent lighting techniques for skin tone and shadows and even a few jib/crane shots. Some critics belittle the acting but overall the characters are well represented.John Schneider delivers an outstanding portrayal of a poor homeless man who clearly is a disciple and messenger of God. He enters a spiritually starving and economically crumbling town on the verge of worsenng yet more at the hands of a corrupt politician mis-leading people towards a false solution. Though outwardly poor, the hitchhiker is inwardly blessed with God's grace and mission to spread the truth and hope of Jesus to people ranging from homeless to wealthy who despite their financial status are all starving for the real answer. He is coldly shunned by everyone in the town, including the greedy, the common man, the wealthy, the church-goers who call themselves Christians and even the Christians who are weak in following God. Before collapsing before them in church, with no resent he humbly calls them to account asking what it really means to follow Jesus and what makes one kind of man less worth saving than another? Then he challenges, "when you find yourself struggling with life's difficult decisions, ask yourself one simple question - what would Jesus do?"The message shakes the congregation leading them to question the true condition of their hearts and realize they are all either self-righteous hypocrites, lost or have wandered from God.This is where the movie falls a little weak. The message is not made clear enough as to what it takes to really change a heart. If not careful it can easily be thought that all we need to do is to try harder to be better people and help each other. But a fundamental life change and ability to really do what Jesus wants can only be achieved when we submit to God and seek his guidance and strength.The hitchhiker best demonstrates this by meeting each challenge and confrontation armed with scripture because his life and strength come from his walk with God. The hopeless pastor briefly prays twice for God's help, but the other characters change of heart are pretty much left unexplained. They transform quickly from cold and uncaring to remorseful and kind. The real estate lady confesses her wrongs were "before she asked Jesus into her life" so there is a faint message there, but the movie almost borders at a point on being a G-rated family movie where they all lived happily ever after without doing justice to what it took to cause such a revival. It would have required more screen time but a simple prayer of repentence and receiving salvation would have helped make a powerful statement in showing their change of heart.Because of this it seems that most of the characters are supposed to be lukewarm or downright cold Christians who just plain don't follow God until their conscious is charged and they then band together to do good. Either way the message is a positive one. I just wish they had more carefully and powerfully crafted and demonstrated it for greater effectiveness.However, to be fair the movie takes on a lot of life's difficulties by use of it's many characters who deal with disastrous loss of loved ones, loss of faith, moral struggles at the cost of financial security and more. It even shows the world's frequent reception to followers of Jesus with the characters being laughed at, criticized, called "Jesus freaks" and reminded that they aren't Jesus in an effort to discourage them. Yet they pull together, overcome the tough times and do what needs to be done to help their town and fellow citizens by seeking to do what Jesus would do.If you haven't seen it, buy it and share it with others. For the price it sells for on Amazon it's a no-brainer. It's not a perfect movie, but it's fairly good and we need more like it. It fails as an evengelical tool since the gospel message is absent. A lost person will never take from this movie that being a Christian isn't like joining a club, but rather it means a supernatural change of heart done by God in a repentant sinner. Thus, no one is going to come to Christ by watching this.However, lukewarm Christians and fakes will be convicted to change their worldly lives, but that can only be done by the afore mentioned intervention of God. No one can know what Jesus would do and be able to do it unless they have first been transformed by Him and then walk with Him in prayer, Bible reading and obedience. May God bless you.

A very inspiring movie that I would recommend to anyone. A great family movie and a great movie of faith.

I was incredibly touched by how this movie shows what we should truly be as Christians. I am a protestant missionary kid who lived two years in Mexico from age two to four and ten years in Guatemala and though I have not Spanish blood and am a millionaire in my business, I have seen and learned a lot about true and "hypocritical" Christianity and this movie tells a great story about Christians facing emotional, spiritual and financial crisis and I have faced a lot of it myself including my divorce, a violent spouse and being in a coma for two weeks almost three years ago, and this movies sums up the way to live right despite our hurts, habits and hang ups to use the "Celebrate Recovery" terminology which, though I have never had, nor do I have a drinking or drug problem, tells me how to live a Christian life despite what has come my way and this movie helps me heal further. Watch it. I have three copies and also have it on ITunes. It is an incredible story and I have been told that the man who plays the best key part is one of the Dukes of Hazard men, either Bo or Luke. I highly recommend this movie. It will do you and yours a lot of good. :)

In 1896 Charles Sheldon penned a book titled In His Steps, which has stood the test of time and remained a best seller for almost 125 years. It is from this book that the catch phrase What Would Jesus Do was coined. The book is still available today as well as WWJD paraphernalia. Despite the popularity of the book attempts to put it on the big screen has been largely unfavorable. I'm pleased to say that in my opinion this rendition is the best although they did take some literally license and changed some key parts. Why no one has made a movie true to the book is beyond me but the key element of the book, which is the challenge people face by asking themselves What Would Jesus Do when making decisions, remains intact. The book points out the difficulties of such a gesture while the movie makes it look like almost pleasurable. Still, all in all, I give this movie 4 stars due to the acting of John Schneider. Had it followed the book more closely 5 stars would have been easy.

WWJD is a movie that reminds us of our roles as Christians in today's world. We often get comfortable in our Christianity and we tend to forget the purpose of our faith. This movie helps us to remember that as Christians no faith is ever too much and we are all here for a purpose and that purpose is to serve God, to do His Work. We are called as Christians to share the faith, not only through our words, but through our actions as well. Just because we attend Sunday service does not mean we are true Christians. Our faith entails the way in which we live our lives. When we see someone in need are we helping them or just pushing them away? WWJD reminds us that we are one body united in Christ to help one another, not just fellow Christians but everyone.

This is a great movie depicting so many of today's attitudes that people have toward other people. It gives us so much to think about in our daily lives as we come in contact with people. Who knows? We may be interacting with an angel on Earth.John Schneider did a wonderful job portraying his role in this film. It made me realize that I need to think about how I react to people and how I need to make decisions in my life. That is, to always ask myself before making a decision, "What Would Jesus Do?" If I do this I will not only make the right decision, but also be following God's will for my life.Wonderful move!! Please make some more movies of this caliber!!!