“When I hear people say ‘I lost faith,’ I picture them giving up.”
But Paul Asher hasn’t completely given up on his faith just yet.
Although he’s confused and broken, Paul, the leading character in ‘An Interview with God,’ is still trying to find a reason to believe.
The Christian film, An Interview with God (2018), is built on a fascinating premise – and one that many people, Christians and otherwise, might wish to step into.
Paul Asher is a journalist who has just returned to the United States after reporting on the war in Afghanistan. He’s struggling to readjust to normal life when he receives a mysterious offer – a man claiming to be God wants to give him a personal interview.
As a journalist, and as a Christian who’s grappling with the nature of his faith, Paul can’t refuse.
It’s clear from the very start, however, that this interview won’t be quite what he envisioned.
The interviewee — an elderly man in a simple gray suit, sitting at a chessboard in the park — turns Paul’s own questions back on him with baffling responses and dry humor.
“Why did you agree to do this interview?” Paul asks.
“I talk to my children all the time,” the man tells him.
This profoundly simple answer catches Paul off guard.
Trying to keep his position as the interviewer, Paul begins asking routine questions about the man’s background, but even those are quickly turned into a conversation on creation, the nature of time, and what it means to actually know God.
Growing more and more frustrated with the man’s nebulous answers, Paul finally blurts out, “So, we struggle here on Earth to know you, but I assume you know all the questions and all the answers.”
It’s a passing observation, but one that most viewers can certainly identify with.
As Christians, it can be hard to reconcile our many questions with the fact that God knows all the answers, yet doesn’t often share them with us.
“Of course,” agrees the man. God knows the answers to all our questions, he asserts, but they often look quite different from what we imagine.
With that, Paul dives into the tough questions. “What is the meaning of life? What do I tell the people who say you don’t exist? Is God love?”
The answers he receives are not only biblically sound, but deeply touching as well.
“To live, to struggle, to serve God… You tell them that I understand, but the world they see is just that. Sometimes that’s just the way it looks… He doesn’t boast, but yes, absolutely.”
The exchange is clever and amusing, but then the man suddenly brings up the one question that Paul really wants to ask.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
It’s a question we have all asked at one point or another, and yet in this moment, Paul finds himself afraid of the answer.
Already struggling with PTSD from his time overseas, he’s crippled by a burden of guilt and shame.
“I know about your marriage,” the mysterious man says.
Paul immediately freezes.
Since returning to the United States, as viewers later learn, his marriage has been falling apart. Paul wants to mend his relationship with his wife, Sarah, but just can’t find the strength.
More than anything, he wants to believe in God’s goodness and faithfulness, but it’s hard when he’s seen so much pain in others’ lives and his own.
As his conversation with this strange man continues, Paul begins to confront his own doubts about faith and his deep desire for answers. When the conversation turns to salvation, he finally confesses the feelings that have been silently consuming him.
An Interview with God is masterfully written and acted. The film touches on a staggering number of important topics, both social and personal, and treats them all honestly, but gracefully.
Paul’s journey closer to God is genuine and captivating, although the film does leave some open-ended questions.
Above all, the film asks the audience: What does it mean to believe?
“Faith isn’t something you can just have…because faith isn’t the goal,” says the enigmatic man who claims to be God. “Faith is the process.”
The process of what having faith looks like drives the film’s climax—and the emotional conclusion at the end. (Which we won’t spoil for our readers!)
So, you won’t want to miss Paul’s final words with God! Find your copy today.
Due to mature themes referenced throughout the story, this movie is best suited for audiences of young adults and older.
