I’ve thought about comparing Oh, God! to Bruce Almighty for quite a while, but it will have to wait because I have something else in mind today.

Oh, God! raises three big questions that I think are fascinating:

• What if God spoke today?
• What if God chose a normal man to speak to?
• What if God appeared differently than we expect?

Let’s go through how it answers these questions and what implications those answers have.

What If God Spoke Today?

God says a lot of unexpected things in this film. Also, He never conforms to the way we would expect the Supreme Being to act. He says He created the Earth in one day, can’t see the future, doesn’t have a plan for our lives, thinks of Jesus Christ the same way He does about all His other children, and has a very simple message that He exists and wants us all to be kind to our fellow man.

That doesn’t sound like the God of Israel at all. But, as He notes, who are we to judge Him? It creates quite a conundrum. The fact that God is so snarky and sarcastic makes it hard to take Him seriously. And perhaps that’s the point. In this film, He is saying things that seem unbelievable according to tradition. But isn’t that His modus operandi throughout history? He has always bucked popular trends and said things that make people uncomfortable. I don’t think He would say a lot of things He is portrayed as saying in Oh, God! But I appreciate the effort to make me think outside the box.

Many people in the film consider it either a joke or blasphemy to believe that God could speak today. The film doesn’t get into the argument some make in the real world that the Bible is complete and can’t be added to. But it would be interesting to hear religious people argue with the Almighty about His supposed inability to speak anymore.

What If God Chose a Normal Man to Speak to?

A big difference between Oh, God! and Bruce Almighty is what God expects the main character to do. He doesn’t give Jerry Landers any of His power to perform miracles. Instead, He simply gives him His word. And everyone around Jerry asks the natural question: Why you?

Why would God speak to an average guy rather than the leader of a church or at least someone who already believes in Him? God tells Jerry that He could have picked someone better than him, but Jerry is a good man. Not perfect, but good. That’s an important qualification. Jerry needed to be a trustworthy man who could be believed.

There’s no personal scandal that comes out about Jerry. He’s just a regular man going about his life the best way he knows how. He is married to a good woman, is raising kids, holds down a manager job at a supermarket, and has bills to pay. It takes him a while to come around to God’s existence, but once he does, he puts his whole heart into getting the word out.

Jerry soon gets persecuted and taken to court when people don’t like what he has to say. That seems to be a common response to prophets throughout history. Sadly, God’s word through Jerry doesn’t change the world. But it does change a few minds and soften some hearts. Perhaps God can choose anyone He likes to speak for Him today, just as He did in the past.

What If God Appeared Differently Than We Expect?

What does God look like? To avoid scaring Jerry too much with His physical presence, God first only speaks to him through radios, like He did to Moses from the burning bush. But He later speaks to him face to face. He notes that that isn’t His true form, and He can appear as anything or anyone. Many in the real world believe God is incomprehensible to our human minds, so I think that’s where this idea comes from.

Yet it still begs the question: What if God appeared as a normal human being to us? Isaiah describes Jesus in Isaiah 53:2, “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

It might be easy to miss the Almighty when He hides His glory. That’s a big test of faith. Oh, God! takes an intriguing turn when Jerry appears on a talk show and describes God to a police sketch artist. The man is able to accurately draw what God looks like, leaving people in disbelief that He would appear so ordinary.

I wonder if seeing God will be a different experience, though. Not disappointing, but like a long-lost memory.

Owe God

I like these questions that Oh, God! raises. If God shared a new message today, would it be something unexpected? It might even be disconcerting at first, like the New Testament compared to the Old Testament. If He called a man to speak for Him, would He go to an experienced Rabbi or a Priest? We can look to the past to find His pattern. He would probably call someone young and inexperienced, like Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel, Simon, or a host of other imperfect but good men. And what does God look like? Will we recognize Him when we see Him?

What do you think? I think we owe God more respect than this film demands. But I still like how it challenges the status quo.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

All images are the copyright of their owner.

Want to Support the Deja Reviewer?

If you’d like to support the Deja Reviewer, please consider donating a few dollars to keep this site going strong. I’ll even send you an original joke if you do! Try it, and prepare to enjoy a good chuckle.

$5.00