Evan Almighty

Lessons from the Movie

"Evan Almighty"

Notes by Stephen M. Golden

The movie “Evan Almighty” has some amazing quotes about God and our relationship with Him that transcend what one would normally expect coming from Hollywood. First, I think the name of the movie is unfortunate because “Evan Almighty” does not express anything about the movie at all. It's a complete non-sequitur. Evan does not consider himself almighty. God does not consider him to be almighty. Perhaps a better title would have been "Evan the Chosen." In any case, here are some notes I took watching the movie that I thought were interesting especially considering that it came from Hollywood.

For most quotes I included a time stamp. I didn't get the time stamp for all the quotes, but they are all in sequence.

Joan (Wife): (To Evan) “I prayed that we would become closer as a family” [This is important at 01:01:30]

00:16:00

Baxter: (to God) “Do I know you?”

God: “Not as well as I’d like.”

00:17:40

Baxter: (screams in surprise seeing God in the rear-view mirror)

God: “Let it out, Son. It’s the beginning of Wisdom.”

[Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…"]

00:20:20

God: (During pledge of allegiance) One nation under me…

00:32:00

God: “You wanted to change the world, Son? So do I.”

Baxter: (incredulously asking about the flood) You wouldn’t do that. Not again. Would you?

God: “Let’s just say, whatever I do, I do because I love you.”

00:32:36

Baxter: This whole ark thing doesn’t fit into my plans

God: (Laughing hysterically) Your plans? That’s a… (laughs more)

Baxter: I don’t even know where I would begin

God: Well, I hear that a lot. People want to change the world, don’t know how to begin.

…

“One act of random kindness at a time”

[I believe the statement would be better without the word random, or better yet, with the word intentional instead. Random kindness lacks intent. God wants us to be intentional.]

God: “Build the ark. You build it; I’ll fill it; and if anyone asks, just tell ‘em ‘flood’s coming.’”

[The whole beard and clothing thing was God’s means of forcing him to

1. Believe it was really happening, and

2. Go through with the plan of building the ark.

God had to make him uncomfortable to get him to do it—just like he has to do with us sometimes.]

01:01:30

Joan: “My husband says God told him to do it. What do you do with that?

God: “Sounds like an opportunity. …If someone prays for a family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunity to love each other?”

01:06:45

Reporter: “What makes you think God chose you?”

Baxter: “He chose all of us.”

01:13:30

Joan: “Honey, Maybe God didn’t mean a literal flood. Maybe he meant a flood of knowledge, emotion, or awareness.”

(That’s the kind of thing people say about the Genesis flood.)

01:26:00

Evan: “You actually knew didn’t you… and I fought you all the way.”

God: “Yeah, but you did it.”