WARNING SPOILERS!
The Fault in Our Stars is a film about a cancer patient named Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) who is trying to cope with her inevitable demise. She has two wonderful and loving parents, one played by Laura Dern. Hazel aside from reading a book over and over, spends her time attending a Church Help Group for cancer patients. When this group is introduced, the leader, a Christian, is made to look like a fool who says as he rolls down a carpet with Jesus displaying an open heart, "we are stepping literally into the heart of Jesus." This Christian leader is the stereotypical Hollywood Christian stand in. He acts superficial and silly, he seems out of touch with reality and does not illicit any signs of an intellect like Martin Luther or C.S. Lewis. In another film called Easy A, the Christians are depicted this way, only more judgmental. After stepping into the literal heart of Jesus, Hazel listens with a dazed look in her eyes to the leader play "Jesus is my friend." The Audience in these scenes is meant to fill like Hazel; that heaven and Christianity is a hoax and something to be ashamed of.
At Hazel's second Church meeting, a new person attends named Augustus Walters. Immediately the two notice each other and begin flirting with their eyes. Then Augustus is called on to speak and he retells how he got cancer and sports an amputated leg. Augustus shares while standing in front of other cancer survivors that his greatest fear is of "oblivion," Hazel opines and tells Augustus to accept "oblivion." It is in this moment that Nihilism rears its head and for the rest of the film Hazel shall be Its mouthpiece.
To no one who saw the trailer or poster's surprise, Augustus and Hazel become fast friends and then lovers. Their story is very touching, as they must wrestle with their limitations and salvage the time they have together. There is something inspiring about a person who facing death chooses to love despite the inevitable fall out. One could even read a Christian message in this, for Jesus was drying from Day One, from the Cradle to the Cross, he was walking through life like Hazel: with only a limited amount of time. Unfortunately, this opportunity to speak to audiences about the afterlife and Christ is bypassed for Nihilism and Darwinism, which really are one in the same.
Augustus being the charmer that he is, decides to give Hazel her ultimate wish; the opportunity to meet and discuss her favorite book with the author, Van Houten. When Augustus and Hazel finally meet the said author, they are surprised to find an alcoholic (played by William Defoe) who sputters depressing Darwinist philosophy and tells Hazel, "you are a failure in the evolutionary process!" What a nice way to treat someone who is dying of cancer. Unfortunately, despite that the author is a drunk and spouting demeaning and depressing ideas, you are meant to agree with him because he is a brilliant author and because Hazel obviously believes what he says.
After having a less than delightful time with Van Houten, Augustus reveals to Hazel that he has cancer permeating throughout his entire body. The revelation that Augustus is dying switches the focus of pity from Hazel to him. In one moving scene, Hazel, Augustus, and his Blind Friend go to a Catholic Chapel with all the iconography, including a giant golden cross on the altar behind the pulpit. To my relief there is no mockery of the Church and Christ in the scene, but the Blind Friend does speak pervasively, which I would have found disrespectful if this was not a pre-funeral for Augustus. However, the fact that they are having a pre-funeral because Augustus is not certain if he will be present at his actual funeral in "ghost" form, shows that deep down Nihilism is what he believes, despite that he says much earlier in the film that he believes in heaven and if there is no afterlife, "what is the point?" Hazel drives home her answer to Augustus' point by saying "there is no point," by telling him in a convincing eulogy that they have lived an "infinity" according to Mathematics. While we are meant to weep at these words as Hazel tears up, it is another slap in the face towards genuine belief in Christ. Hazel is saying, as she has done throughout the film, that all we have is now and there is nothing afterwards (Nihilism+Darwinism). She is telling Augustus that he has lived his little slice of heaven with her and now he can go embrace oblivion.
I wish that I could say the contempt for Christianity and the mocking of monotheism ends there, but alas it does not. At Augustus' actual funeral, while the Priest is saying the benediction and Requiem prayers over his casket, the Author Van Houten (Defoe) appears and says "what a bunch of bull." Then when the prayer begins, Van Houten says "We need to pretend pray now." The heartfelt goodbye to Augustus turns into mocking Christianity again. This is the fine nail in the coffin, if you pardon the pun, to the anti-Christian message that pervades throughout the film. While Hazel ultimately rejects the Author and tells him to get out of her car to grieve, the viewer is left with these Satanic seeds of Nihilism.
After seeing The Fault in Our Stars, I do not recommend any Christian see it for two reasons. The first is that you will be supporting anti-Christian script writers, directors, and an anti-Christ message. Secondly, the Nihilism is powerful, the film tries to convince you that this life is all there is and could make with its witchcraft some believers stumble and turn from their faith to live like Augustus and Hazel. The sweet romantic story is but a façade covering up philosophies against faith. You may come out of the film feeling like, Carpe diem, seize the day! But it will also make you feel like Christianity is something to be ashamed of. The fault in this film is an anti-Christ message that had it been left out, would have made this the best romantic film since Gone With The Wind. What is even more sad about the fault in this story is that the author of the book upon which the film was based studied to be a chaplain and then a priest.
Many directors and writers in Hollywood have been masters at taking books that have Christian messages, and turning them into a secular-Christian bashing affair. Who can forget what they did to "A Walk to Remember." The Fault in Our Stars is just one of the many lost opportunities to tell the world about what really matters: a relationship with Jesus Christ. What could have been a chance to edify and inspire people who are facing death is instead a dark and morbid piece of Nihilism. As Christian believers we need not fear oblivion or the false philosophy of Nihilism. We are given the promise from the Apostle Paul himself that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8). When our time is finished here, we shall go to be with Christ our Lord. There in paradise, we shall find rest for our weary souls.
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