This show kind of reminds me of the Touched by an Angel series (1994-2003) that was popular among members of my baby boomer generation, as well as my parents generation.
In God Friended Me, Hall plays a character named Miles Finer, who is an outspoken atheist living in New York City. He declares himself to be the Millennial Prophet and uses his radio podcast as a platform to challenge God's existence. He is constantly reminding his audience there is no God and that's OK. Then all of a sudden he starts receiving friend requests on Facebook from someone identifying themselves as “God.”
Miles initially deletes the requests thinking someone is playing a joke on him or as the young folks like to say, "he is being catfished." But “God” is persistent, and Miles finally accepts his friend request. "God" then starts suggesting friends to Miles on Facebook—first someone named “John Dove”, who happens to coincidentally rush by him on the street at that moment and whose life he ends up saving. Then there's “Cara Bloom” a budding young journalist who needs a "sensational story" to keep her job.
As the series begins to evolve, you learn that Miles is estranged from his father who just happens to be a preacher. With the help of a friend, who just happens to know how to hack into computers, Miles is able to track down an IP address to determine the location of "God" and they found him in New Jersey! Or maybe they didn't.....because the identity of the person connected to the IP address has yet to be revealed. Is this an elaborate hoax, or is God real and working through Facebook to challenge Miles’s unbelief?
God Friended Me is just the kind of show Millennials should watch. I can just imagine how many of them would view such a request, especially since a study by the Pew Research Center indicates 63 percent of men and 37 percent of women (between the ages of 18-29) say they don't believe in God. Another Pew survey indicated:
- Belief in the God of the Bible declines with age.
- Those under age 50 viewed God as less powerful and less involved in earthly affairs than do older Americans.
- Among college graduates, only 45 percent believe in the God of the Bible.
Perhaps God Friended Me will change some more Millennial minds and hearts this season.
A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh--Ezekiel 36-26.
