Ok, good morning. Last night I went to see Noah by film director Darren Aronofsky. I really wanted to keep an open mind about this movie until I personally watched it. The movie is artistically an interesting view. Many of the scenes are brilliant in color and astonishing to watch. Russell Crowe is a very talented actor and I have always admired his work. And there were several moments that helped me to see into the life of Noah that I might not have had the opportunity to do so had I not saw the movie. The tremendous faith it took to build an ark, convincing his family that he had heard from God, the pressure of public ridicule, and the enormous task are just a few points the movie brilliantly brings out. However, I must say that I am very disappointed in Paramount Pictures blatant lies to save their hide monetarily. I am equally as disappointed in Phil Cook, Gabe Lyons, the Vice President of The American Bible Society, and a leader at the Salvation Army. To say that this movie stays with the Biblical narrative is an outright lie. I have no problem with seeing Noah through the eyes of an environmentalism, or with creative license, the addition of characters, etc., But when you make a man that the Bible says was blameless, Righteous, a Man who walked with God inot a murderer, a person who hates humans, contemplates killing two babies just born, I have to say, enough. The bad guys in the movie are those that eat meat. The debauchery that caused the flood was more from those who ate meat than those who took human life. It did imply that men were out of control with rape (which is true to the Hebrew words of Genesis). But the true evil of this society was not how they treated one another (and the move does elude to this at times) but how we treat our animals. Noahs sons had a love hate relationship with their father. One even betrays him on the ark while the other has built a boat on the ark to float away from Noah in which he Noah burns! Tub-bal Cain, a man mentioned in Genesis 4:22 hijacks his way onto the ark, hides with the animals with one of Noahs sons being his accomplice! Tub-Bal Cains greatest evil ( and he is a very evil man in this movie) is not his atrocities agains humanity but animals. His greatest sin is when he kills one of the animals on the ark in the name of the dominion of man. Which I might add in balance is a clear doctrine of Scripture! The only clear scriptural reference is Tubal Cains rant about the potential power of man, Gods crowing achievement. Yet, his rant is placed in a scene of great evil, thus causing his truthful, biblical statements to be seen in light as a horrible expression of evil. The one person that speaks of the grace of God on humanity is a little girl who is picked up by accident by Noah and his family. Her expression of grace to men is at the end of the movie and that is exactly my problem with this movie. Noah hates humans. He loves the created animals and believes firmly that The Creator (The name of God or Lord is never mentioned although it can be found over 23 times in the short chapters about Noah) sees the animals as the innocent ones. I love animals. I believe all believers should embrace the tender care of the environment because God gave us this world to steward, HOWEVER, animals do not have a soul knowing right from wrong. God built an ark to save people whom HE LOVED. Noah preached for 120 years in righteousness (2 Peter 3) because he cared for people. This picture butchers the theology of Noah to a point that it was almost hilarious to me as I watched this movie. In Genesis 6: 4 a race of giants are mentioned. The movie takes a creative license and turns them into rocks that look like transformers! Even as ridiculous as this may sound, thats ok, its Hollywood. American is biblically illiterate and I am talking about those that attend church :) I wonder if people really know the truth of Scripture well enough to even understand where this movie goes so wrong. So this movie could become a decent place to start a conversation about the real truth of the story of Noah. And at CCC that is what we will use this movie to do as we see it together April 7, 2014. Paramount however, knowingly, willingly has tried to deceive the Christian community. This story does NOT even come CLOSE to trying to follow the narrative of Genesis. And they know it. Paramount executives and Darren Aronofsky have been arguing with each other for a year over this issue. Paramount knew the movie was flawed in staying with the biblical record. That is the very reason they tried to fool the Pope and use him for a publicity stunt. And the reason that the trailer for this movie stays that the leaders in this movie believe that it stays true to the original story. I dont know what is more sad. Being lied to because of greed or knowing its possible that they really believed that statement! If your looking for a movie to see then Noah might be a good one to go watch. It is after all brilliantly stunning at times. The problem is the story. Its way to familiar in the minds of Christians, Jews, and Muslims to deviate from what all three of us call a great Man of Faith. Paramount and Aronofsky butcher the concept of Noah as a righteous man and one who walked with God. They do so because they do not know how to take a text in context, a basic principle of Hermeneutics. Looking at the Genesis account of Noah without taking in consideration the Whole Story of Redemption will cause you to mis-read the story of Noah. And because of this story being so familiar it is extremely hard to digest the blatant rape of Noahs character, his love for humanity and animals (You see we are not made to chose in the Bible, we can have a healthy love for booth) the movie makes us chose). God said it a was ALL GOOD. Noah was not perfect yet he was not a murdering human hating psychopath, guilting of contemplating infanticide, clueless of grace towards fallen humanity. He clearly understood the ark as a ark of safety for humanity and the created environment. This movie only sees the Creators love for the creation not those created in His Image. A phrase that is often spoken of in this movie in repetitive negative terms. I love movies. I think Aronofsky is a brilliant film maker. He is certainly not a theologian and that too is ok. But to those who are and to the Christian community that knows their Bible we can not and must not close our eyes or sale out to a culture in hopes that by accident maybe someone will come a little closer to Christ. The way one comes closer to Christ is certainly a discussion amongst a loving community of people discussing the truth of Scripture. Aronofsky is correct that God does expect kindness from humanity. Yet, my job is to speak truth in love to those who dont know the truth. So when a movie blatantly butchers the precious truth of Noahs character and psyche, its time to speak up even if we might become a moral irritation to a world that has turned into the the very people of Noahs day (Matthew 24). So use this move with caution. Enjoy it as predominately fiction. And lets do hope that it could start a great conversation to talk about real faith, real men who somehow managed to walk with God very well in a very corrupt society. What we need to do in the Christian community is to tell the real story and not hide behind acceptance of a culture that distorts it with an agenda. I am not trying to keep anyone from seeing this movie. After all I am taking a lot of people to see it myself as a tool to discover the real truth of Noah. I am asking you to help me set the story straight to millions of people who might now see a God who hates humans. He doesnt hate humans He HATES the SIN that has destroyed HIS HUMANS. So please forward this post and share it with your loved ones so they might see the truth of this story as they watch it on the big screen!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:52:07 +0000
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