Thoughts On Noah

Today I talked and listened about Noah. All day.  Seriously, all day long.  Sure I had a million other things to do, but Noah was the discussion of the day.  And if I’m not mistaken, I think it’s been the discussion for a few weeks in my world. Let me back up and get some perspective and then maybe you’ll understand why we should fight…or at least feel like fighting. Or you'll understand why I'm tired of talking about Noah. So let me get it out there then I'll shut up.

A week ago this little movie called “Noah” made its way to the screen.  Critics and Hollywood probably saw it a few weeks before last Thursday.  So naturally the buzz began.  People were writing and posting and talking about this movie.  Many had yet to see it, many had already seen it.  Mixed reviews were had by all: some love it, some hate it.  But there was talk!  There are some pretty good reads out there, and if you want to spend some time thinking and listening, I would encourage you to read reviews of both sides about Noah.  

 

When I saw the preview about a year ago, I began to get excited.  I have thought for some time that the story of Noah in Scripture is over-glamorized.  We take the awesome story of God bringing justice and mercy to the earth through destruction of all but one family and reduce it to a happy, little children’s song.  “God told Noah to build him an arkey arkey…the animals came in the arkey by twoseys twoseys…” But we forget that GOD DESTROYED THE EARTH.  Death and destruction are the pivotal point of the story.   It’s a beautiful story of hope and mercy because the world was corrupt and evil, yet God choose to begin anew with Noah, a righteous man, bringing about the salvation of mankind through Noah and then eventually through Christ.  So when I saw the previews for this movie I got excited that a realistic view was going to be shown.  Besides, a live-action film on the story of Noah has not been on the big screen since the 1920s (Wikipedia.com).  

Well, apparently the Christian community began to get excited as well.  For the past month, people have been posting their opinions about the film.  Great, share your opinions.  However, please have a basis for which those opinions lie.  Dear Christian, it hurts to see ignorant opinions thrown about.  At least wait until the film has been released to say why it is unbiblical or not.  And can I just point out that Hollywood is making a Biblical film!  If anything, be excited that the story of Scripture is becoming a source for movies, as it should be for it is the greatest story of all and the format for how storytelling begins.

Anyway, Thursday I went to see the film with some friends.  I had mixed expectations because we had been reading the buzz.  I knew a few things though:

1. The makers are not believers.
2. The story of Noah in the Bible is short. There isn’t much to it, so we knew that the writers of the film had to take some liberties. It takes about fifteen minutes to read, so naturally it would be a bit more elaborate to expand a two hour movie.
3. It was said to be dark, but we weren’t sure how dark.

Well, I think the film was great.  A bit too “Lord of the Rings-like” for me, but I enjoyed it.  (Plus I really like Russell Crowe…)  Is it my favorite movie of all time? Probably not; there are better produced movies out there.  But I still enjoyed it a great deal.

Here’s why:

1. For the most part, the liberties taken were not blasphemous, anti-God, or blatantly unscriptural.  They all pertained to inter-character relationships, which are not mentioned in the Bible.
2. I think that non-Christians are very likely to see it and start asking questions.  What’s it mean that God destroyed the earth?  Who is this Creator?  Why Noah? Etc.  Whereas a movie like God’s Not Dead or Facing the Giants appeal primarily to the Christian crowd, being a bit “too-in-your-face” for non-believers.
3. It raised good topics: In the telling of Creation, evolution is hinted at or not hinted at – it’s pretty vague, and I think that opens questions and conversation; there are many mentions to free will, which leads people to the predestination/free will debate; Noah questions why God choose him, and what to do with that responsibility, and I feel that that leads people to ask what task they are given in life and can lead to the understanding that we must do the task God calls us to.
4. It is an awesome conversation starter.  I had to re-read Genesis once I saw it to fully grasp the whole biblical truth and purpose of the Flood.  It raises lots of questions and I think people will seek truth because of the visual representation of the Flood.
5. It gives a real look at Noah as a person and what it means for God to destroy the earth.  He was dark.  And while the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that Noah was a dark person, if we think about his life, it makes sense.  He was selected to build an ark that took 120 years, watch all of humanity except his family die, and then to start over.  To spend 120 years building an ark is neurotic enough, but to add on watching destruction makes it pretty believable that he was messed up.  Which Scripture says, right?  Noah then grew a vineyard and got drunk.  If he has a drinking problem, he is probably in a dark place.

I didn’t super like:

1. The Nephilim are portrayed as “Watchers” and are weird.  The Nephilim are the “fallen angels, the warriors of old” who begin to have relations with humans and creates more wickedness among humans, one of the main reasons God sends the Flood. These are shown as rock-creatures – weird – and are given grace to help Noah and it is implied that the Creator forgives them.  The only part of it that is in Scripture is that the Nephilim were real fallen angels.  But maybe my interpretation is off, it’s a weird and confusing thing in the Bible.  One of my Old Testament Profs said that the verse about the Nephilim is the “most confusing verse in Scripture.”
2. There is a man who slips onto the ark, which is not biblical.  Only Noah’s family were saved from the Flood.
3. The story between the family is dark.  Noah threatens to kill his granddaughters because he feels that humanity should not continue.  It’s a drastic twist to show almost killing little babies, but gives a good foreshadowing-type feel to Abraham and Isaac and good insight into the questions plaguing Noah.

So what do we do with Noah?  Well, we take it as a movie. A movie.  It’s not a documentary, it’s not the Bible.  It’s one man’s interpretation of Noah.  And the man did his homework.  The ark was constructed exactly to Scripture’s specifications.  There were theologians on set helping with interpretation.

We take the movie, the questions raised and compare them to the truth.  We seek God’s Word for answers.  And then we have conversations.  I think that this tool is an awesome conversation starter.  I think that it is a great opportunity to take a friend who does not know God and have a conversation afterwards about what it means that God would destroy the entire world. 

Because in the end, the story of Noah is awesome in that it ends in hope.  God is still merciful and is creating a people for Himself.  Through Noah salvation comes, for Christ comes from the line of Noah.  Grace is shown to one family so that life may happen again and we might know the character of God and be saved.