Posted on 03/27/2014 12:35:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
by Ed Stetzer
March 3, 2014
The following post is a guest post from Dr. Jerry Johnson.
Jerry A. Johnson, Ph.D., is President & CEO of National Religious Broadcasters (NRB). He's a theologian who has taught on cinema and theology.
This post is about the March 28, 2014 movie Noah. I interviewed Jerry about the film last week at the NRB meeting. In that interview, he mentioned asking Paramount to add a disclaimer and they just did (see the bottom of this post).
Last Friday, Jerry shared five positives of Noah, and today he's sharing five negatives.
Here are some of Jerry's well-informed thoughts.
Note: Spoilers ahead, including the fact that there is a big flood and only a few people make it through the flood in a big boat. But, really, these are big spoilers... so don't complain if you read on.
Finally, this is part analysis and part review. There is stuff in the film that is not in the Bible (gasp!) and you are about to find out if you read on... and then there is opinion about how it has handled.
From someone who has actually seen it.
Noah's main character does not ring true...
The environmental agenda is overdone...
The theistic evolution scene will be a concern for many...
The Nephilim concept seems convoluted...
Secondary biblical details are blurred...
read full article
http://www.christianitytoday.com/eds..._campaign=2013
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
It’s a product from Hollyweird. What else do we need to know?
Here’s a spoiler for you, according to the one who viewed the film...
Aronofsky’s Noah becomes so disturbed by human sinfulness that he obsesses on the idea that the race should not survive. God must be using the hero’s family just to save the animal kingdom and then mankind will die out. If his son’s wife has a baby girl, Noah announces a plan to take that life to prevent the human race from going forward. Later, with Noah’s knife raised over twin daughters you sense a composite, Noah mixed with a bit of Abraham and going crazy.
It sounds AWFUL!!!!
Thank you. You confirmed what I have heard from other sources.
Had they followed the Scriptures the movie would have been a hit.
Only five?
“They just made a typo on the lead character’s name...”
Good one!
Here’s another spoiler:
While showing images of war, violence, theft, and sexual sin, the main evil of humankind according to Noah is the abuse of the environment. Man has been guilty of a scorched earth policy brought about by primitive industrialization, resulting in apocalyptic scenery reminiscent of the Mad Max trilogy. Think Global Warming.
Here’s one aspect of the film right out of Marvel comic Books....
There are characters called — The Watchers.
Here’s the “CliffsNotes” summary:
The “Watchers” helped mankind with technology; humans abused it for evil; God cursed the angels for this and turned them into rock giants; these fallen angels help Noah build and defend the ark; when they die in the battle against the bad guys, the mysterious beings go up to heaven.
Whew! You have to see this—not to believe it.
Movie makers are very odd.
The Bible stories, by any literary standard, are among the most compelling ever told. So the producers of these movies change them all around.
It is possible, IMO, to tell a story from the Bible simply as a story, without having to necessarily disclose that you do or do not believe in its literal truth. Nobody really thinks Peter Jackson believes the LOTR actually happened, but he still told Tolkien’s story with a great deal of respect for the source material.
Why is it so hard for moviemakers to treat Bible stories with similar respect?
I think they made a strategic mistake by waiting too long for its US debut. And they made an even greater mistake when the director chimed in by saying he wants to sell the movie to non-believers more than believers.
That pretty well removed the blinders, that the intention of the movie is to resell Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, with just a tenuous mask of religiosity nailed to it.
I’m surprised that they didn’t show the people dying because they didn’t have universal health care.
OMG!!! Bill Bennett’s boss at Salem Radio said it was a GREAT film!!! This movie does NOT sound like it’s Biblical!!
Why would anyone want to see that?
Why is it so hard for you to accept that they are raping the Bible to attack Christianity and repel non-believers and enable contempt for Christians?
The producer said his intent was to reach non-believers more than believers. Don't you see that this is what he meant? He wants to do his utmost to keep people from becoming Christians, so he made this mockery of Noah and turned it into a global warming horror story to program idiot liberals and their children while at the same time grossly mischaracterizing Christianity.
You're looking at evil, FRiend.
“Why is it so hard for moviemakers to treat Bible stories with similar respect?”
Yes, good point
One thing missing....
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Emma Watson’s boobs?
Wouldn’t that be “two things?”
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