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With the release of its new biblical blockbuster Noah, Hollywood has once again proven it knows all too well the secret of the one animal singled out for greatest contempt among all the different species identified as non-kosher. Do you know why the pig has always been the personification of the forbidden food we are most warned against consuming? The rabbis explain it’s because every other animal that is not kosher lacks the two signs, split hooves and chewing its cud, that are both necessary to identify it as permissible. A cow is an example of an animal that fulfills...

But the movie crossed the line for me when it became clear that Moses believed the Creator’s mission was to wipe out humanity so that the Earth could be restored to its pristine innocence, a world with animals, but without mankind, the kind of hyper-environmentalism we have come to expect from Hollywood. And that Noah believed the Creator was asking him not only to make a huge boat to save the animals, but also to murder his own grandchildren so that no women would remain to procreate, ensuring the demise of the human race. In the end, with his knife...

Part of this year’s Lenten discipline for many religious people has been to see two bad religious movies, “Noah” and “God’s Not Dead.” Both left me longing for the comparative moral simplicity and integrity of “The Wolf of Wall Street.” In “Noah,” the main character is a brooding, misanthropic vegan. One hopes that Russell Crowe, a fine actor, does not end up being typecast a la Charlton Heston. There just aren’t many parts for brooding, misanthropic vegans. The movie itself consists of tedium punctuated by anachronism, sanctimony and animated rock people. It contains just enough spiritual pretention to make you...

The new film "Noah" stars Russell Crowe as the man chosen by God to collect pairs of Earth's animals on a massive ark to save them from a global flood. The film, which opened March 28, is sizing up to be a Biblical blockbuster, replete with star power and stunning special effects. But how realistic is it? While many people consider the story of Noah's Ark merely an instructive myth or parable about God's punishment for man's wickedness, others believe that the story is historically accurate. To them, Noah's tale describes events that really happened only a few thousand years...

The world of Aronofsky’s Noah is a thoroughly Gnostic one: a graded universe of “higher” and “lower.” The “spiritual” is good, and way, way, way “up there” where the ineffable, unspeaking god dwells, and the “material” is bad, and way, way down here where our spirits are encased in material flesh. This is not only true of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, but of fallen angels, who are explicitly depicted as being spirits trapped inside a material “body” of cooled molten lava. Admittedly, they make pretty nifty movie characters, but they’re also notorious in Gnostic speculation....

Dr. Brian Mattson, a theologian with a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen who now serves as Senior Scholar of Public Theology for the Center for Cultural Leadership, has written a scathing review of Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" that takes special aim at the numerous Christian leaders who endorsed a film "direct from Kabbalist and Gnostic sources" that has zero to do with the Bible. "This was a thoroughly pagan retelling of the Noah story direct from Kabbalist and Gnostic sources," Mattson writes.

The Bible has long been a rich source of story ideas for filmmakers, and recently released movies like Son of God and Noah suggest that the biblical epic genre is far from exhausted. There are many reasons why filmmakers continue to make movies based on biblical stories. The Bible’s familiar stories feature larger-than-life characters, plenty of action, and time-tested storylines. However, from the film producer’s perspective, the primary reason why films based on biblical stories continue to be made is that these films are consistently able to make money. Darren Aronofsky’s interpretation of the biblical story of Noah opened last...

Where the numerous Christian leaders who endorsed the film really got fooled, though, was in assuming Aronofsky's "Noah" had anything to do with God of the Old Testament or the Bible. It doesn't. "Noah" is really about "The Creator," a completely different being according to Gnostics, and an evil one. If Aronosfsly's "god" seemed a little anti-human to some of us, here's why: Except that when Gnostics speak about “The Creator” they are not talking about God. Oh, here in an affluent world living off the fruits of Christendom the term “Creator” generally denotes the true and living God. But...

* * * (Spoiler alert: I’m not sure if it’s possible to spoil the story of Noah’s ark, but be forewarned…)A great debate is taking place amongst Christians this week. The topic? Whether or not to go see the new Noah movie, starring Russell Crowe. If this sounds like a joke, it’s not. In fact, it may be a realization that pop culture matters.Sides are being chosen. HotAir’s Ed Morrssey calls it “a mess,” while Steven D. Greydanus says it’s “deeply serious.” RedState’s Erick Erickson mocked the film on Twitter (his blog post is a bit more nuanced), while cultural...

As I have often noted, the most dynamic and influential religion of the past hundred years has not been Christianity, let alone Judaism, the two religions that created the Western world. Nor has it been Islam. It has been Leftism. Leftism has influenced the literary, academic, media, and, therefore, the political elite far more than any other religion. It has taken over Western schools from elementary through graduate. For most of that time, various incarnations of Marxism have been the dominant expressions -- and motivators -- of Leftism: specifically, income redistribution, material equality and socialism. They are still powerful...

Noah. don't bother, painful experience. major beef with the movie is just the twisted plot. crazy long, the two kids sitting behind me long about 2 hours in totally lost it. i didn't blame them. drags on and on. basically a bunch of time up front in the movie doing what exactly? not sure, Noah and family wander around eating moss and stuff, they don't eat meat, thats evil. those that eat meat will be destroyed by the Creator. ok fine, accept that in the movie and move on, but its weird. the meat eater theme continues throughout. as does...

It wasn't so long ago that conservative Christians believed Hollywood to be evil and some preachers instructed their congregations not to go to movies lest they be tempted beyond their ability to resist. Now Christians are debating film content. That's progress of a sort. The main complaint from critics of the film "Noah," which opened last Friday with an impressive opening day take of an estimated $44 million in ticket sales, is that it doesn't accurately reflect the rather slim biblical account in Genesis. Here's some breaking news for the critics: Noah didn't speak English, as Russell Crowe does in...

On Friday, my wife and I had a very rare date night. Naturally, we decided to spend it being pummeled by the blaring condescension of the most insipid, absurd, unimaginative, clumsily contrived piece of anti-Christian filmmaking to come along since, well, probably just last week. In fact, if I learned anything from Noah, it’s this: despite popular perception, you can often judge a book by its cover. Also, giant deformed rock monsters make for awkward supporting characters. We’ll meditate on that second item in a moment, but it’s the first point that should be especially emphasized. Christians: you’ll hear people...

"Some Christian leaders and Pastors have been making some pretty big leaps to actually recommend that Christians not only embrace Darren Aronofsky’s Noah movie but pay to see it. A couple of such articles I have read include one written exclusively for ChristianPost.com by John Snowden, the Biblical Consultant to filmmakers on the 'Noah' movie And another by Phil Cooke titled Why I'm Recommending Christians See the Movie "Noah" Many tweets by supporters have echoed some of the main points in those two articles so I will focus on Mr. Cooke’s article. Before the film was released, these leaders contended...

AMAZING. Hollywood just killed God, and almost no critic noticed how it quietly slipped a green human-hater in his place. I never thought you could make a two-hour film about Noah and his ark without mentioning “God” even once, but director Darren Aronofsky has managed it in his $142 million epic, which opened last week. His Noah, played by a muttering Russell Crowe, prays to a different deity, a much nastier one called “the creator” who seems to brood on global warming. Hey, what a coincidence! So does Aronofsky, who last year declared, “climate change as an enemy of the...

Noah has topped the box office, but the opening weekend is about marketing dollars. At a production budget of over $125 million and poor audience responses, Paramount had to put some serious money into promotion.Reportedly that may be something in the $50 – $75 million range on marketing to get people to see Noah. That’s short of its weekend box office total which is likely to be under $50 million.But while you can get audiences to show up for the opening weekend, you can’t make them like it.Cinemascore’s rating for Noah is a C. That’s the worst movie they have...

The movie Noah has ironically spawned a flood of hullabaloo, eh? Personally, heretofore, I haven’t seen the flick, but I plan on watching it this Sunday. Yes, I said it. I’m going to check it out even though I’ve been warned by the brethren not to because it isn’t "biblical". I guess I’ll have to wear a disguise so my more persnickety readers won’t recognize me. I think I’ll go as Carrot Top. That’ll toss them off my scent trail. Now, when the anti-biblical criticisms began to fly against this pic in its ramp-up for release, I was like, “You...

Does the movie resemble the actual Noah story enough to establish credible points of contact? No, it does not. The director himself has acknowledged that his rendering of Noah is like a midrash—an ancient method of interpreting scripture involving ahistorical embellishments. As far as midrash is concerned, Noah is the midrashiest midrash that ever was midrashed. Aronofsky’s Noah is nothing like the biblical Noah, the only righteous man on the planet. More seriously, Aronofsky’s god is nothing like the biblical God, a long-suffering sovereign who graciously condescends to reveal Himself and His plans to Noah and to save Noah and...

Hollywood Movie 'Noah' starring Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins premiere in the theaters on March 28. The movie has largely received negative reviews from Christian audiences because of the liberty that director Darren Aronofsky took to veer from the Biblical text. Just before the debut of the Hollywood movie, Ray Comfort, President of the Living Waters Publications, released a biblical version of the Noah movie on Youtube to warn about God's judgement of the last days. Comfort said he wants to provide another option for the Christian viewers. The 30-minute documentary entitled Noah-- And the Last Days was released on...

Estimates for Darren Aronofsky‘s Noah are now anywhere from $41M to $44.6M based on a strong $15M Friday box office. I wondered while writing the box office last night if Southern CA audiences watching the film when the earthquake hit got a little seasick thinking how realistic the special effects were. Noah (PAR) was playing like a mainstream movie when it opened, but that bump indicates that it had some cross-over from the faith-based audiences which continue to keep God’s Not Dead in business. noahmovieAlthough based on the Biblical story, Noah doesn’t mention the name God once – how funny...