For months now, I’ve been trying to decide whether or not I would go see the movie “Noah” when it came out. I mean, anytime anyone creates any film related to the Bible, I normally want to jump off my seat and go see it.
But then, I know the director is a self-described atheist who says he had an agenda with this movie. Everyone who’s seen it, says the film’s main purpose is to condemn mankind for harming the planet. But, on the other hand, the director seemed to get the boat shape right as well as some other details. Plus, he’s also stated quite clearly that his film is the “least biblical, biblical movie ever made.” So, we’ll give him at least one point for honesty.
Still, to get to see the flood done up in Big Hollywood style, with a bigger-than-life Noah played by Russell Crowe…I vacillated.
Then, I heard that God’s name is not mentioned in the movie even once. How in the world do you tell the story of Noah without mentioning God? So, I said no way. Then, I heard that Russell Crowe does talk with the “Creator” at times, he just doesn’t call Him God. Okay…so maybe…
Finally, I heard Paramount’s ads marketed to Christians like myself on our local Christian radio station. Paramount Pictures literally had the nerve to include in their ads a line stating that the movie, in spite of its liberal adaptation of the Noah story, would create the opportunity for lots of “good conversations about the Bible.”
Since when is Paramount concerned about evangelism? Obviously, they’re not. They’re concerned with making a profit on their film. Which means they are not beneath manipulating us Christians by making it seem their film will serve as some weak evangelism tool if only we’ll shell out a few bucks to go see it.
And that decided it for me.
We Christians are not beggars. We aren’t nervously biting our fingernails, just hoping beyond hope for some non-believer to give us a fraction of a second of their time so we might have the opportunity to share the good news. Oh thank you, Hollywood for creating some ridiculous adaptation that denies most of the teachings of the actual biblical story and then throwing us a bone by saying maybe it will create a feeble opportunity to catch someone’s interest long enough to talk about the real Noah with them for a minute. And if we’re really good, if we have our fingers crossed, maybe we’ll actually get to converse for two minutes and say something about Jesus too.
No, we believers are the carriers of the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t need some silly Hollywood epic to create an “opening” for us. The world is literally flooded with brokenness that creates those openings. The Christian who doesn’t feel they have those openings either hasn’t experienced the power of God in their own life yet, or their feet are rebelliously rooted in place because they’re just not going into the world to speak with people.
So, I have to ask myself – honestly – what is the real reason I keep wanting to see this movie? Frankly, it’s just because I want to see Russell Crowe play Noah.
So, I have to ask myself another honest question. Is fulfilling that desire on my part really worth rewarding an atheist director and a manipulative movie studio for twisting Scripture to meet their taste? Wouldn’t that actually encourage Hollywood to keep taking more and more liberties with biblical adaptations? Yes, it will.
Hollywood is not stupid. They want to make money. They’ve finally understood there is money to be made in faith-based films. But they can’t yet stomach making biblically-accurate films (yet), so they’re seeing what they can get away with.
We should be sending Hollywood a clear message. We are passionate about God’s Word and will not reward a frivolous treatment of its content. Sure, some adaptation for film is understandable, but in this case, the storyline was intentionally taken as far from the Bible as possible.
We must start drawing real lines in the sand. What is the gain to us of rewarding the producers of Noah? Nothing.
What is the gain of making Noah fail? We take a step toward showing that Christians are not stupid and we will only honor those who honor God.
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Zack's Desk 