Another Noah Article
So maybe I’m a little late getting into this whole discussion about Noah, but I woke up yesterday morning, checked my email, and just as I was sending a particular email to my trash, its title caught my eye, causing me to go back to my deleted items to get a better look at it.
“Three reasons Christians should avoid the movie Noah.” Sent from the American Family Association (AFA). Quoted in this email, was leading creationist and president of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham.
My heart sank while my blood started pulsating. Not sure if it’s biologically possible, but that’s what it felt like. My first thought was, “What the heck. Are you serious?”
Up until yesterday, whenever people brought up the Noah movie, I settled with simply shaking my head and laughing it off. Of course I had my opinions, but I didn’t think it was worth getting into it. If people preferred to stay ignorant and rally with the whole “boycott Noah” thing, that was their loss. However, after seeing these three “reasons” that the AFA deemed justifiable to send out an email telling people not to watch the movie, I think it is worth getting into. As if Christians of this century are not close-minded enough; we do not need emails like this further promoting childish and pharisaic behavior. Here are the reasons provided and my take on them.
Reason #1: The Hollywood version is heretical doctrine. Even its producer, avowed atheist Darren Aronofsky, admits his movie is “the least biblical biblical film ever made.”
Ok. So… first off, it’s Hollywood. Shouldn’t that say enough? The producer himself… admitted? It sounds more like a statement—a bold declaration—than an admission to me. So the producer himself stated that that it is not biblical. That means that there is no doctrine involved, and therefore cannot in any way be considered heretical. Did they ever claim that this interpretation of Noah is the one true depiction? That the narrative found in Genesis should be disregarded? Never. Not once. Why then, are we so surprised/outraged by the production? To expect Aronofsky to produce a Christian themed film would be expecting him to go against his atheistic beliefs. Why would he do that? Just because the movie is based on a biblical account does not mean that its end product must remain sacred. Even though we believe the Bible to be the inerrant and living Word of God, we should not forget that it is also and always will be a historical text. Noah may be a biblical character, but more than that, he is a historical figure. If we want to stick to our claim that the Bible is the truth, we must be willing to share our biblical characters with the rest of the world, as they are not mere characters, but real people who actually walked the face of this earth.
Throughout the centuries, countless books, plays, movies etc. have been written/made based on historical accounts or legends, all with their own unique spins to them. Sound familiar? It’s called historical fiction. Just think: how many versions of Robin Hood or Cinderella are there? This is what story-tellers do. They come across the basic framework of a story and see it as an opportunity to allow their creative imaginations to fill in the rest of the details. Some prefer to stick closer to the original text, while others see a different potential, snatch up the challenge, and run with it. It’s really not that big a deal. Like, seriously. People need to chillax.
Reason #2: Christians and non-Christians will be deceived. It distorts the godly character of Noah. (Noah gets the idea to build the ark from a magic potion, rather than from God.)
This reason struck me particularly hard. Christians and non-Christians will be deceived? By a Noah who: 1) had a wizard-ish grandfather who craved berries, 2) built the ark with the help of some strange, rock-like versions of Treebeard, and 3) trudged around with an axe waiting to kill his own grandbabies? I won’t deny it’s messed up. Maybe even to the point of being kinda funny. In a weird, creepy way. But deceptive? The story of Noah is so well known and beloved that deception is hardly a danger. It’s probably safe to say that most, if not all, children who are brought up in Christian homes will know the story of Noah well before they are able to walk. While non-Christians may not know the details of the story very well, most are probably able to logically deduce that the Noah movie is not quite like the account found in the Christian Bible. (Like. Come on. Magic potion?)
A dangerous and deceptive movie would be one that actually follows the original text close enough to be believable, but with minor yet detrimental tweaks here and there. The fact that this movie is so far-fetched creates a buffer zone around the Genesis account, as people will know that it is unlikely to be true, or at least, begin to question its historical and/or biblical accuracy. Case in point: I went to watch the movie with three friends and I was the only one who didn’t read Genesis 6-10 and/or conduct some research on it that very night before going to bed. If anything, the movie is driving Christians back to Scripture to freshen their memories. Not to mention, it serves as a wonderful opportunity for Christians to be able to talk to their non-Christian friends about the biblical account in comparison to the movie (preferably in a factual and collected manner). Simply stated, if we are unable to trust our Christian brothers and sisters to know their theology well enough so as not to be deceived by this movie, the problem that needs to be addressed is the lack of education in our churches and not the movies Hollywood is producing and will continue to produce.
Reason #3: “Noah” was designed to be entertainment, rather than an inspirational film. In short, it's just plain Hollywood.
Um. Ok? What’s the point? Again, did they ever claim to be an inspirational film? Nope. Of course it’s designed to be entertainment! It’s… duh. Hollywood. But what does “just plain Hollywood” mean? Although we may not agree with Hollywood on many, many issues, we cannot deny that this multibillion dollar industry is one that exudes artistic creativity. Creativity that people like you and me can only dream of. Creativity that was bestowed upon men by—ahem!—“The Creator” (Ha! Noah pun totally intended).
If I know one thing about film-making, it is that no movie is made without a motive—an underlying message. Who are we to disregard these people’s artistic genius by dismissing them as “just plain Hollywood?” Do we not benefit from the entertainment they produce? (Yeap. You read that right. Christians can enjoy entertainment. I promise we won’t get struck by lightning.) Although I am in no way advocating the many Hollywood discrepancies not worth mentioning here, there is absolutely nothing wrong with appreciating the beauty and brilliance behind this form of human expression even if we are unable to agree with the message.
By watching movies—the ones we agree with and especially the ones we disagree with—we acquaint ourselves with concepts and mindsets foreign to us, thus expanding our boundaries of relatability with those outside the Christian bubble. We place ourselves in the know so that when the subject arises, we know first-hand what we are up against, rather than try to blindly make a case with the little information we managed to glean from reviews and blogs (if at all). Unless you are a child and/or unable to process a slightly higher level of rational thought, avoidance as a method of self-preservation will only lead to ignorance and subsequently, a terrible misrepresentation of Christianity and more importantly, Christ. We like to say we live by the phrase “to be in but not of the world,” but while not enough emphasis is place on in, too much is often placed on not of. What we fail to recognize is that in order to be not of the world, we first have to be in it. Just think, Jesus, tax collectors, prostitutes… you know what I’m getting at.
Finally, I would like to briefly address Ken Ham’s article that was referenced in the email. As one who holds Ken Ham is high regard, I was especially dismayed by his pronouncement: “Noah” is an insult to Bible-believing Christians, an insult to the character of Noah and, most of all, an insult to the God of the Bible.
Again, my question is why? Why take offense? Why are we so easily insulted? Our God is bombarded with offenses and insults way worse than this every day. But guess what? He can handle it! He doesn’t pout and get offended every time He gets attacked. He’s bigger than that. We don’t need to take offense for Him. Jesus already warned us that we will face persecution. We should expect it and deal with it accordingly—in love and not by retaliation.
While many Christians may think that taking the defensive stance on matters that could possibly pose threat to Christianity is them “standing firm,” the sad reality is that almost every time we are given the opportunity to face opposition with grace and dignity—to turn the other cheek and demonstrate Christ-likeness which will in turn disarm whatever stands against us—we shoot it down by making mountains out of molehills. We huddle together and whimper and whine, then lash out and hurry back to safety. For some reason, living in a society where claiming our “God-given rights” seems to be an attractive trend has given us the misconstrued idea that freedom and fighting for what’s right is equivalent to frantically protecting what’s familiar and holding up a shield of hostility towards anything unfamiliar.
Instead of using our freedom to shine in the darkness, we have developed a kind of mob mentality to just go with the Christian crowd. While under the impression that we are being “good Christians,” we have and coddled ourselves into cowardice and ignorance. With each controversy that comes up, the Christians’ inability to respond rather than react to the situation has only defined and redefined the unattractive stereotype of white-washed, tunnel-visioned Christendom. In the case of Noah, the immature overreaction from the Christian community is ultimately far more damaging than the movie itself.