Noah the Movie

                Matt Walsh described the new movie about Noah as “the most insipid, absurd, unimaginative, clumsily contrived piece of anti-Christian film making to come along….”

                Walsh also stated, “`Noah’ is a major Hollywood blockbuster, made by an atheist director best known for his previous flick where a mentally disturbed lesbian ballerina goes insane and bleeds to death on stage.  Already, a critical person might be slightly concerned about his handling of the Bible, considering what he just did to the ballet.

                “These concerns grew from suspicion to reality before it was even released, when the man himself came out publicly and professed `Noah’ to be both an environmentalist propaganda piece, and the `least Biblical’ Bible film even made.”

                I agree with Walsh’s statement that there were few comparisons between the biblical story and the movie.  Here are the similarities between the Bible version and the movie version:  1) the name Noah, 2) a family with three sons, 3) a boat, 4) lots of animals, 5) the corruption in the world, and 6) lots and lots of water.  The movie was not anywhere close to following the Bible, and there was a lot of environmentalist propaganda in it. 

                There were numerous differences between the two versions of the story; here are a few:  1) Noah did not have to guess what God wanted him to do because God told him exactly how to build the ark and how big.  God wanted Noah and his family to survive the Flood in order to repopulate the earth.  2) Noah preached repentance for about 120 years while building the ark; he wanted as many people as possible to join his family in the ark.  Apparently, no one else was interested in righteousness because they were still “eating, drinking, and marrying” when the Flood came.  3) All three of Noah’s sons were married before entering the ark.  According to the Bible version, Noah was five hundred years old when Shem, Ham, and Japheth were born and was six hundred years old when the Flood came; therefore, the sons were at least one hundred years old, not children and teenagers.  4) Noah was a righteous man who would not commit murder.  5) There was no need for rock monsters to help and protect Noah; God was watching over him.  6) There were no stowaways on the ark.

                I consider the movie to be a giant work of fiction based loosely on a great truth – with the emphasis on loosely.  I do not recommend the movie unless you have a firm knowledge of what the Bible teaches about Noah and cannot be shaken from that knowledge.  I would hate for anyone to see the movie and lose their faith in the Bible.  I do not recommend that you take your little children or allow your teenagers to watch the movie.  You will not miss anything if you choose to stay away from this movie and will save a bunch of money.

                I know that Noah was a prophet of God, a man who walked and talked with God and whom God described as “righteous.” I believe that the most important idea we can take from the experience of Noah is to listen to God and be willing to follow His instructions no matter what else happens.  In a very real sense, we are each building our own “arks” right now.  Are we listening to God as Noah did - or are we not?  We should all ask ourselves, will my ark preserve my eternal life?