Noah

There have been lots of mixed reviews surrounding the film Noah, particularly in the Christian community. Some are outraged at the way the story differs from that of the Bible. Others say that any film that gets people thinking about God, Creation, salvation, and eternity is a good thing.

I'm going with the latter.

While the film is not Biblically accurate, I personally didn't think it was terribly offensive. Before I saw the film I re-read the story of Noah in the Bible to see exactly what was written. Then I went into the movie knowing that this was not the actual story of Noah, that this was Hollywood's version of Noah.

I thought that it was really neat seeing the way they built the ark and how that looked. Growing up I always saw these perfect images of pretty little boats...

when really it looked more like this....

And this is the way most of those images depicted the "landing" of the ark...

when really, it probably did break in half like this...

Most of all though I liked seeing the "human" aspect of it all. The Bible doesn't elaborate much on how Noah and his family felt about being the only survivors. It merely gives a cut and dry, bare bones description of what happened. Personally, it helped me connect more to the story and think about what it really must have been like to experience and the incredible faith Noah and his family had to have. I never thought about how terrible it must have been to hear the desperate cries of those who did not survive.

But ultimately, despite the pain and heartache of this story, I can see such beauty in it all. Such beauty in a loving God who wanted to save Noah as a result of his great faith. Such beauty in God giving the world a second chance. Such beauty in his promise through the rainbow that he would never allow there to be another flood of this sort again.

I hope that believers will give the film a chance and go into it with an open mind. I hope that non-believers will be encouraged to explore more about God, his creation, salvation and eternal life made possible through Jesus Christ. I feel that by seeing the film as a believer, it will allow you to have conversations with non-believers about these topics.

These are just some of my brief thoughts on the film. If you would like to read much more scholarly thoughts in a very interesting article written by the former pastor at my home church in Dallas, TX, Jim Denison, you may do so here!