So, there is a new movie coming out in March, of 2014. I
guess it’s supposed to be incredible in the way of photography and special
effects.
Sorry, I’m not a movie buff, so
I really don’t know what that is called. “Photography”, I’m sure, isn’t the
correct word. Anyway, the new movie is based on ancient history about the
flood. The movie is
Noah I’m struggling
with words here, too.
I can’t call it a “Christian”
movie; I’m sure it’s not.
I can’t call
it a "Biblical" movie. For neither is it that. Well, maybe I could say it’s based
on a “biblical” setting with little accuracy about the real account. Therefore,
I used the small “b”.
But sorry, when we
are talking about things of the Bible
there is no small “b”.
Anyway, I woke up this morning thinking about that movie.
Not sure why.
It brings me a bit of
sadness.
I read the reviews.
Of course, coming from
Hollywood, it has a political agenda. And if
you don’t already know this, don’t kid yourself…most all movies out of
Hollywood do have a political agenda, or a politically
correct statement that “Hollywood” is going to get into the script by hook or
by crook. The movie industry, mostly controlled by the liberal left, wants to
influence us. It’s the way of it.
Well, in this movie, for one thing, Noah is the first
environmentalist.
Not really so bad, is
it?
Caring for the world is good!
Why doesn’t God care? How dare He destroy it
with a flood! (In case you couldn't tell, I'm being factitious.)
I suppose
Hollywood
has made their fair share of Biblically based movies.
I know some have been considered to be pretty
good.
I don’t know; I have never watched
one.
And I pretty much mean never. Not
The Ten Commandments; nor
The Greatest Story Ever Told; nor any of
those that the great movie star, Charlton Heston, has made.
Heston, by the way, is one of my heroes.
Why haven’t I watched? Somewhere deep down inside of me I am
not allowed. Now, I am not making a judgment here as to whether one should
watch those movies or not. That is certainly up to the individual. I just have
never been able. I never wanted what I knew, learned or believed about the
Bible to be from a
Hollywood movie…I didn’t
want something from a movie getting into my thought process only to confuse me
about what is really true. You don’t think that can happen when you know and have
studied your Bible so well?
Wait until
your 60 and suddenly you find everything starts to get muddled up there.
J
I really don’t know from where my conviction on this comes.
I am not saying it is the Holy Spirit. That would put me in a judgmental
position, now wouldn’t it, for those Christians that
do choose to watch these
Hollywood
movies? And I don’t want to do that.
I absolutely do not want to be one of those Christians who projects
my beliefs upon others; that is only for God to do. Besides, the minute I did
that; someone is going to say: “Well, you
listen to country music…all that drinkin’ and runnin’ around, and fightin’!” And
I’m going to say: “Yeah, I do listen to country; always have and probably
always will.” But country music isn’t distorting the context of the Bible and I
intend for this post to be only about that!
No one would judge me for listening to country music or
whatever, you say? Ha! This ain’t my first rodeo. Christians
would do that.
We do it
all the time, with whatever thing we happen to feel holy about at the moment. I
really do not want to be one that does.
So, anyway, I say that only to say this post isn’t about a
judgment on anyone for watching a particular movie or anything else they do. I
just felt like writing about my deep-seated belief about the accuracy of the
Bible in movies; and now I will get to where I
think that deeply held belief came.
~~~~~~~~~~
My paternal grandpa was an old-fashioned, “holiness”
preacher. He would not mind being defined that way. I remember as a youth, one
day in Grandma’s kitchen, Grandpa was trying to find out where I stood
spiritually. Now that was nothing unusual for my grandpa.
If anyone continually had the Gospel on his
lips, my grandpa did. I don’t remember how old I was when he questioned me.
But, I do remember my answer.
“Why, He’s my Lord and Savior, Grandpa!
I fairly exclaimed. And Grandpa, lit up with
a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye, like only he could.
In fact, to this day, I have never known
anyone that shines like Grandpa. Yes, I guess I did say “shines” – present
tense – he has been gone almost 30 years now I would say, but he has a heavenly
home.
But anyway, I felt and understood his approval. I still feel
it to this day. I also remember his next words.
“Get in a church that preaches holiness, Jan.” I don’t remember if he
elaborated on that. I’m fairly sure I remember the discussion leading to him
saying…”Well, I know He is your Savior, Jan…but is He your Lord?”
Not sure how I answered that, but I should have said, “I’m
still working on that, Grandpa.”
As a
matter of fact, I am still working on that to this day, 50 some years
later.
And don’t kid yourselves,
you are, too; we all need to work
daily on making Him the
Lord of our lives. But that is for a
whole other discussion, as well.
As a side note, (because I am musing here - see title; maybe it should say wanderings) another thing I
remember about Grandpa’s holiness life style is that he absolutely would
not shop on Sundays. When asked about
that, he replied, “Well, if I shop, I am requiring someone to have to work on
Sunday, now am I not? And I believe Sunday should be a day of rest.”
I was reminded of Grandpa’s conviction the other day as I
listened to the controversy among news commentators over whether stores should
open up for Christmas shopping on the evening of Thanksgiving.
I heard someone say, “Well, people don’t
have to shop! They can stay home if they
don’t like it, but they shouldn’t prevent others from shopping.” And I thought
to myself:
Wow, we have come a long way
since the days when my Grandpa
thought of
others in his decision to not shop. What about forcing people to have to
work on Thanksgiving evening, when they would probably much rather be home with
their family. It appears that simple fact didn’t even enter the commentators
mind. But there’s an example of the difference from then and now.
As I shared this story a couple of years ago, a man adamantly stated, "That's going too far!" Maybe. Probably; certainly by today's standards. But I'm not sure he fully understood the message. Certainly our faith isn't about do's and don't's. But that isn't what this was about either. It was about thinking of others first.
I suspect, though he never said it, Grandpa always wished my
family would attend
his church; instead my family attended the denomination
that my mom’s family had always attended. But anyway, because of my dad’s
upbringing, I was raised with an old-fashioned, “holiness” belief system to
some degree. I suspect there-in is where my belief on watching
Hollywood movies about faith came.
Not saying I don’t watch
Hollywood
movies. Of course, I do.
I’m just saying
I don’t
want to watch one about faith,
or one that tells the story about the Bible from a
Hollywood
perspective.
I was raised with the
belief, that if one isn’t a Christian, and they try to tell the story, they
can’t possibly get it right. I absolutely believe that; and more than that, I
believe when it comes to the things of God, accuracy matters!
I know there has been a time, and I don’t remember exactly when,
but I remember one day as I scanned television channels, I caught a moment of
Richard Chamberlain in one of the movies he made about the Bible.
He was portraying Jesus, and I happened to
catch it at the moment when he was portraying Jesus sitting around the fire
with the sinners as they drank while Jesus fellowshipped with them. In this
movie, Richard Chamberlain was obviously portraying Jesus as a bit tipsy. Now,
there were no words that claimed Jesus was drunk, there didn’t need to be. With
the excellent acting that Chamberlain was capable of, he was clearly able to
give the viewer that understanding without words. I don’t know; maybe he actually had
to get a little tipsy himself to be able to film it with that much reality, but
there was no doubt, he was drunk – either by his acting methods, or actually getting
drunk in order to film it realistically.
As I watched, I was furious. Jesus was without sin! Jesus
would never have been drunk.
Granted, we have the controversy over the wine and whether
Jesus drank. Whatever! There are also many that have done studies on this, (and
my son is one; David Hocking, another) that can prove by Scripture using the
Greek, that it was not fermented
wine. But that is also for another post. And again I am judging no one; most
Christians and I do mean most, drink,
today and that is best left to one’s own convictions.
One more example of inaccurate movies, however, and I will
get off this subject and back to the main movie I wanted to discuss - Noah.
Another time, and again I don’t remember exactly when or where,
someone I was talking to was telling me about the movie they had just
watched. And I’m sorry, I don’t remember
which Hollywood,
“Biblical” movie it was. But the person
was telling me about how moved they were when the black man rushed from the
crowd to help Jesus carry His cross when Jesus was no longer able. Well, I’m
glad this person was moved. But what was
explained that happened in the movie simply wasn’t the truth. The person that came to help Jesus with His
cross would have been Simon from Cyrene.
He was possibly black, but not
certainly. He was a Jew, and he was from Ethiopia. There were Jews in Ethiopia, so he wasn't necessarily a black man. He also could have been a black Ethiopian who was a converted Jew. That doesn't really matter or Scripture would have told us. But what does matter is that, Biblically, Simon didn’t
rush out in compassion to help Jesus. Rather, Simon was forced to carry Jesus’ cross. The Bible uses the word “compelled”
and that means “forced”. In the Greek – “aggareuo” – which means “pressed to
service” or the technical term for “requisitioned”. Either way, Simon did not
do this of his own volition, but rather was untimely, ordered. As a Jew, he was
probably humiliated and horrified, as this rendered him unclean for the
upcoming Passover meal.
To me that matters! But it doesn’t fit the politically
correct agenda today as well as
Hollywood
might like.
And it was
Hollywood’s opportunity to make things look
better, than they actually were. For me, if someone was
forced rather than graciously offering help; I want to know that,
don’t you? It changes the truth and therefore the meaning otherwise.
For those of you that are younger than me, there was a time
in television and movie history, when Jesus would absolutely never have been
portrayed physically on the screen. It was considered blasphemy to do so. And
Hollywood pretty much
honored that. The first movies attempting a Biblical theme may have used a
voice from the background*, but they would never show Jesus physically. Next,
they began with only showing His back, but never His face. Eventually of
course, we all grew up, became more sophisticated and believed there was
nothing wrong in portraying Jesus physically. (See sarcasm) By the way, when
the theatre production of
Jesus Christ
Superstar first came out, that was also considered blasphemy my many. Now,
it is almost accepted as Biblical.
Just another side note, I’m glad that I remember the days
when almost everything on Sunday was closed. And I’m also thankful I remember
when
even Hollywood wouldn’t portray Jesus physically
in the movies. That may seem silly; but I'm just glad I know and remember.
So in this new movie,
Noah, Noah is a man portrayed as
even more loving than God. The Creator,
rather, is a cruel enemy that only wants to inflict judgment on man. Noah cares for the animals, the earth, and mankind. He wouldn’t
dare kill an animal for meat, and he certainly wouldn’t take lives that should
be precious…just apparently not precious to the Creator.
Some may say, “Well so what? I know the truth of the Bible.
I just want to enjoy the film.” Great! Enjoy! But I bet you won't.
And for me,
this is where those sad feelings come from that I experienced this morning. The feelings that led me to write this post in the first place. I simply miss those moments when everything was more simple. I wish the people that choose to see this film could know what I know about the way things used to be. You know, like Grandpa's days...Maybe that's wrong. I guess it probably is. Maybe it's a judgment, in a way, that is all my own.
 |
| Russell Crowe as Noah |
But is this
inaccurate movie really something that doesn’t matter?
Yes,
we know the Truth, but what about those that don’t know the truth? What about
the unsaved that are being misled by this movie? Haven’t we, in part, just
undone the Great Commission by supporting something that isn’t true? The Biblical
story of the
Ark
is a Typology of Christ – a foreshadowing of the New Testament in regard to how
God saved us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the Gospel
message; the Great Commission which we are commanded to share. I would
say by supporting this movie, we have just undone that…at least to some degree.
Wouldn’t you?
Hmmm; it all makes one wonder if that’s why
Hollywood picked on Noah in the first place…
So, all this rambling just to get us here. Somewhere, sometime, something has to matter…I simply
believe keeping Scripture accurate is one.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
~ Revelation 22:18-19 KJV
*The Robe - Cameron Mitchell 1953 - Voice only
**Disclaimer: In this
post, I am referring only to those movies made in Hollywood apart from a Christian production. Those
movies from a Christian production, is for another discussion/post as well as the others I've mentioned. Got lots of those! J
