A Bit More on "Noah," and On Christian Outrage

I’ll admit, I’m still surprised at the outrage being expressed by many evangelical Christians over a Hollywood movie made by unbelievers. 

One commentator noted how “dirty” the movie made him feel.  Another railed against the deteriorating respect that people have for the Bible.  Many have called it evil, and an abomination.  More than one person has challenged me on how I, a pastor, could encourage Christians to see this movie.

To all of this, my response is: you guys know that it’s just a movie, right?

And as a fascinating side note, consider that the director, Darren Aronofsky, was raised Jewish, and was raised on this story.  Although not an adherent to Judaism or Christianity today, he has great respect for the message of the story, and chose to tell it in the tradition of the Jewish “midrash” – a story-telling technique that rabbis have used for generations, where great embellishment is added to explore all aspects of the story, creating elements that read between the lines of the text, and allowing the message to be proclaimed in more memorable way. 

(And by the way, fun fact, the idea of giant fallen angels watching over and interacting with mankind is a well-established theme of ancient Jewish religious literature – see 1^st Enoch.  Still not sure why they are portrayed in the movie as huge talking rock monsters, but hey...)

For all of the Christians up in arms about the movie, saying things like, “That’s not what MY bible says!”, they are forgetting that Noah was a Jewish story first, and the director has chosen to tell it in a particularly Jewish style.  The story does not belong to evangelical Christians.    

This, of course, doesn’t mean that we need to fully accept or be happy with the interpretation.  But whenever something like this happens, and Christian outrage blows up, I always just feel like, if anyone outside the Christian camp were to look at us, they would think: “Man, those people are just angry ALL THE TIME.  And over a movie?!”  With all of the pain, suffering, and legitimate evil in the world, why are the loudest cries of indignation always over things like this?  It’s a movie.  A very public one, but still, just a movie.

When such things happen, we respond in very predictable ways:

-          A boycott (“They’re not getting MY money!”)

-          Angry self-protection (“We have to defend the Bible!”)

-          Accusations (“This is EVIL!”)

-          Exaggerations (“With this disrespect for God’s Word, pretty soon Christians will be in jail!”

-          Generally unkind and unloving statements (“This is paganism at its worst, what horrible people made this, how can any idiot pastor encourage people to see it, etc.”)

Could there be a different way to approach this?

When Paul entered the city of Athens in Acts chapter 17, he saw many idols there, and was genuinely distressed.  However, he didn’t scream about how wrong the culture was.  He didn’t boycott the city.  He didn’t tell everyone they were going to hell. He didn’t get together with other Christians and rail about how evil the city was.  And he didn’t angrily complain that their spiritual expression didn’t agree with the truth.

 What he did instead was pick one of their beloved idols, and use it as a jumping-off point to start a conversation about Jesus (v.22-31). 

Now this was an idol – the epitome of evil for Jewish people – and yet Paul saw an opportunity to use it, evil as it was, in order to communicate truth. 

Instead of getting angry or self-righteous as to where the culture was at, he met them where they were at, on their level, and then used their own sinful cultural expression to point them towards Christ. 

And people got saved through the process. (v.34)

We can imagine how Paul might react as a modern-day evangelical:

-          Boycott the city (“I will NOT spend my time and money in this idol-worshiping place!”)

-          Angry self-protection (“I’m an APOSTLE, it’s MY JOB to defend the Gospel!”)

-          Accusations (“You guys are just evil.  Really, really evil.”)

-          Exaggerations (“If I spend any time with these people, I’ll probably abandon Jesus and the entire Gospel will fall apart!”)

-          Generally unkind and unloving statements (“You fools, are you REALLY praying to a hunk of stone, you ungodly pagans?”)

There are, however, people going to heaven from Athens, because Paul chose a different approach.

Does this need some wisdom and caution?  Certainly.  But there will always be parts of our culture that challenge us, that are unbiblical, and that are evil and sinful.  Paul shows us that, with wisdom, and being led by the Spirit, we can find ways to connect with culture where they are at, and use the culture itself to start a conversation about Jesus. 

The whole point of the Incarnation is that Jesus came down to our level, engaged with us where we were at, and loved us as the sinners that we are (Rom 5:8; Phil 2:5-8; 1Jn 4:19). 

We still have some things to learn! 

Some Thoughts After Seeing "Noah"

There’s been a lot of tweeting, a lot of Facebooking, a lot of blogging in the last few days about the new “Noah” movie.  A lot of annoyance and outrage from Christians (we are pretty good at that!), and a lot of eye-rolling and snark about the movie quality itself.  Having read many posts and comments before going in, my expectations had been lowered dramatically.  Because of that, I think, I ended up liking the movie more than I thought I would. 

(P.S…I don’t get to movies much anymore, but there seems to have been a massive increase in the number of people who can’t get through a movie without texting several times.  Lit-up faces everywhere.  Seriously…I think that’s the definition of addiction, and seriously, you actually have a problem.)

The Noah story is a tricky one for even the most mature believer.  Those who are at home on the subjects of judgment and righteous anger may accept it easily enough, but for those of us who try to reconcile the idea of a good and loving Father, with a holy God who wiped out virtually all earthly life via drowning, the story is much more challenging.

Much of the annoyance from the Christian camp has been due to the fact that much of the movie’s plot is not found in Scripture, with a few things that are even anti-biblical.  However, beyond the few things with which I genuinely took issue theologically, what is more at play in the movie is the fiction that has been added to embellish the story. 

Potential viewers should know that a good 75% or more of the movie is extra-biblical and completely fantastical.  The actual Noah account in the Bible is quite brief (it is found in Genesis chapters 6-9). In order to fill two-and-a-half hours of cinematic experience, the filmmakers decided to invent elaborate subplots involving a local warlord and his army, various love interests, an increasingly mentally unbalanced Noah, miracle twin sisters, magic seeds left over from the Garden of Eden, and yes, it’s true, fallen angels that inexplicably manifest as massive six-armed rock creatures. 

Some of these storylines caused awkward giggling throughout the theatre – it gets pretty silly at times, to be sure.  The filmmakers have approached the story from the standpoint of an epic myth, rather than trying to create a biblically accurate story.  No doubt many Christians will take issue with this, but really, what did we expect?  It is a secular approach to an Old Testament story, and so it comes across as a secular approach to an Old Testament story.  If it were Christians writing, producing, and directing the movie, that would be different.   But Hollywood has done what Hollywood does, and chosen to tell what it feels is the most entertaining story, that will make the most money.  Its main concern is not biblical faithfulness, nor should we be surprised that this was the case.

Yet, beyond the silliness and all the extra stuff, there were also some great themes and great lines, dealing with subjects such as commitment and trust, uncertainty and doubt, the arrogance and depravity of man, the great struggle of obedience, faith, and the mysterious will of God, the overcoming nature of love, and the messy and sometimes conflicting nature of trying to do what is right.  Noah is flawed, and struggles to obey, even getting it wrong as he tries to figure out what God wants him to do.  There is some good stuff in there – if you can get past the talking rock monsters and Miracle-Gro Eden-seeds.    

The whole time I was watching, I actually thought, “I want to get home and read the actual story in my Bible.”  When I got home, I did, and then I read it again and again.  This is good.  I have also had some real conversations about faith, obedience, and God’s will, all which stemmed from the movie.  This is also good.  If we come into this movie expecting it to be what it is – a fanciful Hollywood take that makes no claims of biblical fidelity – then we can look past the silly, and the extra, and pull some great truths and great conversation-starters out that can enrich us all. 

So yes, by all means, see this movie.  Let it cause believers and unbelievers alike to turn to Scripture to read the actual story.  Let it spur on debates about how a good and loving God could also judge the earth.  Let it launch conversations about obedience, weakness, faith, and how we all struggle to find (and miss) God’s will.

It’s just a movie.  It’s not the Bible.  It’s not a sermon.  It’s just a movie.  Let’s take it for what it is, and let’s pull all the good stuff out of it that we can.