The Positives? Make Sure You Also Hear the Negatives!

I recently read an article in Christianity Today by Dr. Jerry Johnson (the new president of NRB) that seemed to encourage families to see the new anti-biblical Noah movie released by Paramount. The author gave some positive statements about the film. Thankfully, in a follow-up article in Christianity Today, the negatives in the film were then mentioned.

At the end of the “positive” article, the author did say the following:

But wait! You have heard a bunch of bad stuff about this film. You can’t believe I wrote this puff-piece! Before you shoot me, check out my next installment – “The Movie Noah: Five Negative Features You Should Know,” coming next week.

I attended the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville last week and heard a special discussion on Noah that was moderated by the NRB president, featuring two Christian guests: a person who is associated with Hollywood filmmaking and has seen the film in a recent cut, and another who was a pastor and special advisor to the movie and also had seen the movie. They discussed the content of the Noah movie, which had already been seen by the NRB president as well.

Now while in the article the NRB president gave some of the positives about the movie as he saw it (even if I disagreed with his opinion), he also did warn people about the negatives—and I greatly appreciated that. He stated there were many anti-biblical aspects to this movie and that it was over the top in regard to environmentalism. He also warned people about many other “way out” aspects of this movie, very similar to what I had written after one of our staff members was able to see a preview of the movie a few months ago—such as the following items:

• Noah’s family only consists of his wife, three sons, and one daughter-in-law, contrary to the Bible.
• Rock-like people (that seem to be fallen angels) build the Ark with Noah!
• A wounded Tubal-Cain axes his way inside the Ark in only about ten minutes and then hides inside—he eats hibernating lizards to stay alive (so much for keeping two of each kind alive on the Ark). Tubal-Cain then convinces Noah’s middle son to lure Noah to the bottom of the Ark in order to murder him (because he was not allowed a wife in the Ark). The middle son has a change of heart and helps kill Tubal-Cain instead.
• The movie has an over-the-top emphasis on environmentalism—animals are much more important than people. That is an underlying theme meant to indoctrinate people into extreme environmentalism.
• Noah, who is portrayed as a very angry man, repeatedly told his family that they were the last generation and were never to procreate. So when his daughter-in-law became pregnant, he vowed to murder his own grandchild (again, animals are more important than people).

In NewsMax this week, I indicated that some people say that they might use the film as a springboard for evangelism. But I shared with the reporter that ultimately the Noah film deviates so much from the Bible, that for non-Christians who will watch it, the movie will probably do more harm than good. I stated to NewsMax, “Sure, after watching the film, people could be directed to read the true story for themselves in the Bible. But in this day and age, young people have a hard time deciphering reality from fiction and don’t often take the time to form their own educated opinions.”

So, while I have watched Bible-themed Hollywood films that have had some problems with them, they still could be used as conversation starters for evangelism. But I can’t say that for Noah—the problems are such that the film could be counterproductive for non-Christians to watch.

The article also states, “Ken Ham . . . said he doesn’t think Paramount’s ‘Noah’ film is going to be as popular among evangelicals as some people might think.” Here is another quote of mine on Noah from the NewsMax article:

In the movie, it seems Noah is a far cry from the Noah of the Bible. He’s angry, even crazy . . . It makes a mockery of Noah's righteous nature and is actually anti-biblical. . . . [In the Hollywood version] he’s a delusional, conflicted man, more concerned about the environment, animals, and even killing his own grandchild than he is with his family and his relationship with God.

I wonder if the same people who say that a movie should not be criticized unless it's been watched also said the same thing when the blasphemous film The Last Temptation of Christ came out. The bad content of that movie was known before it was released, and Christians had every reason to caution people about going to see such an anti-biblical movie that might turn hearts away from God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken