a brief thought I wrote for our church handout yesterday…

There’s been quite a lot of talk in the media this past week about Aronofsky’s new film, Noah.

I’ve not seen it yet (who has the time with 3 kids?) but I’ve seen enough reviews and commentary to get a rough idea of the plot and the main themes.

And I’ve also seen enough to learn where the film (regularly) deviates massively from the Bible both in the sequence of events and in the theological import.

So what do we do with a film like this and others like it? Over the past few years we’ve had movies like The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and the like all giving us their own version of the Bible or Christian history. Pretty much every one of them runs a tired argument or theories already discredited in academic circles but they’re popular and won’t be going away.

If we jump on the bandwagon are we going to go down with the sinking ship?

I don’t think so.

Our first big mistake is to expect the Bible and the Christian faith to be portrayed accurately. We should we be treated fairly? Better to assume that we won’t be but to use the differences as a starting point for conversation.

So go and see Noah and then talk to your friends. Did they enjoy it? Do they know the differences between what they saw and the Bible? What do they think of the big themes of humanity, sin, judgment and mercy raised in the film? Do they know how they Bible speaks of those things in the story of Noah? Would they like to know?

We might start on the sinking ship but let’s point out the lifeboats.