{"id":580,"date":"2014-03-26T19:37:58","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T19:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?p=580"},"modified":"2015-12-02T12:34:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T20:34:21","slug":"myths-christians-believe-about-movies-like-noah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2014\/03\/myths-christians-believe-about-movies-like-noah.html","title":{"rendered":"Myths Christians Believe about Movies Like Noah"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Hollywood loves it when movies sail on a sea of controversy, but as Christians, let us make our entertainment choices based upon a serene, logical, wise mind. Golden Sea, original painting by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition print available at Great Big Canvas.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flood of media love for the Russell Crowe movie,\u00a0Noah<\/em>, awashes the brain. It reminds me of Mel Gibson’s 2004\u00a0Passion of the Christ<\/em>, and people are saying the same things now, as they said back then.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at some of these\u00a0tedious\u00a0pronouncements\u00a0people are making about\u00a0Noah<\/em>\u00a0that\u00a0echo what they preached during\u00a0Gibson’s moneymaking affair — because that’s what these movies do, my friend: they make somebody a lot of money. Before you determine whether some of that donation money will be yours, just make sure you’re not attending for any of these reasons:<\/p>\n

Myth 1)\u00a0It’s so\u00a0wonderful<\/em>\u00a0that Hollywood is making family-friendly, and Biblically-based, fare!<\/strong>\u00a0If we want more of the same, we need to attend.<\/p>\n

You’ve got that right: as long as you put down the money, Hollywood will make more of the same, and in the case of\u00a0Noah<\/em>, look at the disclaimer:<\/p>\n

This film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The Biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christians are so desperate to be heard in Hollywood that we’ll take anything, even a\u00a0production\u00a0by\u00a0an\u00a0atheist director who describes his epic as “the least biblical film ever made.”<\/p>\n

Yep, we’re getting more of the same all right.<\/p>\n

Myth 2)\u00a0You can’t expect a non-Christian to get it all right, but he did his best.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director\u00a0Darren Aronofsky isn’t stupid, and it can’t be much of a stretch to read four chapters out of Genesis and get the general import. He also can’t be unaware that his particular interpretation has a high chance of insulting many people who truly do believe in the “essence, value, and integrity” of what is not only a beloved story, but actual history, in their eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Did Noah rise out of the sea? Was he a she? Did he tread water during the flood? We can get into all sorts of “interpretations,” if we choose. Aphrodite, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed open edition print at Great Big Canvas.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How upset would Jane-ites be if Elizabeth Darcy slept with Mr. Bingley, in a “controversial” interpretation of\u00a0Pride and Prejudice<\/em>\u00a0by someone who doesn’t like Jane Austen? Probably more upset than a lot of Christians will be about this movie.<\/p>\n

Myth 3)\u00a0An atheist is the best person to make a Christian film, because he has a more objective approach.<\/strong> Invite him to your next Bible study, and let him replace whoever’s been teaching you up to this time.<\/p>\n

Too many Christians mentally genuflect at words of perceived wisdom\u00a0by\u00a0people who openly discredit God and His book. And yet these same Christians won’t interpret the words for themselves, because they might get it wrong. Of the two, atheists or Christians (even\u00a0dithering\u00a0ones), which group has the Holy Spirit as its guide?<\/p>\n

Myth 4)\u00a0What a super opportunity this is to witness!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of what? That the Biblical account of Noah is no more than a fairy tale, and that anyone who believes it’s really true is an idiot?<\/p>\n

You can’t witness about something that you’re unsure of yourself, and many Christians, struggling to reconcile the first 11 Chapters of Genesis with the pervasive, persuasive religious message of Darwinism and The Theory (Applied Like Law) of Evolution, don’t accept Noah’s account as literally true themselves.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, the movie will do a great job of reinforcing this in their minds,\u00a0and in the minds of many others.<\/p>\n

Myth 5)\u00a0We need to stop being so judgmental and narrow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We must be open to different interpretations and ways of looking at this story.<\/p>\n

All stories\u00a0are open to\u00a0different perspectives, but when we listen to those perspectives, we keep in mind the intent of the person giving them. If that person is hostile to the story, then his interpretation of it is justifiably questionable.<\/p>\n

Should you go, or shouldn’t you?<\/p>\n

The decision is yours, my friend, and whether or not “high profile religious leaders” approve or not, make up your own mind. It’s your mind; it’s your money; and it’s your judgment that decides how they will both be used.<\/p>\n

Thank You<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining me at Commonsense Christianity. You know, I really enjoy a thoughtful, thought-provoking, well-made movie, which is why I critically look at any new interpretation of Jane Austen’s\u00a0Pride and Prejudice<\/em>\u00a0or Charlotte Bronte’s\u00a0Jane Eyre<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Wise movie directors know that they owe their viewers a sense of consideration, deference, and respect when they present a new telling of a beloved story, and the lovers of those stories know that they have a right to hold an opinion, based upon their knowledge of and passion for that story. May our knowledge and passion for the Word of God\u00a0be great indeed.<\/p>\n

Posts similar to this one are<\/p>\n

When People Lie to Us<\/a><\/p>\n

Sleeping Christians: Wake. Up.<\/a><\/p>\n

Christian Leadership and Ordinary People<\/a><\/p>\n

Einstein Said That! Or Was It Jesus?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flood of media love for the Russell Crowe movie,\u00a0Noah, awashes the brain. It reminds me of Mel Gibson’s 2004\u00a0Passion of the Christ, and people are saying the same things now, as they said back then. Let’s look at some of these\u00a0tedious\u00a0pronouncements\u00a0people are making about\u00a0Noah\u00a0that\u00a0echo what they preached during\u00a0Gibson’s moneymaking affair — because that’s what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":561,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5,13,125,2,10,11,58,3,15,7,8,6],"tags":[806,200,298,277,19,305,813,810,812,804,807,805,800,365,75,110,803,183,221,814,801,809,557,328,802,811,808],"class_list":["post-580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-christianity","category-encouragement","category-entertainment","category-faith","category-family","category-home","category-hope-2","category-inspiration","category-lifestyle","category-personal-growth","category-spiritual-growth","category-spirituality","tag-artistic-license","tag-atheist","tag-bible-study","tag-biblical","tag-christian","tag-commonsense","tag-darren-aronofsky","tag-darwinism","tag-director","tag-disclaimer","tag-elizabeth-bennett","tag-film","tag-flood","tag-genesis","tag-hollywood","tag-leader","tag-mel-gibson","tag-money","tag-movie","tag-myth","tag-noah","tag-opportunity","tag-pride-and-prejudice","tag-religious","tag-russell-crowe","tag-theory-of-evolution","tag-witness"],"yoast_head":"\nMyths Christians Believe about Movies Like Noah - Commonsense Christianity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myths Christians Believe about Movies Like Noah - Commonsense Christianity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The flood of media love for the Russell Crowe movie,\u00a0Noah, awashes the brain. It reminds me of Mel Gibson’s 2004\u00a0Passion of the Christ, and people are saying the same things now, as they said back then. 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It reminds me of Mel Gibson’s 2004\u00a0Passion of the Christ, and people are saying the same things now, as they said back then. Let’s look at some of these\u00a0tedious\u00a0pronouncements\u00a0people are making about\u00a0Noah\u00a0that\u00a0echo what they preached during\u00a0Gibson’s moneymaking affair — because that’s what…","og_url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx","og_site_name":"Commonsense Christianity","article_published_time":"2014-03-26T19:37:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-02T20:34:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/files\/2014\/03\/GoldenSea_watermark_SteveHenderson.jpg"}],"author":"Carolyn Henderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2014\/03\/myths-christians-believe-about-movies-like-noah.html","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx","name":"Myths Christians Believe about Movies Like Noah - Commonsense Christianity","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/files\/2014\/03\/GoldenSea_watermark_SteveHenderson.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-26T19:37:58+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-02T20:34:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/#\/schema\/person\/9fc7691cd5954d024fa9f6c17b756fde"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/files\/2014\/03\/GoldenSea_watermark_SteveHenderson.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/files\/2014\/03\/GoldenSea_watermark_SteveHenderson.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Entertainment\/Galleries\/Myths-Christians-Believe-about-Movies-Like-Noah.aspx#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Myths Christians Believe about Movies Like Noah"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/","name":"Commonsense Christianity","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Carolyn Henderson","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/#\/schema\/person\/9fc7691cd5954d024fa9f6c17b756fde","name":"Carolyn Henderson","description":"Carolyn Henderson is an author, home educator, and business owner who integrates Christianity with real life, and common sense with Christianity, in her writings. 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