Bible Movies?
“Wouldn’t it be great if more Bible movies were made?” Sure, if they were relatively true to what the Bible teaches, but all that has been produced lately is, well, judge for yourself. The tremendous success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ undoubtedly caught the attention of some who saw that there was money to be made in this genre. Although it took some poetic license and had a few flaws, it may be the best Biblical movie ever. Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments was inspiring, although a large portion of the epic was fictional and inaccurate. The more recent One Night With the King, which portrayed the life of Esther, was a disappointment in several ways. Not only were several details wrong, they fiddled with two of the most important scenes—Esther going before the king and Haman pleading for his life. And it was supposed to be produced by religious folks!
Then last year we were treated to 10 hours of The Bible on television. Being produced by Roma Downey and her husband, expectations were high, but they were soon dashed as the opening scene had Noah speaking to his grandchild on the ark in the midst of the Flood. The only problem is that no grandchildren were on the ark—at all—of any age. The rest of the series suffered from the same ailment. This publication spent a few weeks reviewing that series. Although some events in the Bible were done well, it was not worth wading through to find them. Their current movie, Son of God, uses many of the same scenes from the television version.
Noah
By now, many have heard that the one who wrote and directed this movie is an atheist. It shows. The most accurate thing about the film is his own assessment: “It is the least accurate Biblical movie ever.” One of the few accuracies is the rainbow at the end. But up until then, just about the only semblance to what happened in the Bible is an ark and a lot of water.
Most people have wondered their entire lives what the name of Noah’s wife was. Hey! Now we know. It was Naamah—which just happens to be the name of Tubal-Cain’s sister—who just happens to be leading the battle against Noah. Aha! The plot thickens. The reader has no doubt wondered how Noah and his sons built such a huge ark. Now we know: They had help from the Watchers. And who might they be? We just had to ask! The Watchers are giant rock formations which can move because they are really fallen angels. Right. And they help Noah build the ark. Talk about reading between the lines! But if Tolkien can having enraged trees working on behalf of the heroes, rocks can presumably do the same thing.
But there is more. Ham is mad at Noah for allowing the woman he wanted to marry die. Tubal-Cain becomes a stowaway on the ark. The Watchers protect Noah and the others so that they can get on the ark, thus sacrificing themselves. Having redeemed themselves, they are allowed to go back to heaven. See, Darth Vader’s not the only evil one who can be saved.
Apparently, Shem’s wife was barren until blessed by Methuselah, who chose to remain on the earth rather than board the ark. Noah thinks Shem’s child should be killed so that humanity can be wiped out. A fight ensues, and eventually Ham kills Tubal-Cain. The movie should be called Noah, In a Parallel Universe. If anyone desires to actually see the movie, it would be best to wait until it comes to television.
God’s Not Dead
Although the story is fictional, similar things have occurred, and several lawsuits are mentioned in the closing credits. The strong point of the movie is the way it deals with the atheistic professor and his arguments. Several people’s stories are developing concurrently, including that of a Muslim girl. The main story, however, involves a college professor who, in his philosophy class, tells the students they are not going to waste time discussing agnostics, but those philosophers who were actually atheists. To be sure that no discussions about God occur, he tells the students to write down on a piece of paper the sentence, “God is dead.” They are to sign their name in agreement underneath it and hand it in. One student cannot bring himself to do so. The professor, obviously annoyed, says, “All right. Here’s what we will do. For the next three class periods, you will have 20 minutes to make the case for God.” The Freshman asks who will judge his success. The professor answers that he will do so.
The lad suggests that he might be biased and suggests that the class decide. The plot moves on from there, and the argumentation is really good. It is not so high that viewers cannot understand it, but it is current with what has been published within the last few years. This part of the movie is very encouraging.
On the down side, the movie is produced by denominationalists; so it contains comments about the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us (allegedly). There are “faith only” conversions, and the final big scene involves a gospel rock concert. Of course, a false gospel and false worship always serve to detract from the message of any production—even if the message is a moral or theistic one.
One added dimension concerning this film ought to be made known. The Duck Commander and his wife are in it. No, they are not there to present the truth to the movie audience. No mention is made of the role that repentance and baptism have in salvation. They appear at the beginning of the movie when a female reporter does an ambush interview with them. However, she is more concerned about killing ducks than anything spiritual. However, at the end of the movie, when the gospel rock concert is in full swing, the duck commander is on a video screen bidding welcome to all who are present. Thus, he endorses singing with instrumental music. And they are supposed to be representing the Lord’s church? Furthermore, since they are in a movie that teaches “faith only” conversions, they are tacitly endorsing error as it pertains to salvation. Is anyone who attends worship where they do going to say anything to them about this? Does the church they attend have elders? This cannot be allowed to stand.
Heaven Is For Real
This movie opens on April 16th; it is based on a 2010 book which chronicles a 3-year-old boy who claims to have visited heaven during a near-death experience. According to Wikipedia, Christian “pastor” Todd Burpo writes that during the months after his son Colton’s emergency surgery in 2003, he began describing events and people that seemed impossible for him to have seen or met. Examples include his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born. Colton also claimed that he personally met Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and sat in Jesus' lap, while the angels sang songs to him. He also says he saw Mary kneeling before the throne of God and at other times standing beside Jesus.
Right. Could it be that he overheard family members talking about the miscarriage while surrounding his bed? When Muslim children have these experiences, do they see Allah or Muhammad? Even if a 3-year-old might be in heaven briefly (where else would he go?), how odd that all his relatives are there! Especially those who never obeyed the Gospel. Wait for it on television.