Sunday 3 August 2014

Noah is that you?

     I was so excited that they "Hollywood" was putting out another religious movie.  These are the stories of my faith, the basis for my morals, my foundation.  So last night I settled down on the sofa, cup of tea on the end table, crochet in hand and pressed play on the blue ray to begin watching one of my favorite stories from the bible ..........Noah.

Ok great cast.......and really who of us thought we could every find Noah sexy?  Russel Crowe...yum!  Not to mention the great Sir Anthony Hopkins.  How could I not want to watch this movie.  One of the greatest bible stories on the big screen with so many amazing leading men!  What I should have done is read its reviews first and how the writers of this movie say it is "loosely based on the bible story of Noah.  Loosely based is right.  I spent an hour and a half reading through my Good News, King James, and NIV versions of my bible after watching the movie to make sure there wasn't some great revelation I had missed about Noah all these years.  I even picked up my copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls and did some research there.  With that done, and for the sake of correcting anyone who takes this movie as a direct translation from the bible, let me correct a few things......................btw I encourage all to read the story its self Gen 5 - 10.

1. The Nelphim Giants - (the watchers or the Fallen from the movie..........this part makes me the angriest)
Please direct yourself to the bible and to http://www.gnosis.org/ for modern day translation of the dead sea scrolls if you do not own a copy.

The movie portrays these "watchers" as angels, glorious beams of light from the heavenly father who watched over Adam and Eve in the garden with strict instruction to not intervene.  These watchers wanted to help man kind tho and didn't listen to Gods word and tried to help as the down fall of man began.  In turn God cast them to the earth and they were to never hear Gods voice again (in till their death with Noah).  They acted in the movie as .......Noah's Rock Army...yes they were portrayed as giant rock men,( bible meets lord of the Rings) who held back the people as Noah and his family boarded the arc.

This depiction actually makes me want to cry it upsets me so and is so far off what the bible says.  Gen 6:1-4

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown."

These were angels that betrayed their God, they were not unsung heroes to man kind, they were not gods secret army in waiting for Noah.  In the movie they were praised by Noah and lifted back to God, they were seen as these poor creatures who just wanted to "help mankind" and were punished for it, making God look like the enemy, when in fact they had once lived and breathed in the presence of God and turned their backs on him for lust and fame.

According to The Book of Enoch, the mingling of angel and human was actually the idea of Shernihaza, the leader of the evil angels, who lured 200 others to cohabit with women. The offspring of these unnatural unions were giants 450 feet high. The wicked angels and the giants began to oppress the human population and to teach them to do evil. For this reason God determined to imprison the angels until the final judgment and to destroy the earth with a flood. Enoch's efforts to intercede with heaven for the fallen angels were unsuccessful (1 Enoch 6-16).
http://www.gnosis.org

So ..........in conclusion the very start of this movie gives more praise to the dark forces working against man kind then God himself...........and to me that's just WRONG!

2. Noah's Sons

     For the most part I like how Noah's sons were portrayed.  True they made the eldest Shem a little lustful, but the bible has always stated that all of man kind has the fight between good and evil in them.  Noah and his family were no different, they were saved because they choose the good as opposed to the evil.  

Now in the movie  the younger two boys Ham (always find this name funny since they couldn't eat pig cause it was an unclean animal) and Japheth  did not yet have wives.  Noah goes out to search the city for companions for them but sees the world is two full of hatred and there is no other souls worthy of being saved so he comes home with no companions for them.  This leads Noah to believe that he and his family is only there to save the animals and that God intends to kill off mankind completely.  Shem's wife is barren, (side not here, tho untrue to the bible I did find this very touching.  Having tried for years myself and using the story of Elisabeth from the bible to cope, I shared deeply in Shem's wifes pain.), and the two boys will never marry.  Ham becomes angered by this and runs into the town to seek for himself a wife.  He finds a sweet girl and as the rain starts, runs back with her......I won't go into what happened but in the end she is left behind and Noah places only his family in the boat.  Shem's wife tho has been given a blessing and has become pregnant.  Noah decides it is still God's will to destroy man kind and tells the couple if the babe is a boy it may live but if its a girl it must die.  
Shem's wife delivers twin girls, and Noah's wife celebrates this, saying there is one for each of her younger sons (yeah I know, the whole incense thing, gross!).  A lot of things happen but in the end when Noah sees the twin girls his heart is filled with love for them and he tells God he can not complete his will.

Now..........i find so much of this part laughable!  First of all lets look at what the bible says of Noah's sons.
 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
Gen7:7

His SON's (meaning more then one) WIVES (meaning more then one)!

Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”
Gen 9:16-17

No where in the bible or the Dead Sea Scrolls does it mention Noah thinking God wanted to destroy all of man kind, nor does God ask Noah to sacrifice the twin girls, in fact the bible doesn't mention twin girls!

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
Gen 9:1-4

Again the part that bothers me most about this is that they made God out to be this un-merciful God who wanted a man to sacrifice an innocent babe.  Now ........... those of you who are readers of the bible may be saying "well what about Abraham".  Good point!  But if you recall that story God did test Abraham, and Abraham trusted that what God took God could bring back, and so he set out to offer Issac, his beloved son as a sacrifice as God would do years later for us.  And what did God do when he saw Abraham's unbending faith?  

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said,“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[d] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. 
Gen 22:11-19

End result?  Noah NEVER said no to God, he never had to cause the sacrifice was NEVER asked for.

4. Evil King Hidden on the Boat wanting to kill Noah
WT.......................!!!!!!!!  This is NO WHERE in the bible!!!!! Right from the beginning of the Noah story in the bible it states that ONLY Noah, his wife, his Son's and their wives entered the ark.  And during this part in the movie they have Ham plotting with the Evil King against Noah because Ham couldn't bring the girl he found and knew for maybe two hours but,was suddenly the love of his life!!!
There was no evil King on the arch, and as I will explain in a second Ham NEVER plotted against his father!!!  As I stated above there was no Mystery girl, Ham entered and left the arch with his wife!
(its beyond me why they felt the need to not only do Rock Monsters but  a complete action sequence in this movie.  Really isn't the world being destroyed enough action?)

5.  Noah Drunk and Naked on the Beach
Near the end of the  movie we pan in to a very drunk and naked Noah in a cavern on the beach.  Hes completely alone, abandoned by his family for his decisions as his wife had threatened, and trying to deal with the death he saw during the flood.  He passes out when Ham happens upon him.  Ham runs back to his brothers to tell them and brings them back.  Shem and Japheth close their eyes to their fathers nakedness and cover him.  A few moments later Ham returns, tosses a sack at his fathers feet, refusing to speak to him and walks off into the desert alone and never to return.

Part of this is actually true!
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[j] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
    May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[k] territory;
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
Gen 9:20-27

So Ham is walking around with nothing better to do and decides to peek into his fathers tent and spy on him naked.  Then he runs and tells his brothers and we can only guess who else about this father.  Noah was not splayed out in public as the movie would lead you to believe but quietly tucked away in his tent.  Kind of like a kid walking into your bed room without knocking!

Ham's youngest Canaan was then cursed by Noah. Why the curse to Canaan? (which they did not show in the movie) Most Bible scollers believe it is because Ham boasted to his brothers about seeing their father naked thus dishonoring Noah while the other two brothers showed the greatest respect walking in backwards and not casting their eyes upon their father.

Ham did not walk off into the desert because of some grudge he still had with Daddy dearest, and he did not walk off alone when he did.

The bible states:
The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
Gen 10:6

Noah's sons...........all of his son's, repopulated the earth.  (and how would Ham do that without a wife?  He took no baby girl with him at the end of the movie)  



Ok so, I've said my peace, just let me make one last plea to anyone who made it all the way through this rant.  Don't let some Hollywood movie be the bases for your faith, don't let what I've said here today be the bases for your faith, pick up the book......read it.....figure out what you believe or don't believe for yourself.

As For Me And My House We Will Serve the Lord
Joshua 24:15

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