There are many times in our lives where everything goes according to our plans. There are many other times in our lives where our plans turn into break downs, wrecks, and malfunctions. We go through our lives making plans and when all seems well something happens. This evening I was with a group of friends visiting my incredible girlfriend and as we were leaving we accidentally got the vehicle stuck in a ditch right outside her house. Fortunately we were able to call someone to tow us out quickly but, this was something that did not go according to plan.
This event brought to mind a time not too long ago when Brianna and I were leaving a nice Mexican dinner date and her vehicle spontaneously broke down. Or another time when we were driving her father's car back from Pennsylvania and the ignition died. This has led to an on going joke that I am bad luck for other people's vehicles. All of these events were unplanned but so accurately symbolize how life goes.
No matter what our plans are they cannot prevent wrecks, malfunctions, and break downs. Plans get changed, things come up, and where we thought our life would be three years ago may be drastically different now. We live in a world where "break downs" happen all around us and cause us to analyze how we are living our lives. Break downs do not have to be bad things but, they can be adventures that create stories to tell to others one day.
So here's to the malfunctions that make life more interesting and help us create inciting events and exciting stories.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Noah
This past weekend I was able to view the much anticipated and highly controversial movie Noah. I went into the movies with the expectations that there would be many artistic liberties because many of the Christian reviews I had read did not enjoy the movie. I was still rather excited to see an action-packed adaptation from Hollywood; after all it did cast Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, and Anthony Hopkins. After walking out of the theater, I was very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.
Now I would like to address the big qualms that Christians have had with the film. There was an uproar that Aronofsky, self-proclaiming atheist, made the decision to have God be referred to as "The Creator" throughout the entire film. Though that is true, I found it to be more of an accurate understanding of what they may have called God (Although if Christians truly wanted accuracy in the name then it would not have been in English). I found that it was a beautiful way to view God because He, after all, is the Creator of all things and that would make sense that they would view God in that way. Another issue that was raised was that there was an Environmental agenda in the film. Now this is something that I would say was prevalent but, at the same time it did not take away from the overarching message of the movie. If we read Scripture we see that God does have a care for creation and was not going to destroy the World, just its' inhabitants. The movie showed how corrupt the world had become which we clearly read in Scripture was the case.
Another issue that was presented was the rock, Tolkenesque, creatures that helped Noah build the ark and fight off the tribe of Cain. These were considered the "Watchers" who were fallen angels who had tried to help humanity after the Fall. The only reference in Scripture that I could find to back this up for the story of Noah is from Genesis 4:15-16 which says, "Then the Lord said to him, “Not so!Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (New Revised Standard Version). I wonder if they took this Mark that the Lord had given Cain and turned it into these "Watchers." Either way it was one of the artistic liberties that they took and I find it to be okay because it does not take away from the overall message and ultimately their story shows that God is loving, merciful, and forgiving.
The final issue that I have found people had with it is the way that Noah was portrayed throughout the entire film. As the movie progresses we see Noah as this passion driven, obedient, confused, and possibly crazy older man who believes that He must kill himself and his family to eradicate evil from the world. This is certainly not a concept we see in the Biblical Narrative but, nonetheless, it is an interesting concept to explore. One of my favorite aspects of the film was that Aronofsky was not afraid to make it intense, raw, and even show things that the Bible does not explicitly show. He showed Noah dealing with the conflict of why God would kill everyone except for His family. Even though He was obedient to the Creator, He wondered why they should not be killed for the wickedness inside of them. After the flood in Genesis 9:20-21 we read that "Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent" (NRSV). This could lead one to believe that Noah was dealing with a lot and still having this "wickedness" in him it would make sense that this confusion would lead him to drunkenness.
Overall I felt that the movie beautifully showed God's care for both creation and humans (through the acts of Emma Watson's controversial character), God's promise to never destroy the earth again, and God bringing about the flood due to the wickedness of man. Though this film has many artistic liberties I find that it is a rather enjoyable film that really looks at how intense, raw, and thought provoking the time likely was. I am sure we can all agree the real Noah would not have been a happy-go-lucky guy knowing that his family were the only ones not dying below the water depths. There would have more than likely been an internal conflict that He had to deal with.
Noah turned out to be a very enjoyable movie just as a movie in and of itself. The artistic liberties added were an interesting interpretation and adaptation that made for a great story. Is it imperative that they got all of the facts right? No. Can it lead people to further investigate what Scripture says? Absolutely. Most movies that came from books lead many viewers to the original book. Does it show God's love and care? Yes, along with the confusion of man when dealing with matters of God.
I hope this gives you a reason to want to watch Noah because I would greatly encourage it. Don't listen to every negative thing you hear. Go out and watch the movie and then make your own decision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSaJE2rqxU
Now I would like to address the big qualms that Christians have had with the film. There was an uproar that Aronofsky, self-proclaiming atheist, made the decision to have God be referred to as "The Creator" throughout the entire film. Though that is true, I found it to be more of an accurate understanding of what they may have called God (Although if Christians truly wanted accuracy in the name then it would not have been in English). I found that it was a beautiful way to view God because He, after all, is the Creator of all things and that would make sense that they would view God in that way. Another issue that was raised was that there was an Environmental agenda in the film. Now this is something that I would say was prevalent but, at the same time it did not take away from the overarching message of the movie. If we read Scripture we see that God does have a care for creation and was not going to destroy the World, just its' inhabitants. The movie showed how corrupt the world had become which we clearly read in Scripture was the case.
Another issue that was presented was the rock, Tolkenesque, creatures that helped Noah build the ark and fight off the tribe of Cain. These were considered the "Watchers" who were fallen angels who had tried to help humanity after the Fall. The only reference in Scripture that I could find to back this up for the story of Noah is from Genesis 4:15-16 which says, "Then the Lord said to him, “Not so!Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (New Revised Standard Version). I wonder if they took this Mark that the Lord had given Cain and turned it into these "Watchers." Either way it was one of the artistic liberties that they took and I find it to be okay because it does not take away from the overall message and ultimately their story shows that God is loving, merciful, and forgiving.
The final issue that I have found people had with it is the way that Noah was portrayed throughout the entire film. As the movie progresses we see Noah as this passion driven, obedient, confused, and possibly crazy older man who believes that He must kill himself and his family to eradicate evil from the world. This is certainly not a concept we see in the Biblical Narrative but, nonetheless, it is an interesting concept to explore. One of my favorite aspects of the film was that Aronofsky was not afraid to make it intense, raw, and even show things that the Bible does not explicitly show. He showed Noah dealing with the conflict of why God would kill everyone except for His family. Even though He was obedient to the Creator, He wondered why they should not be killed for the wickedness inside of them. After the flood in Genesis 9:20-21 we read that "Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent" (NRSV). This could lead one to believe that Noah was dealing with a lot and still having this "wickedness" in him it would make sense that this confusion would lead him to drunkenness.
Overall I felt that the movie beautifully showed God's care for both creation and humans (through the acts of Emma Watson's controversial character), God's promise to never destroy the earth again, and God bringing about the flood due to the wickedness of man. Though this film has many artistic liberties I find that it is a rather enjoyable film that really looks at how intense, raw, and thought provoking the time likely was. I am sure we can all agree the real Noah would not have been a happy-go-lucky guy knowing that his family were the only ones not dying below the water depths. There would have more than likely been an internal conflict that He had to deal with.
Noah turned out to be a very enjoyable movie just as a movie in and of itself. The artistic liberties added were an interesting interpretation and adaptation that made for a great story. Is it imperative that they got all of the facts right? No. Can it lead people to further investigate what Scripture says? Absolutely. Most movies that came from books lead many viewers to the original book. Does it show God's love and care? Yes, along with the confusion of man when dealing with matters of God.
I hope this gives you a reason to want to watch Noah because I would greatly encourage it. Don't listen to every negative thing you hear. Go out and watch the movie and then make your own decision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSaJE2rqxU
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