Home

Links

Jill Martin Rische is a ministry associate with Olive Tree Ministries and co host of "Understanding the Times" Radio. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Walter Martin.

Selling God
Objections to Darren Aronofsky's "Noah"

By Jill Martin Rische

On air and in print Olive Tree ministries (Jan Markell, Eric Barger, and myself) are reacting to the series of supposedly Bible-based movies coming out in 2014. Don’t let Hollywood fool you. They are not suddenly spiritual. They want the dollar of Christians. The most offensive film of 2014 may turn out to be the blockbuster “Noah” movie. Jill writes about it below. We find it tragic that many Christian organizations are endorsing the film “Noah” that has little resemblance to the Biblical account.

A light switch has flipped on in the heads of some Hollywood elite: Bible stories sell and you don’t even have to be faithful to the original text. Make it up as you go--project your angst, ulterior motives, or even your religion onto the public screen and in the process, make some big bucks -- no worries. Noah was a man who walked with God in a time of terrible evil. He was so close to God that he heard His voice over and over again. Genesis tells us that Noah was the only man on earth during that dark time who found favor in the eyes of God.

But Hollywood Director Darren Aronofsky -- a man whose faith in God consists of contemplating the flow of ancient energy from somewhere out in the universe as it makes its way to earth and evolves into life -- this Godless man thinks he can rewrite biblical facts on a whim because, of course, he doesn’t consider them to be facts.

Selling God is easy when you know nothing about Him -- you can change everything He ever said about Himself or mankind or Heaven and Hell, simply by using your imagination. That doesn’t make it true. Selling God is always easy when you don’t believe in Him because you get to be the boss, and that’s what human nature loves.

The real Noah walked with God but the new Hollywood-style Noah emerges as a grumpier, gloomier version of Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, fleeing from the sins of global warming to the safety of an ark. It is as silly and offensive as Hollywood gets, twisting the natures of both God and Noah and their great love for each other--out of arrogance and greed.

“Noah”, the movie, could have been a blockbuster, potentially tapping into the status of the classic “Ten Commandments”, if only Aronofsky had stuck to the original Biblical script.

Instead, he chose to make a propaganda piece whose reach will be a minute percentage of what it could have been.

In the end, God will triumph over inane climate change and disbelief because He said He will turn the bad into good. He can take even the foolishness of man and bring good from it. We can only hope someone--even just one person -- will want to know more about the Creator of the Universe after seeing this film, but it is up to us to tell people just how badly it was bungled.

“Noah” is the most expensive film Darren Aronofsky has ever made, coming in at a whopping $130-160 million, and proving in an ark-sized way that selling God can still pay well, even if you don’t know what you’re doing.