If you want to watch AND ENJOY the movie Noah, you must do some homework. I just watched it tonight and loved it!! This is because I had an advantage over the average Christian... I've read the Book of Enoch before. BoE (Book of Enoch) talks about how man turned violent, not only against other men, but also against creation. Man was exploiting and destroying nature as part of their sinful rebellion. The most fantasy aspect of the movie was the Watchers... and even that plays very closely to BoE. It was awesome to see those characters creatively come alive in the movie!! The evil Watchers are responsible for much of man's destructive knowledge, so I liked how they tied in the good Watchers to being a part of Noah's story. There are so many other things, but I won't go into them now.
But wait... why give BoE any time of day? It's not in the Bible, so isn't it heresy? Well, BoE is actually quoted in our own Bible! Jude 14-15 gives a direct quote of BoE 2:1, and there are arguments that other authors of our Bible used quotes from BoE. BoE actually plays a part in our Church history too. Our earliest church fathers like, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origin and Clement of Alexandria all used parts of this book in their writings and theology. Tertullian even called it "Holy Scripture".
Regardless of if BoE is considered "inspired", it still plays a part in our history. Maybe think of it as an ancient commentary written well before Christ. Parts of it are even considered to have be written around the same time as the book of Daniel in 300 BC. From my reading of it, I do not find it offensive or dangerous. It part of our history, and I enjoyed it.
With all that being said, I'm glad they used BoE in the Noah movie. The movie kept all the original themes and message of the Bible... with the added flavor of the BoE (which I would say, doesn't hurt the Biblical account... it just gives some interesting extra details). I think making a Noah movie without the BoE would have made for a very boring and short movie. Between the Bible and the BoE, I would say the movie could arguably be considered 70% in accordance to both of the ancient texts... granted we do not get hung up on insignificant details.
I did not read any of the spoiler reviews, that most Christians seem so influenced by before I watched it, and I was completely and amazing surprised to see all the references to another part of our Church history. I wasn't expecting a "divinely inspired" film (as it seems many Christians where hoping for), I was expecting a creative depiction of some ancient writings from the "world's" perspective... and I was very happy with the outcome.
I would say most Christians are wrong about Noah (the movie)... because they are ignorant of the source material. I'm very disappointed at the judgemental, critical, and just plane arrogance I've seen rise up from Christians from the release of this movie. Half of the movie is based on one of our very own ancient writings that most do not even know exists. I think if we came at things from an educated and graceful stance, we could enjoy this movie. May we be slow to judge and quick to learn, so that we do not present ourselves as fools to a world that we want to share wisdom with. They made a movie using our ancient writing, without butchering the themes and keeping the message on target... we should not stick our noses up to them, but be graceful. Unless Christians want to put 130 million towards a film, I say we should be grateful.
If you see people posting reviews about the film that are ignorant of the actual source material (meaning BoE) please pass on this information. Disinformation should have no place in the Body of Christ. The movie really did not “twist” too much... it just added story from another of our ancient writings. With this information, most of Christian's critiques do not hold. I'd say go see the movie, hopefully enjoy the depiction of our ancient writings, and even use it to introduce others to the Bible. It's a book worth sharing, so let us use every means possible to spread it's message :)
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