USING NOAH IN SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS

The following was posted on CruPress Green 

The new Paramount film NOAH, starring Russell Crowe, can be a great conversation starter with your questioning or non-believing friends. This film has a big budget and intends to make a big statement. You may well want to see it for its modern-day cultural influence. So, invite someone to attend the film with you or find folks who’ve already seen it, and initiate some meaningful spiritual discussions over “a cup of tea.”

But we need to warn you, this is not your little sister’s Sunday School story about animals on a boat! Anytime Hollywood takes on a biblical theme it is usually a mixed blessing. This time is no different.

If you wanted to capture the movie NOAH in a single word, the word would be dark. Anyone familiar with the film credits of director and co-writer Darren Aronofsky would expect nothing less. Black Swan is about a prima ballerina’s descent into madness and suicide. The Wrestler is about trying (and failing) to pick up the pieces of fading glory in the ring.Requiem for a Dream is considered by many to be the most authentic (and depressing) view of what it’s like to live with a drug addict. And The Fountain tackles terminal illness and loss.

So it should come as no surprise that Aronofsky’s NOAH is a relentlessly dark, conflicted, imaginatively provocative Hollywood work of fiction, inspired by the biblical story of Noah. The good news is, the movie powerfully explores themes of sin, righteousness, judgment, mercy and redemption. The film poses a number of worthwhile questions: Is mankind worth saving? Is God worth worshiping? Does God speak, and if so, how can we discern His voice? That’s why it can work as a great conversation opener you can use to talk about the heart of the gospel with believers and non-believers alike.

Below we’ve prepared a series of questions you may want to use with those who’ve seen the film. In brackets after each main question are some potential follow-up questions or other helpful information. (But you should know, there are also a number of plot spoilers!)

Dr. Alan Scholes
Dr. Gary Stanley

A final suggestion: You may want to read the story of Noah in The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Although this was written for children, the book is a simple, Christ-honoring retelling of many Bible stories, which a surprising number have used for Bible-study discussion groups!

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