“Noah”, Have You Watched It?

By Ian Tan

Weeks before the Hollywood blockbuster Noah was released, reviews and comments from the public on the questionable authenticity of the movie flooded the media. Facebook posts, tweets and online articles by both religious and non-religious reviewers created mixed reactions toward Hollywood’s approach in re-enacting the account from Genesis.

As I listened and read the views of several people, I waivered in my decision as to whether I would catch the movie. I finally decided to watch the show and was glad that I did. It was not that I agreed with the way Darren Aronofsky directed the movie but more because it satisfied my curiosity on what all the hype was about.

There were two scenes from Noah that left a lasting impression on me. The first was the opening scene showing Lamech (Noah’s father) passing on the Creator’s charge of tending the earth to Noah. The second was when Noah was on the ark with his family and recounted the creation story as well as the fall of mankind into sin.

For me, those two scenes shed insight as to how people in those times kept God’s commandments in their hearts. They were ever ready to pass it on by teaching God’s Word to the next generation.

Today, we live in an age and generation where God’s Word has become a type of information that can be easily googled or looked up. As a generation with so much exposure to God’s commandments, have we lost the longing to internalize it so that the Word becomes part of us?

Deuteronomy 11:18-19 exhorts us to remember God’s Word by heart so that we could seize teachable moments to pass them on. We read:

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Amidst all the unbiblical illustrations portrayed in the movie, I went away encouraged to re-think how I handle God’s Word in my life.

About Ian Tan

Ian is a proponent of Steve Jobs’ fashion style — black t-shirt and jeans are all you need in your closet. While you would usually find him talking to people, he’s actually an introvert and his favorite colour is green. Staying behind his camera capturing the beauty of God’s creation is where he’s most comfortable. If push comes to shove, he would rather jump out of a plane than sit on a roller coaster. But when it comes to potato chips, you can always find a supporter in him. Anytime, anyplace.