100 Pasajes Bíblicos Populares #5 El pacto del Arco Iris

 

Génesis 9

1 Bendijo Dios a Noé y a sus hijos, y les dijo: Fructificad y multiplicaos, y llenad la tierra.
2 El temor y el miedo de vosotros estarán sobre todo animal de la tierra, y sobre toda ave de los cielos, en todo lo que se mueva sobre la tierra, y en todos los peces del mar; en vuestra mano son entregados.
3 Todo lo que se mueve y vive, os será para mantenimiento: así como las legumbres y plantas verdes, os lo he dado todo.

4 Pero carne con su vida, que es su sangre, no comeréis.

5 Porque ciertamente demandaré la sangre de vuestras vidas; de mano de todo animal la demandaré, y de mano del hombre; de mano del varón su hermano demandaré la vida del hombre.
6 El que derramare sangre de hombre, por el hombre su sangre será derramada; porque a imagen de Dios es hecho el hombre.

7 Mas vosotros fructificad y multiplicaos; procread abundantemente en la tierra, y multiplicaos en ella.

8 Y habló Dios a Noé y a sus hijos con él, diciendo:
9 He aquí que yo establezco mi pacto con vosotros, y con vuestros descendientes después de vosotros;
10 y con todo ser viviente que está con vosotros; aves, animales y toda bestia de la tierra que está con vosotros, desde todos los que salieron del arca hasta todo animal de la tierra.

11 Estableceré mi pacto con vosotros, y no exterminaré ya más toda carne con aguas de diluvio, ni habrá más diluvio para destruir la tierra.

12 Y dijo Dios: Esta es la señal del pacto que yo establezco entre mí y vosotros y todo ser viviente que está con vosotros, por siglos perpetuos:

13 Mi arco he puesto en las nubes, el cual será por señal del pacto entre mí y la tierra.
14 Y sucederá que cuando haga venir nubes sobre la tierra, se dejará ver entonces mi arco en las nubes.
15 Y me acordaré del pacto mío, que hay entre mí y vosotros y todo ser viviente de toda carne; y no habrá más diluvio de aguas para destruir toda carne.
16 Estará el arco en las nubes, y lo veré, y me acordaré del pacto perpetuo entre Dios y todo ser viviente, con toda carne que hay sobre la tierra.

17 Dijo, pues, Dios a Noé: Esta es la señal del pacto que he establecido entre mí y toda carne que está sobre la tierra.

 

 

*

 

 

 

100 Pasajes Bíblicos Populares #4 El arca de Noé

Génesis 6

1 Aconteció que cuando comenzaron los hombres a multiplicarse sobre la faz de la tierra, y les nacieron hijas,

5 Y vio Jehová que la maldad de los hombres era mucha en la tierra, y que todo designio de los pensamientos del corazón de ellos era de continuo solamente el mal.
6 Y se arrepintió Jehová de haber hecho hombre en la tierra, y le dolió en su corazón.
7 Y dijo Jehová: Raeré de sobre la faz de la tierra a los hombres que he creado, desde el hombre hasta la bestia, y hasta el reptil y las aves del cielo; pues me arrepiento de haberlos hecho.
8 Pero Noé halló gracia ante los ojos de Jehová.
9 Estas son las generaciones de Noé: Noé, varón justo, era perfecto en sus generaciones; con Dios caminó Noé.
10 Y engendró Noé tres hijos: a Sem, a Cam y a Jafet.
11 Y se corrompió la tierra delante de Dios, y estaba la tierra llena de violencia.
12 Y miró Dios la tierra, y he aquí que estaba corrompida; porque toda carne había corrompido su camino sobre la tierra.
13 Dijo, pues, Dios a Noé: He decidido el fin de todo ser, porque la tierra está llena de violencia a causa de ellos; y he aquí que yo los destruiré con la tierra.
14 Hazte un arca de madera de gofer; harás aposentos en el arca, y la calafatearás con brea por dentro y por fuera.

18 Mas estableceré mi pacto contigo, y entrarás en el arca tú, tus hijos, tu mujer, y las mujeres de tus hijos contigo.
19 Y de todo lo que vive, de toda carne, dos de cada especie meterás en el arca, para que tengan vida contigo; macho y hembra serán.

Génesis 7

“1  Y JEHOVÁ dijo a Noé: Entra tú, y toda tu casa en el arca; porque a tí he visto justo delante de mí en esta generación. 2 De todo animal limpio te tomarás de siete en siete, macho y su hembra: mas de los animales que no son limpios, dos, macho y su hembra. 3 También de las aves de los cielos, de siete en siete, macho y hembra: para guardar en vida la simiente sobre la haz de toda la tierra. 4 Porque pasados aun siete dias, yo lluevo sobre la tierra cuarenta dias, y cuarenta noches: y raeré toda sustancia que hice, de sobre la haz de la tierra.

“5  E hizo Noé conforme a todo lo que le mandó Jehová.

6 Y siendo Noé de seiscientos años, el diluvio de las aguas fué sobre la tierra. 7 Y vino Noé, y su hijos, y su mujer, y las mujeres de sus hijos con él al arca, por las aguas del diluvio. 8 De los animales limpios, y de los animales que no eran limpios, y de las aves, y de todo lo que anda arrastrando sobre la tierra, 9 De dos en dos entraron a Noé en el arca, macho y hembra, como mandó Dios a Noé. 10 Y fué, que al séptimo día las aguas del diluvio fueron sobre la tierra.

11  El año de seiscientos de la vida de Noé, en el mes segundo, a los diez y siete dias del mes, aquel día fueron rompidas todas las fuentes del grande abismo, y las ventanas de los cielos fueron abiertas. 12 Y hubo lluvia sobre la tierra cuarenta dias y cuarenta noches. 13  En este mismo día entró Noé, y Sem, y Cam, y Jafet, hijos de Noé, la mujer de Noé, y las tres mujeres de sus hijos con él en el arca.” (Ge 7:5-13 RV1865)

 

 

*

 

 

 

Wonderen van de Schepping: De duif

Voorbeelden uit de natuurwereld van Gods’ grote wijsheid: Duiven (Columbidae)

Onmiddelijk na zijn doop zag Jezus de Geest van God op Zich neerdalen in de vorm van een duif. Waarom? Jezus kwam “om te dienen en zijn leven te geven als losprijs voor velen” (Matt.20:28). De Geest werd Hem gegeven om dat te kunnen. En als symbool van een dienaar was de duif
zeer toepasselijk.

Na de zondvloed Het offer van Noach, 1847-185

Van oudsher zijn duiven gebruikt om mensen te dienen. Zij kunnen instinctief de weg naar hun ouders terugvinden. Noach maakte van deze eigenschap gebruik toen hij wilde weten hoe ver het water van de zondvloed was gezakt (Gen.8:8-11). De boodschap was bevredigend en zowel de duif als het olijfblad dat zij bracht zijn sindsdien symbolen van vrede geworden.
Toch eist de ware vrede – die tussen God en de mens – verzoening en daarom offers. Voordat God zijn verbond met Noach aanging, bracht Noach offers van reine dieren en vogels (Gen.8:20-22). Hoe wist hij het onderscheid tussen rein en onrein?

De wet van Mozes kwam vele jaren later. Wij concluderen dat de bepalingen in Leviticus 11 al eerder bekend waren en nemen daarom aan dat Noach duiven als brandoffer bracht. Dat was tenslotte de enige vogelsoort die als brandoffer en zondoffer onder de wet voorgeschreven was (Lev.1:14; 5:7, enz.).
Jozef en Maria waren verplicht Jezus als eerstgeborene naar de tempel in Jeruzalem te brengen, om hem aan Jehovah God voor te stellen (Lev.12:6-8). Het feit dat zij twee tortelduiven als offer brachten getuigt van hun relatieve armoede (Luc.2:22-24).

Tórtola común (Streptopelia turtur -Zomertortelduif

Van de duiven mogen wij ook iets leren over het huwelijk. We zeggen van een verliefd stel wel eens dat het net tortelduifjes zijn. Misschien heeft u wel eens een duivenpaar teder en lief bij elkaar zien zitten. Drie of vier keer per jaar komen zij tot broeden en blijven elkaar jaar op jaar trouw.
Teder en trouw, zo hoort het te zijn tussen man en vrouw in een huwelijk, en vooral in geestelijke zin. Het is geen toeval dat de bruid in het boek Hooglied telkens door haar geliefde als een duif beschreven wordt (b.v. 2:14; 5:2; 6:9), want Hooglied beeldt de relatie tussen Christus en zijn bruid uit. De onderlinge houding van broeders en zusters in het geloof wordt bepaald door hun bijzondere relatie met hem.

C.T.

Men who believed and had faith in a Higher Power they could not see

In the ancient past there were men who did know where to go. They could have followed their own path, but they choose to follow the directions given to them by a much higher Power than any human being.

Today there are many people who believe their patriarch Abraham got there where he had to be by the Power of the One Who directed him and Who he was prepared to follow. By his act of faith Abraham received a blessing which may come over to his progeny. The Jews believe they are the rightful descendants of the patriarch Abraham. Muslims also take Abraham as their most important patriarch and ‘father’. In him they all see a man of faith,like there have been many people of faith who went before us and showed us what we too should belief and do.

In the ancient books we come to see that faith led Abel to offer God a better sacrifice than Cain’s sacrifice. Scripture also tells us about Enoch who was taken by God because He had found in him a man of faith and because He was pleased with him. We also should see that no one can please God without faith. Whoever goes to God must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

It was also faith that led Noah to listen when God warned him about the things in the future that he could not see. This man came to build an ark in a place were there was no big water and found people laughing at him. No matter how they ridiculed him he obeyed God and built a ship to save his family. Through faith Noah condemned the world and received God’s approval that comes through faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

Can you imagine someone would tell you in your old age that you can still get children or would ask you to some place you do not know?  Again in the Old Testament we come to know about a man with faith which led him to obey when God called him to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham left his own country without knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8) It led him to live as a foreigner in the country that the Elohim Hashem Jehovah had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God the Most High.  Abraham trusted God and was waiting for the city that God had designed and built, the city with permanent foundations. (Hebrews 11:9)

All those pepole showed they had strong belief in that Unseen Power. they were convinced that they could fully trust that Voice that reached them from the unknown. For them That Voice was much more important than any human voice. they were convinced there was a better substance for them when the would follow that Incredible Voice, than what man could offer them. They had the feeling that what would come over them or would given to them when they would follow that Voice was much more important than what the world could or would give them. They did not first demand evidence. They had not to see a thing or set of things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment. The means by which an allegation could have been proven, such as oral testimony, documents, or physical objects, were not necessary for them. By faith they followed what was deep in their heart.

We can see that it was faith that enabled Abraham to become a father, even though he was old and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise. We should remember that Abraham was as good as dead. Yet, from this man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore. (Hebrews 11:11)

Looking at those men we should know that they didn’t receive the things that God had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth.

We too today, should consider ourselves as tenants in this world; Sojourners, travelling in this time space.  We reside temporarily on this earth where mankind tries to make something of it, but has proven not to succeed in it. Therefore we should trust God and look forward to the coming times and the coming Kingdom of God.

Through faith Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets conquered kingdoms, did what God approved, and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, and escaped death. They found strength when they were weak. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies.(Hebrews 11:32-33)

All these people, mentioned above, were known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised. God planned to give us something very special so that we would gain eternal life with them. It is in those promises which are made we should have faith.

As faith convinces us that God created the world through his word, we also believe that He guided His people all the time and that He does not abandon any one who is willing to belief in Him. We should put our hope and trust in the Unseen and put our hope on Him and on His son who paved the way to the entrance of the great Kingdom. Without faith we shall never be able to reach the right goal or to run and finish the race.

*

Please do read the faith-chapter of the apostate Paul, his letter to the Hebrews: Hebrews 11

+

Preceding

How to Live Beyond the Ordinary

How to set your mind

9 Adar and bickering or loving followers of the Torah preparing for Pesach

Knowing The Truth and Loving The Truth

++

Additional reading

1. Faith
2. Issue 116 of Faith alive
3. Assimilation of the mind to the divine ideas, principles, and affections exhibited in the Scriptures
4. Honest-hearted people are losing faith in humanity and humanity losing faith in God
5. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
6. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
7. Hope by faith and free gift

+++

Related

1. Pistis ( πίστις)
2. By faith Enoch
3. What to do to Grow in the Spirit
4. Be a God Pleaser
5. Oh Mighty God! by Penny Chavers
6. It is impossible to please God without faith. (today’s verse) 
7. A List Of Ten Things That God Is Pleased About
8. Please God, and not people
9. The Seen And The Unseen
10. When You Want to Step out but You’re Afraid to Fail
11. Personal Victories
12. Leadership Insight…
13. We should learn from each other
14. Holding on to God
15. Hey God…Meditation Monday
16. Inside the Mind: The Human Soul
17. Today is One PartDivine Providence
18. Lessons from Hopelessness

Savouring pictorial entertainement

Casual photo of Dr. Ted Baehr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of Movieguide looks at the tolerating self-destructive or socially destructive behavior in our children. According to him it is not a sign of love, but hate, as well as parental neglect. He warns the public also that our narcissistic society is on the brink of stewing in the vile juice of its own self-destructive behaviour.

Consequently, we seem to have forgotten what love entails.

God calls us all to love our neighbour as ourselves, both Jew and Gentile. That divine call entails helping ourselves and our neighbours get over intolerable destructive behaviour, such as violence against the innocent, alcoholic stupors and perverting our children’s innocent hearts and minds by frankly intervening and correcting such behaviour in a manner that brings about significant change or repentance).

He writes, reminding us of Leviticus:

Levitcus 19:17-18 AESV Torah  (17)  “‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him.  (18)  “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am Mar-Yah.

Today we should remind ourselves more of this saying, concerning what we bring our children in contact with. What do we allow to come in front of their eyes?

Nothing should lead a young person into viewing something that would lead them down the road to perdition. Young people tell us all the time they’ve been blessed by the guidance of Movieguide®.

Ted Baehr thinks love marks the freedom of the abundant life (as promised by Jesus Christ) with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit – wisdom, knowledge, discernment, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, apostleship, teaching, evangelism, pastoring, leadership, encouragement, faith, healing, miraculous powers, administration, service, giving, and mercy – built on all the fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. But should parents not wonder more what the freedom may entail? The last twenty years we can see too much unguided freedom is given to children. They were allowed to do what they wanted and see what they wanted, but were left on their own. Television has become the modern babysit. It is so easy to set the (little) children in front of the (big) television screen and have it savouring the full entertainment stuff presented by all sorts of channels and entertainment groups.

Baehr reports that in 1985 only 1 percent of the films made by Hollywood contained “positive, redemptive content,” according to Movieguide’s grading scale. But after more than 20 years of conclusive evidence that audiences back their desire for positive, faith-affirming and family-friendly films with box office bucks, now more than 65 percent of the movies made include “positive, redemptive” content and storylines.

In most of the things shown on television or in the cinema it is not clear any more what is good and what is bad. Regular non commitments sex with several people, of the other but also of the same sex is often promoted and violence looks like a game to enjoy. In Aronofsky’s film Noah, good and evil are two very distinct things at first.  Noah’s family — the descendents of Seth — are “good” and Tubal-Cain and his people are “evil.”  Early in the film Noah’s son Ham sees a flower he believes to be pretty and picks it, after which Noah explains that they should only take what they need from the earth, never more.  In this human beings should recognise the lesson the Bible and the film maker want to get across, how we have to treat creation. Tubal-Cain’s tribe, on the other hand, will kill or destroy all creation without care in order to build industrialized cities.

Several conservative Christians may say not such messages are given in the Bible, but than they should read it better, and also between the lines on many places.  While not mentioned in story of Noah in the Bible, Tubal-Cain can be found in Genesis 4:22, as a son of Lamech (a descendant of Cain) “who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools….[his] sister was Naamah.”  It makes sense for Aronofsky to pull Tubal-Cain into his interpretation of this story because while not mentioned in the Bible, rabbinic literature (The Book of Jasher, chapter 5) suggests that Naamah was the wife of Noah (also the name of Noah’s wife in the movie, played by Jennifer Connelly). {“Book of Jasher, Chapter 5.” Sacred Texts. http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/5.htm (accessed April 11, 2014).}  Critics should be happy to know that a reference to The Book of Jasher (Sefer ha-Yashar) appears in Scripture in Joshua 10:13.

Parents seem to forget how much such television screening can impact the life of their child. A view of this world is given to the viewer, which is not always realistic nor in accordance to Judeo-Christian values. Often there is not given a reflection of how we behave or how weak we are.

Noah sees how women are being dragged into tents, presumably to be raped. He notices also how man has become full of lust and egoism, not taking any interest any more in the other. The same as we can notice today. He realizes how bad the world has become and find it high time to let them know how the Creator is indignant. Noah knows it is a justifiable anger of the Divine Creator, because man itself should recognise how man do dishonour God His creation. Noah also realizes that his family will have to die in an environment where they will form a solitude of lovers of God. Because of his insight into the depraved world he chooses, out of his love for his children, to save his seed for the poor, and he thinks the commission of an infanticide security will be for the better of the child. He let his happy beloved son Ham be trampled by a crowd. As such he knows his child will not be part of those people fighting over food, slaughtering animals in grotesque fashion (it’s like an undercover animal rights investigation), and not having to face all the killing of one another going on. He can imagine himself partaking in all of this.  And this brings us some heavy pictures to swallow. In such dreams we can take an attitude we would like to make possible. As such we also get a warning how we have to cope with our thoughts. For the conservative evangelicals it could also be a warning that we all have to be careful not to play for God. Evangelicals may consider that they are correctly following God’s Word and are handling in (blind) obedience to their God. By taking certain actions and proclaiming certain things they think they know for sure what their God thinks. But we should know that it is more what “they think their gods want them to do” based on interpolation of the sacred text, the people are known for terrible things.

Over-thinking everything he sees Noah realizes in that moment that he is no different than any of these people.  He too, is subject to the duality of man. are we not all guilty of certain dreams where we picture ourselves in ‘happy circumstances’? How many of us may not enjoy some films or television series, placing ourselves in the role of the character of the play? How much do we let our ghost wander? How many of us do not like to enjoy such adventures we can see on the little screen? Dreaming or thinking of such events or activities which are not in accordance to the Will of God, are as bad as doing it or taking part of it. And Noah knows that. He for a moment seems to be enjoying such things as well, but he is confronted by the badness of such thoughts. He, like we, should know how much such thoughts are also part of something God does not like. He tells us that already looking with desiring eyes is already a sin.

Parents confront their children with many pictures they themselves often would desire and would not mind dreaming of. They give food to their children with lots of things which they should know are not in unison with the Will of God.

We do not know exactly what God is thinking, but from His Word we can have some idea. People have been known to do terrible things. They regularly have to be warned when they go astray or when some things are going to go really wrong.

Several people may be excited God and Jesus are back on the big screen. Many mega churches call their followers to go to fill the theatres. For the cinema owners it would be good business, but we wonder if it will be good business for God. One good thing is that once again people can speak about God, commandments, Jesus, how we have to behave and live, how the world has to continue. This are good things. People should be more aware of such issues.

The backers of Son of God are hoping for its own Passion of the Christ moment. The 2004 Mel Gibson film was a huge commercial success, grossing over $600 million, despite mixed reviews from critics and very understandable concerns over the portrayal of Jewish people in the film. Son of God has even made an attempt to remove its own potential controversy from its big screen version. The producers cut out scenes with the Satan or Devil when re-formatting their miniseries for the big screen. That’s because, in part, the actor who played the devil bore (for some) a striking resemblance to the current president.

All events of the small or bigger screen can always be related to the real life. All fiction can be used to learn lessons for the world of facts. We may use it but we should be careful what we do want to come in front of our kids.

Integrated Behavior Tree (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Our worldview (including what values we adopt and live by) determines whether you will forgive or seek revenge, be generous or stingy, be courteous or rude, be independent or dependent. People with worldviews build or destroy, rescue or torture, join churches or join gangs. Finally, a society’s prevailing worldview shapes its culture, and, of course, the mass media has a powerful impact on every worldview.

Distracted by the cruel shibboleth of “tolerance,” even judicial systems built on Christian principles are now confused about some very basic values.

For instance, in Germany, a man put an ad in the paper asking if anyone wanted to be killed and cannibalized. Surprisingly, several people answered his ad. He chose one, slaughtered him, and ate him. The court in Germany was hard-pressed to find a reason to convict this villain since both men were “mutually consenting adults.”

What kind of moral idiots and mental midgets are we breeding here? How do these people even get high school diplomas, much less college degrees? There, but for the Grace of God, go we!

This case and many others show how low a culture can sink when it rejects the love of God and the love of its neighbour.

True love refuses to tolerate such evil. True love affirms life. True love gives. True love shares. True love does not delight in evil or sinful behaviour, including extra-marital lust.

Lust, on the other hand, consumes. It takes without permission. Lust is never satisfied.

We have moved from a society of love to a society of lust where we tolerate evil in the name of self-gratification, or in the name of trying not to “offend” another person. This is exactly what’s happening when many of our leaders, including church leaders, are asking us to tolerate rampant gang crime in our inner cities, rampant illegal immigration that flouts the nation’s laws, and rampant prostitution and perverse lust on our public streets.

As a result, our culture faces economic, moral, and spiritual collapse, and God is warning us to turn back from the brink of self-destruction by removing His blessing and allowing the alarms of natural and social disasters to sound to wake us from this nightmare of self-destruction. Sadly, like Pharaoh at the time of Moses, the warning alarms of a series of plagues screaming out “let my people go” may be falling on such hardened hearts and tone deaf ears that our current governing powers will not heed the warnings but will persist in America and Western Civilization’s continued self-destruction.

writes Ted Baehr. {Love vs. Lust: Transforming the Culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ}

“Most people dedicated to a particular faith are likely to find the violence, substance abuse, sexual immorality, and mocking of traditional values in most modern movies offensive,”

said Megan Basham, entertainment editor at Christian news site, World Magazine.

“The rare well-made film that offers the opposite is going to appeal to church-goers of every stripe.”

Christians in the world should know were to go and were to look for. They shall have to make choices and direct their children and their loved ones to get to see the right things and come to understand what is good and what is bad. They have to avoid this descent into the personal hell of an intolerable evil and lustful narcissism that destroys body, mind, soul, and spirit. As Baehr rightly says,

those who still love their neighbour must take a stand.

That stand according to him includes:

• Praying for an awakening, for the gifts of a fear of judgement and knowledge of the love of God, as manifested in the free gift of new life offered by God Himself, Jesus Christ, the prophesied messiah for both Jews and Gentiles.
• Reclaiming the role of the church and the family, not the state, in the rule of all matters of faith and values, including godly education and marriage.
• Exposing the fruitless works of darkness and excommunicating those in the church who pretend to be faithful while espousing a politics of “I don’t care what you do” tolerance instead of love. Because they are leading others astray, these callous pretenders need to be reprimanded by a new 95 theses nailed on their doors declaring them unfit for preaching, teaching, discipling, or fellowship.
• Excommunicating those in the church and government who tolerate evil. If they persist, legal action must be brought against them in the church and against government leaders in the courts for violating the inalienable rights of people, for distorting God’s Truth, and for violating the Constitution of the United States of America. We need to stand for God’s Law in the face of the abuse of power to inflict harm by those in civil authority, who know no restraints. Doing anything less is a form of secular, if not demonic, tyranny.

The writer of the article believes vast majority of people have faith and values. Now, they need to exercise love by refusing to tolerate the evils destroying our culture and jeopardizing the future of our children and grandchildren.

Model Behavior (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Moviegoings writes in Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?

Our fallen human nature and brokenness as believers isn’t always manifested in ways as dramatic and overtly evil as the Church turning over a group of innocents for murder and enslavement. Sometimes it looks more like the recent imbroglio over World Vision International, for example, or like producing and praising a “Christian” movie that “takes every available chance to unfortunately stereotype, almost to the point of offensiveness, every people group represented.” Whatever the situation, however grave or seemingly trivial, these are failures of Christian community and Christian love. And when it comes to the mainline evangelical approach to movies, there is also a chronic failure of Christian imagination, impoverished by sanctimony without discernment, and atrophied from lack of use.

Fans of God’s Not Dead might regard the negative reviews on the film as further affirmation of secular hostility towards “the truth,” rather than an informed assessment of the movie’s ham-fisted lack of artistry.

Perhaps most disturbing of all, at least to me, is that this film’s audience is so insular and out-of-touch that they regard a product that is avowedly preaching exclusively to the choir as a valid evangelistic tool.

writes Jared in Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?.

At Movieguide® they are convinced that very strong redemptive content in movies does much better than very strong negative content. We also at From Guestwriters are convinced that we do need much more articles in the world showing the good things and the better ways to live. We also do find we do have to concentrate much more on the old commandment – to love one another, and to show our preparedness to do that in honesty.

God wants us to make our culture more free and more civilized. He wants us to be the light of the world. He wants us to teach our children to love Him because He loves them so much.

So, then, how should we live?

Go into all the world with the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ and do not be afraid. For, we are heirs to God’s His kingdom, and we come with faith, with freedom, with thanksgiving, and with the power, love, and joy of the Lord, not the lusts of our sinful nature.

What can we possibly give our children and grandchildren that is more valuable than that, than a culture which honours Jesus Christ and His Gospel of True Love? Nothing!

ends Ted Baehr in his article: Love vs. Lust: Transforming the Culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

+++

Related articles

• All Things Truly Wicked Start from Innocence, or “Hey Everyone, I Watched Aronofsky’s NOAH!” (beatlands.com)
  Darren Aronofsky is one of my favorite filmmakers, as he is just so excellent at capturing the human condition.  He is a master of creating complex characters whose private demons will elicit all sorts of feels in the audience and probably shatter your soul a little bit.  NOAH, while not Aronofsky’s finest work (I reserve that spot for Requiem For A Dream) and not necessarily soul-shattering, takes the Biblical deluge myth and makes it relevant to a world in which nature is being threatened by industry—our world.
• Noah: A dissection. (faithandfrustration.wordpress.com)
  How far would you go for God? How sure would you have to be that he was speaking to you? That it wasn’t just some delusion? What is our responsibility as Christians towards the planet? How important are the choices we make?Those are just a few of the questions that Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah asks. And they are all very, very good questions. This review is going to be full of spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, please go see it first. Do be warned, however – it is a dark movie, and quite disturbing at times. You know, kind of like the actual story of Noah.
  +
  I’m a Christian, and I value the story of Noah. I don’t think it’s literal, but it’s probably based on some very important historical facts. However, this movie is NOT a Christian movie. It’s a Jewish movie. It’s heavily inspired by Jewish Midrash – this is a certain style of reading the Hebrew Scriptures. Essentially (and I might be getting this wrong), midrash is reading the scripture and then interpreting it several different ways, and letting the interpretations sit. It’s not about finding the ‘right’ way to interpret a scripture, but about providing possibilities. Noah is definitely in this vein.
• “Is this the end of everything?” Noah – review. (josaustin91.wordpress.com)
  Being one of many controversial and outrage-inducing elements to irritate church circles and flood the internet (no pun intended) are the film’s supposed biblical inaccuracies and distortions of ‘God’s word’.It seems Hollywood can’t please everyone, as many Christians and others believe that God existed before this beginning, and have also voiced  their unhappiness with the film’s depiction of Noah as a ‘psychopathic killer.’But with atheist director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan) on record as saying that Noah is “the least biblical biblical film ever made” and producers Paramount explaining that the film is “inspired by the story of Noah”, this inevitable religious backlash is something non-believers need not worry about.
• Noah, the Movie (biblescienceguy.wordpress.com)
  Noah’s Flood is the pivotal geological event of all time because it utterly transformed the globe. Mountains, ravines, ocean basins, and continents probably all date from the time of the Flood—they were either formed by or drastically altered by the Flood. Most fossils were probably deposited by the Flood.The Apostle Peter declared the Flood destroyed the world (2 Peter 3:6). The Flood caused geological damage to the earth that defies imagination. Turbulent Flood waters caused massive erosion worldwide. Churning sediments were hydraulically sorted and settled in layers, solidifying during the following decades. Geological adjustments continued for centuries after the Flood. The oceanic, atmospheric, and geologic upheavals of Noah’s Flood exceed man’s capacity to comprehend.
• Movie Review: Noah (infobarrel.com)
  The story is not quite true to the Biblical story, as read in one Bible. Even without considering the similarities to a story in the even older Epic of Gilgamesh,[2] there is a tendency for some to take the entire Bible as gospel (sic) truth, rather than as a parable, even when logic shows that the literal meaning does not work – Noah was building an Ark, not a Tardis, and that many animals for that length of time would have built up a lot of waste. The film does come up with a solution for some of these problems, through the knowledge of herbalism of Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), Noah’s wife.
• ‘Noah’ Movie review: As promised, it’s not a Biblical movie, but worse – it’s not a good movie (theglobaldispatch.com)
  Director Darren Aronofsky promised his film Noah would not be a “very religious story” and he certainly didn’t disappoint in that regards. Later Aronofsky attempted to clarify his statements, attempting not to alienate Evangelical viewers, saying “I think people who are believers will see the ideas and the values that they’re looking for represented in the film…” – more on that Here.
• Movie Review: Noah (reellifewithjane.com)
  I admit I’m not up on my Bible studies as much as I should be, but despite the contrasts between the story told in the Bible and director Darren Aronofsky’s film, I still really liked this movie. I went into it determined to view the movie on its own merit, and in that way, it delivers as an entertaining, well-cast, well-written movie with great special effects.
• Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Noah: A Midrash by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel (Interview) (huffingtonpost.com)
  When Darren Aronofsky was 13, he wrote a poem inspired by the biblical story of Noah that won an award from the United Nations and was part of a lifelong quest to bring the story to the big screen. After 10 years of trying to develop the project in Hollywood, Darren Aronofsky and co-writer and producer Ari Handel will introduce their interpretation of Noah to the world this Friday when the movie opens across the country.Not surprisingly, there has been controversy around Noah that has featured the Sunday School crowd loudly declaring that they will refuse to see the film because it does not simply tell the story in the Bible. That is, of course, ridiculous. First of all, the Bible is never simple, and any depiction of it that doesn’t acknowledge that complexity is doing the Bible a disservice.I’ve seen Noah, and it is epic, mythic and wrestles with questions of God, creation and the role of humans within it — in other words, it is biblical.That said, the apocalyptic story of Noah that Handel and Aronofsky have rendered will disturb some people — not because it is unbiblical, but because it is a biblical vision to which they object.
• Dear America: A Response to Our Mass Violence Du Jour (anapperscompanion.com)
  In a month or two, someone will lash out, killing or injuring another dozen or two, and we’ll do what we always do: scratch our heads, look for behaviors foretelling violence, and ask what can be done to prevent such a horror from happening again.
• Why Are We Spiteful, Even Though It Bites Us Back? (wnyc.org)
  Why do people willingly inconvenience or even harm themselves in order harm others? And why are some of us more spiteful than others? Being aggressive and lacking empathy might have a lot to do with it, researchers say.”Spite can become very destructive,” says David Marcus, a psychologist at Washington State University and the lead author of a study published in the journal Psychological Assessment.