The Noah movie - amazingly wrong!

I had heard the new movie "Noah" was not accurate with the Bible. I didn't read a lot of reviews, but I did hear that it showed God destroyed the world because man didn't care for the environment, rather than because of man's sin. I heard that entertainment doesn't have to be exactly in line with the Bible, but just be aware of that when watching it, and enjoy the artistry of the movie. I heard it was done really well as far as effects, so I decided to watch it. Big mistake. I was wiggling in my seat, hoping it was going to redeem itself, which it never did. I was amazed at HOW inaccurate it was, how evil it made Noah appear, and how vague and cruel it made God appear.


I would think that most people would know it is extremely inaccurate, but dare to say that many will not know the true account of Noah's ark in the Bible because of lack of church attendance and Bible reading in our culture today. Beyond that, there isn't a ton of information found in Scripture as to the details, but this movie got the major points wrong from what is clear in Scripture. I feel like I have to clarify some things for anyone who does not know the true account of Noah in the Bible.


There were multiple major issues, and I'm sure I won't be able to recall all of them in this post. Yes, creating a movie allows you to take creative license, but something like this should at least have the basic truth in it. First of all, it shows fallen angels who were punished by God for trying to help man in the garden of Eden. They disobeyed God, so he caused them to fall into molten lava and turn to stone. Now they appear like transformers made of rock. They hate man, except for one, who likes Noah and his family because he sees they have been chosen by God.  Later they all decide to help build the ark. Cain's descendants have destroyed the earth, and Seth's descendants are just about annihilated. Methuselah has special magical powers. 


Noah has disturbing visions, but no clear instructions from God. The burden is on Noah to decide if anyone lives, or if everyone dies.  He realizes that all mankind is evil, so no one should live, not even him and his family. No human is allowed on the ark except Noah and his family. Just the animals should survive because they are unharmed from the consequences of sin. He tries to find his sons each a wife at first, but then decides there are none good enough. Ham is rebellious against his dad, and goes out and finds himself a good woman, who dies and gets trampled as the evil men run toward the ark after it starts raining. Noah has an opportunity to prevent her death, but does not save her, making Ham even more unloyal to his dad. It starts raining before Noah's family is in the ark. Noah closes the door, making sure his family is in the ark, but he remains outside the door (but still on the ark) after the violent water starts. He allows no one to come in, and  made sure they had no opportunity before the rain started. There are many who are wanting to kill Noah, and are angry at him. He makes it in, but so does an evil "king" who wants to kill Noah. Ham brings him food, but later thinks it might be a mistake as he starts to eat the animals on the ark (of which there are no "extras").


Noah's wife asked Methuselah to grant Shem's girlfriend fertility, and he did. They don't appear to have actually gotten married before they had sex. Assuming they did get married at some point, she gets pregnant while on the ark. Because Noah still has not gotten clear direction from God, and the assumption is that God wants everyone destroyed, Noah decides they will all die, and so will the baby if it is a girl. If a boy, he will replace Japheth (the youngest) as the last man alive. If a girl, she will die. Well, you guessed it, she had a girl...and another girl - twins!  He is about to stab the babies to death when he realizes he must disobey God, because he cannot do this heinous crime God wants him to do. He feels rejected by both his family and God, so separates from his wife after they land on the mountain. This, of course, is after he almost got killed by the evil stowaway on the ark. Shem's wife convinces him that he was good enough because he had love and mercy in his heart. He reunites with his wife, and blesses the two baby girls, instructing them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (two girls???). Ham and Japheth have no wives, and Ham has to leave because he saw the nakedness of his father, so was banned...alone, forever, with apparently no heirs.


Now for the Bible's account. Lamech had a son named Noah, for he said in Gen. 5:29: "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." In the movie the ground was desolate, but the curse the Bible is speaking of is the thorns and weeds.  Lamech in the movie was brutally murdered. The Bible says he lived 777 years, and he died in vs. 31 (before the canopy over the earth came down in the great flood, people lived several hundred years).  No mention of murder, so this is speculation.


Genesis 6:5-8 says, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." 


Genesis 6:9 says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.  Noah had a close relationship with the Lord.  He had 3 sons. Vs. 11 says that the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  Noah got clear instruction from God on what he was to do, and it was not Noah's doing, but God's.  vs. 13: "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." He goes on to say exactly how to make the ark with the exact measurements. In the movie, the transformer creatures helped, but in the Bible, he built the ark. His sons probably helped him, but the Bible doesn't clarify any more than to say that "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he" in vs. 22.


In chapter 7 the Lord clearly tells Noah in vs. 1: "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Then he states the numbers and types of animals that would be coming on the ark. Some are in 7's, and some in 2's. He states that the rain will start in 7 days, and will continue for forty days and forty nights in v. 4. Everything on the earth will be destroyed that God made, from off the face of the earth. vs. 5 again shows Noah's obedience, in doing all that the Lord commanded him.  His family went in, and his sons all had wives. It took 120 years to build the ark. Once they were in the ark, "the LORD shut him in." God closed the door, not Noah. That door was not opened again until exited the ark.


The waters prevailed on the earth 150 days, and then God sent a wind to pass over the earth and help evaporate the water. No mention of Noah going mad and trying to kill anyone! He was righteous, and found favor in the sight of God. Noah was the one who sent the birds to find dry land, not Japheth, as was shown in the movie. Japheth, the youngest, would have been a grown man, not a young teen as was portrayed in the movie. There were no babies born on the ark, because in Gen. 8:16, God tells them to "go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee." No mention of grandchildren. All the animals also came off the ark, and were to be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.


Noah built a burnt offering for God, and God smelled a sweet savour; and he decided He would "not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (8:21-22).   He commanded Noah and his family to have children and replenish the earth. This is also when the fear of man came to the animals, and the fear of animals came to man. God also commanded man not to eat animals, and not to kill one another. He also made a covenant with man and the animals that came out of the ark that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, and signified this with a rainbow.


They all had children afterwards. Noah made a vineyard, and drank of the wine and got drunk (not sure if that was an accident or not), but ended up being found naked within his tent by Ham. He told his two brothers Shem and Japheth (not Shem and his wife, as the movie showed), and they walked in backwards with a garment to cover him up, never looking at his nakedness. Ham was cursed because he saw his father's nakedness, and would be a servant to his brother Shem.


Matthew 24:37-39 talks about the surprise of the flood. People were marrying, and partying, and having a grand 'ol time until the floods of water came. They were not out to kill Noah; they were living it up!  2 Peter 3:4-6 suggests that people were willingly ignorant of God's warning of the flood.  Nowhere does it say explicitly that people mocked Noah, but in Hebrews 11:7 it says, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." 2 Peter 2:5 states that Noah was a "preacher of righteousness", so some believe that he preached for 120 years for people to repent so they too could be included on the ark.  There are a lot of details that the Bible leaves out, so we have to be careful when it comes to speculation. Here is a link for more information: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v8/n4/get-answers.