This seems to be the year for Biblical movies and some block busters by all accounts. I am not a big fan of Bible stories made into movies; I believe that the Bible belongs in the Church and not in Hollywood. I have not seen the movie the Son of God and I probably won’t see it either.
Today whilst driving to a meeting, I hear a segment of the NPR radio program The Take Away, I am not sure who was being interviewed as I came into the story already in progress, but the reviewer said that the script for the movie Son of God was approved by a committee of theologians and others from the Anti-Defamation League so as not to offend anyone, well I am sorry but Biblical stories are supposed to offend!
This is the problem I have with these stories being made into movies. All of the biblical stories are designed to make us feel uncomfortable and require us to change the way we think and act. The big problem today is we do not want to offend anyone so theology has been watered down to a point where anything goes. Jesus entire ministry was radical, the way of life He wants us to follow is radical, a radical departure from the world.
Part of the problem is Christians do not always agree on the meaning of Biblical stories and it is hard to tell a story if the meaning is not clear so a lot of interpretation is used and is not always what I would call traditional Biblical exegesis. Also artistic license is often applied in in movies and it is not short in biblical movies and for the most part it distracts from the original story. Again I have not seen Noah or the Son of God but I have heard enough about both of them to conclude that my assumptions are correct.
I like movies and I like entertainment and the Bible should not be used as entertainment but as a manual for how you should live your life.
