The Movie ‘Noah’ (Possible Spoilers)

There has been a lot of talk about the movie ‘Noah’. Most of the talk is about how the movie doesn’t accurately tell the story, or twists the story.

After watching the movie, I came home and read the story of Noah in the Bible. Had they made a movie on what is in the Bible,  the movie would have likely been about 15 minutes long. The story of Noah starts in Genesis 6 and by the time we reach Genesis 9, the flood is overwith and God is confirming his covenant with Noah.

So, clearly creative expression had to be taken. Behind every movie there is always a writer, who tells a story. This movie is loosely based on the story in the Bible. BUT, it stays close enough to the biblical story, that it doesn’t feel completely fabricated.

Now here are a few things I want to point out.

The director of this film is a self proclaimed Atheist.

In the movie there are giant rock creatures that are called “The Watchers”.  According to the movie, The Watchers were originally entities of Light that watched over the Garden of Eden and were cast upon Earth as a punishment for not preventing Eve from eating from the forbidden tree.

The movie shows Shem as the only son with a wife, when according to the Bible, Shem, Ham and Japheth all had wives.

Emma Watson’s character Ila never existed in the Bible, at least her story wasn’t written about.

Tubal-Cain never got onto the Ark, and Noah never killed him.

According to the Bible, Noah never took his family on a long journey to find Methuselah to sort out the visions of flooding and death, which on this Journey in the movie is when Noah finds Ila the future wife of Shem.

I will stop here, because I don’t want to ruin the movie for anybody. You have to go into this movie with an open frame of mind, the biblical story isn’t long enough and doesn’t contain enough details to create a 2 hour film. The film is inspired by the biblical story, and shouldn’t be taken as a factual story of true events.

So please, stop going on and on about it, and just enjoy an amazing movie!

 

Another Life Group Message

Life Group Message
Feb 2nd 2008
The Effect Of Anger.
Ephesians 4:21 – 29
21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”(psalms 4:4) Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Psalm 4:4
4 Don’t sin by letting anger control you.
Think about it overnight and remain silent.

I want to see that last part, “Don’t let the sun go down while your still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.” to be practiced within our lives. Don’t let something that bothers you build and build. The more you stuff away and the longer it sits dormant the worse it will be. When we get angry about something or at someone and you don’t resolve it that day, your perception becomes blurred of what is really happening, the devil takes those thoughts and whirls them around and starts telling you things that haven’t or didn’t happen.

James 1:19 – 25
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
This section is very true, I think we all need to focus on these verse when we get angry, “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” Anger can do some serious damage to us if we don’t flush our systems of it quickly. Gods word has many examples of how anger is bad for us, and our relationship with God. The enemy can smell anger for miles around and he will latch on us like a hungry lion finding a good catch for dinner. Then he uses that anger against us and against those around us.

Have the attitude of Christ. –

Philippians 2:1 – 5
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

This is truly a verse to live by, it is one of those, “put others before yourself” verses. As Christians, this is a definition of who we are and how the world should see us.

Philippians 2:6 – 8
6 Though he was God,  he did not think of equality with God
 as something to cling to.
 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
 he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
 When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
 and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Never forget this.

“Dear Children, lets not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.” – 1 John 4:18 – 20

Found an old Life Group Message..

So, for awhile during 2007 and part of 2008 I lead a Life Group, basically it’s a small group (which is a group of people that come together and do life together and study the Bible).

This is probably one of the first ones I did. So without further ado, here are the notes I had, there was of course some conversation about each verse, but you get the general idea.

 

Life group Message – “What is Selfish Pride”
11/24/2007
Dan Walker
Originally By: Wayne Blank
Does “God oppose the proud, but give grace to the humble”? Read 1 Peter 5:5
What is Pride? The dictionary says pride is, “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.”

What is Selfish? The dictionary says selfish as being, “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.”

What is Selfish Pride?
Selfish pride can be defined as “excessive confidence or glorification in one’s self, possessions or nation.” The concept is found in The Bible, along with pride itself, in words such as arrogance, haughtiness and conceit, among others, all of which are opposite of Godly humility. The wrongness of self-centered pride is essentially twofold. On a spiritual level, it inevitably leads to disregard, disrespect and disobedience to God i.e. self-centered pride is primarily what transformed the once-righteous Lucifer into the wicked Satan after he became too impressed with himself, Isaiah 14:14 says, “I will make myself like the Most High.” On a worldly level, selfish pride very often results in self-destructive behavior because, while a form of self-delusion, it isn’t necessarily as much an overestimation of one’s self as it is a dangerous underestimation of others, hence, Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The Bible also speaks of a good pride, but it differs greatly from selfish pride.
Selfish pride is sin:
“To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse     speech.” (Proverbs 8:13 NIV)
“12 For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For     the curses and lies they utter,
13 consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more. 
     Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah.”
    (Psalm 59:12-13 NIV)
“3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. 
    4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for     God.” (Psalm 10:3-4 NIV)
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2 NIV)
God will humble those who don’t humble themselves:
Leviticus 26:18-21 -
    “18 ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times     over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and     the ground beneath you like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your     soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. 21 ‘If you     remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven     times over, as your sins deserve.”
“The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.” (Isaiah 2:11 NIV)
“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” (Proverbs 29:23 NIV)
The Bible also speaks of a good form of pride, but there is a difference – it’s based on a pride for others who are living in obedience to God.
“1Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that     contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.2Make room for us in     your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3I     do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that     we would live or die with you. 4I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am     greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.” (2 Corinthians 7:1-4 NIV)
“We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity     to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than     in what is in the heart.” (2 Corinthians 5:12 NIV)

Thoughts ‘n things.

 

I’ve always wondered about people who make huge claims in order to garner the attention of the world, What makes them do things like that? Why are they making outrageous claims about things in which they probably know little about, lets take the most recent events for instance.

Harold Camping, an 89 year old Preacher and owner of “FamilyRadio”. He is a multi-millionaire and has hundreds of employees at his radio station. He could have easily retired and just existed somewhere in California… Apparently that just wouldn’t work for this douche. Instead he starts telling people that being a member (or going for that fact) of a church just isn’t needed and that baptism is completely pointless. To top it off, he is a “Hell Fire and Brimstone” kind of Preacher, so he scares the shit out of the people he preaches to, old west style.

Camping presented several numerological arguments, or biblical “proofs”, in favor of the May 21 end time. A civil engineer by training, Camping stated he had attempted to work out mathematically-based prophecies in the Bible for decades. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle he explained “… I was an engineer, I was very interested in the numbers. I’d wonder, ‘Why did God put this number in, or that number in?’ It was not a question of unbelief, it was a question of, ‘There must be a reason for it.’ ”

In 1970 Camping dated the Great Flood to 4990 BC. Using this date, taking the statement in Genesis 7:4 (“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth”) to be a prediction of the end of the world, and combining it with 2 Peter 3:8 (“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day”), Camping concludes that the end of the world will occur in 2011, 7000 years from 4990 BC. Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be May 21, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.

Another argument that Camping used in favor of the May 21 date is as follows:

1. The number five equals “atonement”, the number ten equals “completeness”, and the number seventeen equals “heaven”.
2. Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.
3. If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar, as distinct from lunar, year), the result is 722,449.
4. The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
5. 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
6. (5 × 10 × 17)² or (atonement × completeness × heaven)² also equals 722,500.

Camping said that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a “story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we’re completely saved.”

Camping was not precise about the exact timing of the event, saying that “maybe” we can know the hour. He has suggested that “days” in the Bible refer to daylight hours particularly. Another account said the “great earthquake” which signals the start of the Rapture would “start in the Pacific Rim at around the 6 p.m. local time hour, in each time zone.”

In Camping’s book 1994?, self-published in 1992, he predicted that the End Times would come in September 1994 (variously reported as September 4 or September 6). When the Rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a mathematical error.

On May 19, 2011, the search term “end of the world may 21st” reached second position on Google Trends, based on the popularity of the search term in the United States. The related searches “Harold Camping“, “May 21 doomsday”, and “May 21 rapture” were also represented among the top 10 positions.

So… Basically he was the kid that cried wolf a few too many times, just on a big larger stage. I’m thinking he should just be put in a rubber room and medicated until his death.

I doubt he will ever accept that he failed and admit he is a false prophet, he will just blame this one a mathematical error and try again at some later date.

Thanks for reading. Portions of this blog entry were found on Wikipedia. (Don’t sue me, I gave credit where it was due.)

Dan

Remembering Jesus….

I know for a lot of you, when you think of Jesus you get an image of a man with a beard who was tall wearing a robe. But the true fact is the bible says that Jesus was beaten so badly, we wouldn’t recognize him. Just imagine, 1 man took all the punishment of the world on himself so we can live, he took the whipping, the beating, the blood loss, he took ALL of it so we didn’t have to. My LORD took the beating of a lifetime for the WHOLE world because HE LOVED US! Jesus died on the cross so we didn’t have to. God loves us so much, John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

When you think of Jesus I think you really be seeing this…..

Don’t forget what He endured for us, when you see the cross you should see this picture. Never forget what was given so you could live. You ARE Loved!
Never forget it!