By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews11:7
It seems the recent movie portrayed Noah (and God) as vengeful and angry. The Bible doesn't tell us a lot about him, but the "Hebrews Hall of Fame" sees Noah differently.
It portrays Noah as one who was sensitive and open enough to see what was coming. It portrays him as building the ark "in holy fear" - a project that probably took years to complete. (The Greek word for "holy fear" suggests more reverence than primal raw fear.)
His faith was courageous. Imagine the dialogue:
"Hey Noah what are you doing?"
"Oh I'm building an ark for me and my family because God is going to flood the world because of all the wicked people."
"Are you saying I'm wicked?"
"Well..."
There are times that we have to call it like it is.
There are huge pressures to be politically correct and to swallow all sorts of unacceptable practices in the name of tolerance. Unfortunately we don't speak out about right and wrong any more.
While I realise that many of the yesteryear stone-throwers were not without sin, I wonder if our current culture of silence on critical moral issues doesn't simply indicate consent. It seems to me that the intellectual "vibe of tolerance" is just another emperor's garment that we try to clothe ourselves in.
This doesn't mean that we have to be abrasive and nasty. It doesn't give us permission to be holier-than-thou and judgemental. It is possible to hold a firm moral position in a gracious way.
Ryan Dobson, son of James Dobson, wrote a book entitled: "Be Intolerant: Because Some Things Are Just Stupid"
Noah called it for what it was because he esteemed God's ways higher than the current trends and fashions.
I think Ryan and Noah might become good friends in eternity...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
