There was probably a time when if an actor met the Archbishop of Canterbury, we would be forgiven for presuming that the Archbishop would offer his opinion on matters spiritual while the actor listened attentively, hoping to learn something. Not so today, of course: when Russell Crowe paid a visit to Justin Welby, it was the actor whose exposition – albeit from a prior interview – on the meaning of the Flood was reported by Christianity Today, not the archbishop’s. It’s all about the environment and our treatment of animals, apparently.
All that was missing to make the visit complete was Justin Welby explaining how to pursue a career as an an actor.
From here:
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby welcomed Hollywood actor Russell Crowe to his official residence on Tuesday ahead of the UK release of Noah on Friday.
The Archbishop’s office said the two men discussed faith and spirituality during the short private meeting at Lambeth Palace.
[….]
“The great thing about this film, whether you’re somebody of faith or not, is that you come out of this movie and you want to talk…about our stewardship of the earth, our relationship to animals, what is spirituality, who am I in this world, all these fantastic subjects for conversation.”
“…you come out of this movie and you want to talk…about our stewardship of the earth, our relationship to animals..” God forbid that you bring up the real reason for the flood and remember what Peter said “They deliberately ignore the fact that the heavens existed of old and earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God; through these the world that then existed was destroyed, deluged with water. The present heavens and earth have been reserved by the same word for fire, kept for the day of judgment and of destruction of the godless.”
I came out of the movie with a different feeling. I wanted to throw up. The message that animals are good and man is evil was clear. What was also clear was that they took such poetic license with the character of Noah that buy the time the movie was over the Noah of this movie was hardly recognizable and bore little resemblance to Noah of the Bible. The audience hated him, his kids wanted to kill him and his wife just wanted him gone. God saved Noah and his family not because they were better than the evil hordes outside the Ark, but because God needed them to save the animals.
I’m sure Welby could give excellent advice on how to pretend to be something you’re not and get paid for it.
I found this article to be a very interesting take on the movie Noah. Spoiler alert! It isn’t based on the Bible at all, but on Kabbalah – a mystical Jewish tradition.
See: http://drbrianmattson.com/journal/2014/3/31/sympathy-for-the-devil