Day -1: Itinerary and Prayer Requests

Dear friends and family,

It's hard to believe that in a few short hours I'll be landing in Manila! The closer I get to my trip, the more I realize how much I need to depend on God spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I'm so incredibly excited to see what He's doing and to serve and love children whom He knows by name and whom He loves unconditionally!

I've attached my itinerary for prayer purposes. I'll be mostly working with children in various ministries in orphanages, schools, and camps. It'll be my first time flying alone, so I ask that you keep me in your prayers.

July 1 – Arrive in Manila (12 hr flight to Taipei, 2 hr flight to Manila)

July 2 – Shalom Birthing Clinic and a feeding in the slums at Tondo  

Sunday, July 3 - Attend CWC (church)

July 4-6 – Redemptio Christian School 

July 7-9 – Home of Joy Orphange

July 10 – Attend CCF Alabang (church)

July 11 – Orphanage in the Valley 

July 12-13 – Camp New Beginnings, a camp for street girls 

July 14 – Back to Seattle

Prayer requests:

- Please pray for the various children and individuals I may come in contact with, whether through the ministries I'll visit or just on the plane and throughout my travels. It is my desire that others see the joy of knowing Christ through my words and actions, and that maybe God will give me an opportunity to share about my trip during my flights!

- Please pray for the various ministries I'll be visiting and the amazing missionaries, pastors, and workers who serve the Lord so faithfully. Pray that He will use these men and women as lights in their community and that His blessings, provisions, and strength will be poured out upon them. Pray that their ministries will be effective and that He will continue to sustain them as they work for His glory. Pray especially for the Nichols family and for Redemptio as the school continues to expand in the Floodway community!

- Please pray for me spiritually. In the last few weeks, the Lord has really been revealing the idols of my heart and drawing me to Him. In addition, I've been struggling a lot with hormonal mood swings and a lot of emotional ups and downs, and I know God has been using that to teach me to cry out to Him for strength and endurance. 

I know I won't ever feel spiritually ready for this trip and in a lot of ways, I feel inadequate to face the journey ahead. I feel like I struggle so much in my own life with sin and other issues that I don't feel worthy or capable of representing Christ or sharing about Him. 

However, I also know that the Lord uses those who are imperfect and weak and broken in order that His glory and His goodness might shine all the more brighter. This verse from 2 Corinthians 4 comes to mind:

"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

I know my jar is broken and I continually fail my Father every day, but I know He can use my weak and trembling heart to show others how wonderful and good and gracious He is. It's okay that I'm not perfect because I am a living example of how He can take broken people and transform their hearts. 

Please pray that the Lord would use me and strengthen my relationship with Him, teach me true humility and joy, and give me a servant's heart. I want more than anything to be a blessing to others and to cause others to see how wonderful God is.

To conclude, while I was in the middle of devotions the other day, I came across 2 Thessalonians 1, and I ask that you'd pray for me using this verse. 

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Global missions is truly a great adventure to see God at work and to allow Him to work in us! I'm excited to be able to join that adventure for two weeks, and a big thank you for your prayers and support. I'm overwhelmed by the generosity of my church family, and I hope to keep this blog updated daily (hopefully)!

Salamat po! For His glory,

Amanda

Christianity: How to Find Eternal Satisfaction 101

All too often, people view Christianity as the austerity of monks, as a religion of burdens and rules and regulations and obligations, a certain code of self-sacrifice and self-denial, a road filled with hardship and difficulties and trials and self-abandonment. And while yes, Christ does call us to die to self and live to righteousness, what if I told you Christianity was about finding an indescribable treasure? Of savoring and worshipping and praising and adoring and finding an eternal, never ending source of satisfaction? That the pathway to such treasure may be filled with pitfalls and rocky obstacles, but throughout the journey, we can rejoice every step of the way? 

Such is the call of the Christian, not to live a joyless life, but to live a joy-full life. 

To live a life so drenched in satisfaction with Christ that our joy might overflow and drops of living water fall from our thoughts and words and actions, so that others might thirst and desire and find eternal treasure above.

We are called to treasure, to savor, to run our tongue along the cracks of Christianity, of God's free grace and steadfast love and constant mercy and renewed forgiveness and His ability to keep us from falling, so that others can see us rejoicing in God's goodness and their mouths might water in return.

Often I find that my opinions are tainted by those of others. If my friends enjoy a particular song or movie, my expectations and appreciation for the film or music will increase as well. In the same way, when we as children of God demonstrate that immense love and satisfaction can be found within Christ, when we live out and praise and share of the joy of Christian living, this will invite others to see and treasure God with us in return. 

John Piper once wrote, "The way we honor Christ in death is to treasure Jesus above the gift of life, and the way we honor Christ in life is to treasure Jesus above life's gifts." 

We are called and commanded to treasure Christ.

However, that's not a tiresome task or a burdensome chore, but a privilege. A privilege to fully find that yes, God is good and all He does is good and He is our Rock and Refuge in that whatever happens in life, we can trust Him, for He is eternally constant and faithful and will finish the work He has begun in us. It's a privilege to be children of the Creator and to find worth and value in our salvation, not in our works, and to recognize that we have significance because we were designed and crafted by the King of Creation and He loves us and we can spend our eternity with Him. It's a privilege to be loved and cherished by the One who made us, and it's a privilege to serve and honor Him with our lives.

The ability to treasure and savor and delight ourselves in Christ is a gift. 

Because we were broken people who rejected the very One who made us in hopes that we could find something better in the world around us. But we were so very, very wrong, and in our rebellion, in our depravity, we destroyed the beautiful relationship we were made for. Yet, God in His goodness restored our relationship with Him, so we can now know Him and worship and treasure the One who made us and call Him Abba Father. We can now live joy-filled lives that reflect and tell of all He has done for us.

Sure, there may be difficulties in life that we must persevere through, but though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea and though its waters roar and foam, God is good. And we can find our security and satisfaction and joy in Him and in Him alone. 

Christianity is a religion of never-ending, eternal, constant joy. Joy not based in things or people, but joy based in the Faithful One who will never leave nor abandon us. And because of that, we can savor. We can treasure Jesus, drinking deeply of the Fountain of Life and overflowing praise of His grace and love to life's brim. 

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation." {Psalm 68:19}

Reflections Over a Cup of Tea: Identity Crisis and Isaiah 43

I'm a junior. 

And some days I struggle with my identity. 

There are days when I roll out of bed, and I wonder if I am worth more than what I do, what I wear, what people think of me. 

Because life is crazy hectic between school and karate and driving places and learning things and getting decent grades and checkmarks in speech and debate. Crammed full of taking and prepping for all those three letter tests. And suddenly, everyone has figured out colleges and careers and majors, while balancing relationships and a healthy social life on the side.

Am I worth more than a good SAT score?

Am I still worth something if I'm not dating a guy, if I don't know what college I want to go to, if I can't keep up a 4.0 GPA? 

It's so difficult. When there's pressure from all areas of life to conform and be popular and wear the right things and listen to the right music and get asked out by guys. Years have passed, and it's still the same basic struggle. The battle to not fall back into depression or a low self-image, but to wake up and live without always feeling horrible about myself. The desperate fight to find my worth and value and identity, not because of who I am or what I can do or what other people think of me, but as a daughter of the King who sent His Son down to earth to redeem this broken heart, so I now have worth and value and identity because I am cloaked in His love and grace and strength and peace. 

I know all this by heart now. I've said these same things to myself for ages, as long as I can remember. Yet, truly believing these things with heart and soul and mind doesn't come easily.

Lord, help my unbelief.

I turn to Isaiah 43 and its words wash over me, overwhelm me, comfort me.

"But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

I am precious and honored and loved and cherished by the Creator of the universe. Nothing, no one can remove me from the unfailing, constant, irreplaceable love of God.

I bear His name, and through the turbulence of life, I do not walk alone.

I wish I could say reading Isaiah 43 entirely replaced my doubt and insecurity with trust in God. But in all honesty, I can't. I'm just a sinner trying to renew my mind with the truth of God's Word, and it really is a constant, daily struggle, and sometimes I do feel discouraged and not worth much. However, I'm just so grateful that we have a God who is patient with us in our stubbornness, who works through our unbelief that we might truly see and know and understand His amazing love for us. That in everything, through all of life's ups and downs, He loves me, forever and always. We serve an amazing God. 

{Safety is found only in His sovereignty, security in His love, and satisfaction in His presence.}

May I find my security in Him.

Understanding the Culture: The Liturgists

Christian musicians are promoting a new kind of Christianity, one that incorporates meditation and silence, supernatural mysticism, and Eastern philosophy. It's a water-downed version of the Truth mixed with universalism and pantheism, and it's destructive. Its ideals and values are corroding the theology and beliefs of the evangelical Christian church, yet modern Christians embrace and welcome its teachings, unknowingly swallowing poison and waging war against truth and God itself.

But the idea's been catching like wildfire, and friends have emailed me directly about such links. So here's my attempt to shine the light of biblical truth on the Liturgist group. Here's an attempt to poke holes in its foundation. Here's my contribution to uphold the banner of Truth above this chaotic worldview and reveal the cobwebs and loopholes in this new movement. If this post can increase discernment in my readers, if this post can promote God's truth, then my goal's been accomplished.

So before I go any farther, I recommend checking out and reading the Liturgist's website {http://www.theliturgists.com} You may be surprised to see the list of Christian bands and artists who are part of spreading Christian heresy. 

Let's start by dissecting their values, found at: http://www.theliturgists.com/manifesto/

1. Beauty- "We believe that beauty is the heart and perhaps primary truth of the Gospel. If it's not beautiful, it's not worth speaking of or working on."

Where is this concept found in Scripture? How has the Gospel become so decentralized that it fails to focus on God's glory and goodness and love? God is the center of the Gospel. The Gospel glorifies God. It reveals His power over sin and death, His love towards such undeserving sinners, His righteousness and justice in fulfilling the payment of sin (death). The cross glorified God in bringing sinners to salvation, emphasizing man's utter depravity and God's grace. God is beautiful, of course, because He is perfectly good. But beauty was not Jesus' goal. He wasn't beaten and stripped and tortured and killed for beauty. He died for God's glory, that the Lord of all might be glorified in the victory over sin and death and the salvation of sinners.

Skipping over #2 to #3 in their manifesto...

3. Unity -  "The Liturgists is made up of people with varying thoughts, philosophies and theologies, and we seek to integrate our diversity into a healthy unity. While we have no desire to cater or pander to worldviews that are destructive, we do seek the good in every perspective and believe that all human beings are connected to each other and the Cosmos at large, and that a deep sense of unity ought to trump any differences that we create with one another."

I'd like to first point out the concept of Pantheism that pervades this mentality. That all human beings are connected to each other and the Cosmos (note the capital C) is quite equivalent to saying God is in all of us and all of nature, or that we are all one with nature. In Romans 1, the Bible specifically warns against the danger of worshipping creation, rather than the Creator. Creation is not equivalent with the Creator, in the same way as a painting is vastly different from its painter. Scripture emphasizes this by describing God as the holy Creator of a fallen creation. Also, mankind is not equivalent with God. Simply listing God's attributes (omniscience, omnipotence, holiness, etc.) and comparing them to the limited, finite nature of man should suffice to disregard this argument. Lastly, man is not equal with nature. We were created in the image of God as stewards of creation to take care of nature. 

I'd also like to emphasize the universalist and postmodernist mentality diluted and hidden within this third point. "Seeking the good in every perspective" essentially embraces the good in all religions, rejecting the absolutes of Christianity and believing truth can be found in every worldview. When in reality, there is an absolute Truth and all other religions and worldviews are distortions and lies of that perfect Truth. When all other beliefs are roads leading to a hell away from God and everything true and beautiful. The Liturgist movement digresses from the Truth found only in the Word of God and accepts all other beliefs in the name of tolerance.

4. Christian Theology - "Atlhough we value people of all beliefs, the Liturgists is decidedly Christian in practice. We see exceptional value in the life and teachings of Jesus, and while we may experiment with influences and ideas from multiple traditions, we find it useful to utilize specifically Christian language and sacrament for the purpose of creating good liturgical experiences."

The life and teachings of Jesus are not just valuable. He was not simply a "good person" who taught "good things." He was either the Son of God who deserves to be worshipped as Lord, or else a liar or a lunatic. And this just saddens me to no avail. That Christians, Christians in the church and music industry, glaze over the main root of Jesus' teachings. Christ emphasized our depravity and need of salvation, which only comes through belief, repentance, and surrender. And Jesus' words were fighting words, not simply "good words" or words with moral value, but words that still demand and invoke a response.  

The last part of the statement irritates me. "Good liturgical experiences?" Like emotional heartpulls or Pentecostal babblings? These Liturgists are employing the Truth found in Christianity and manipulating it for their own "experiences". And that makes me mad. Indignant that they should be so presumptuous to play with the Truth and extort it into something they find "more beautiful" than knowing God Himself through the Holy Scriptures. When Christ is enough to satisfy us completely. 

-

If you've read this far, visit this link: http://www.theliturgists.com/god-our-mother/ and listen to tracks 3-5. 

In response to track 3, "God Our Mother," God teaches us to address Him as "our Father" in Scripture. Believers are taught to pray to Him as our Father in heaven. Referring to Jesus as our Father brings to mind the protection, care, provision, control, leadership, discipline, authority, and love of God. Though the Bible does use feminine forms to address wisdom or Jesus, when He longed to gather Jerusalem and His people together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, God wants us to address Him as our Father. And we do so, out of respect and obedience to God Himself. 

Meditation, as found in Eastern religions, filled with emptied minds and inner peace, is not a viable activity for Christians. God commands us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We are not to worship in any way we feel like, but to worship correctly according to what we know of God through Scripture. In this way, we do not misinterpret Scripture or create our own "truths," but we worship God in accordance with who He really is and what He wants from us. 

Additionally, meditation results in emptied minds, while the Bible generates minds filled with Scriptural truth, thoughts that are excellent, noble, and pure. Christianity is a religion of discernment, preaching vigilance in our hearts and minds. We must take every thought captive, testing and measuring worldviews and ideas according to Scripture. Christianity demands us to think and to think well. And so Christians must be on guard against the corrupt teachings of this world and our own sinful minds. Emptying our minds only lowers our defenses to the blasphemies and lies of the world. 

So, to conclude a rather long and hurriedly written post, the Liturgists have no place in Christianity. Their claims and manipulations of biblical truth should be a warning to us to increase our awareness and knowledge of Scripture, that we might obtain discernment and wisdom in dealing with the philosophies of the world. For we fight a battle not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil and wolves in sheep's clothing.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience."

{2 Corinthians 10:3-6}

Seeing God Behind the Headlines

I read about pain and suffering and tragedy, all in the comforts of a typical suburban American home, while scrolling through the Wall Street Journal on my Macbook, feet resting on plushy cushions, chips near at hand. I can walk across the room to a fridge packed with food or open my closet to a myriad of different outfits. 

Suddenly I look at everything, and I cannot believe that I live among the lucky few, while millions are living in pain and suffering and hardship. It seems hypocritical to read about India's caste system, where untouchables earn less than $4 a month cleaning out latrines and shoveling out human excrement, and then later spend $4 on a Starbucks drink. It saddens me to contemplate the raping and killing and brutality carried on by Boko Haram or the Islamic State. Such brutal murder and anger and fear throughout the world, such trauma as people are beheaded and killed for their faith, as families flee from all they know, all they hold dear.

And here I am. Typing on my Macbook, indecisive over today's outfit or lunch, worrying about PSATs and subject tests and getting all my schoolwork done. 

In times like this, when I feel so useless and hypocritical and monstrous in this safety and comfort and wealth, when I ask the whys and I cannot understand the seeming contradiction, I pray. The only comfort I can rely on on this earth comes from above. And in dark times like this, I am led to the Rock that is higher than this storm of havoc and destruction, and I am comforted by God's attributes. In this pain, in these horrific circumstances of death and suffering, He is sovereign and He is good. 

He is sovereign.

And I stare at those three words until they can penetrate into this thick skull of mine, until they form a picture of God wielding the conductor's wand, holding the painter's paintbrush, molding the clay. The earth is His footstool. He is in perfect control. All this pain, all this destruction is part of His plan. Nothing happens outside of His control, not even all this.

In fact, I know how this story ends. It ends in a fantastic display of God's goodness and holiness and justice, where all tongues from all nations will bow down in worship and recognition of who God is. Just like the cliche action novel, before the author concludes his tale, things seem dark and unreasonable. It seems impossible that the hero or heroine will ultimately escape from all this madness and things will be made right. Yet, at the end of the novel, all is well and everyone lives happily ever after. In the same way, we already know this story has a good ending. This evil in the world will pass and fall away, but my God will reign forever on high where there is no pain, death, or sorrow. 

And so I trust Him. I delight in His sovereignty and supremacy and control.

Even though news headlines are hard to reconcile, even though I cannot understand why these awful things are occurring, I know and believe and recognize God's hand above it all. There is a reason for this madness. And because this is all part of His plan, because I can see the magnificent conclusion of this story, I trust Him.

God is just.

My heart cries out for justice when I look at pictures of murdered civilians, when I see the faces of families fleeing their hometowns, or when I see the corruption in the world and how the rich thrive on top of the bones and blood of the oppressed. In these moments, when my passion spurts out in red flames and I cannot hold within me the anger directed at these men with guns and knives, I recognize that God is just, and justice will be delivered to each individual. 

Justice.

That word brings me to terms with my past. For I deserved death. I deserved a living, eternal, forever kind of death. I was no different than these murderers. My heart was just as black as these killers and the people they murdered. I was once one of them, and only by God's grace did Jesus regenerate my broken heart. I have received grace. Yet who am I to hate other sinners when I was once like them? 

I demand justice. Yet, do I truly know what I'm asking for? Because justice would require an extermination of all unbelieving human life, including my agnostic or atheist friends alongside Islamic terrorists. Which leads me to a recognition of the importance of God's patience and timing, as well as His justice. Not only do we serve a just God, but we serve a patient God, who desires that people come to know Him. 

Justice will come. In the meantime, I wait with Him, for the predestined to repent, for His children to believe, and for all to bow one day before His throne.

God is good.

This sin and death and misery is because of us. We fell into depravity. Our hearts became desperately sick. We rebelled against our Creator, and because of our rebellion, pain and death and suffering came into the world. The evil in this world is a result of sin, not a creation of our Heavenly Father.

In fact, He sent His one and only Son, so that those who believe in His Name and surrender their lives to Him may have life. Instead of passively allowing us to remain trapped in this dark world, Christ unlocked the cage. All we have to do is to simply accept the cage is open and jump out. When we acknowledge and worship Jesus as Lord, when we repent and turn from our sins, we can be truly free. Because of God's free gift, because Christ died so we have a way out of this dark world, we can live life here on earth with rich spiritual blessings and the hope of an eternal life with the King.

And so, though headlines and newspapers may shake my emotions, I know and believe and delight in the fact that my God is sovereign and just and good. Even though I don't understand, though I may never understand the height and depth and width of God's ways, I trust Him. He is faithful. The best is yet to come.

Understanding the Culture: Noah - Heresy Played in Theaters

Noah was a direct, heretical mockery of Noah, Scripture, and God. 

And here's why.

1. The plot *spoilers alert*

The whole film was painful. The Watchers, fallen angels who were banished from heaven because they helped Adam and Eve, beings who looked like a cross between Transformers and ents. Because fallen angels aren't demons by any chance, but nice little rock giants who helped Noah's family build the ark. 

Also, how the animals were innocent and the ark was built to save them, not mankind. How those who ate meat were portrayed as living devils, while Noah and his family were commended because of their vegetarian, subsistence living, only taking what they needed to the point of not even picking wildflowers. How there were only 6 of Noah's family on the ark, plus one evil man who snuck in to kill Noah. How Noah decided God wanted him to kill everyone for their sin, to the point of almost murdering his own granddaughters to prohibit new life.

Two psycho guys with knives on the ark. Great. Now where was that in the Bible? Where was Ila and the miraculous healing of her barrenness? Or drugging the animals so they slept peacefully on the ark? Really. One needs only to turn to Genesis 5-9 and read the true historical account found right there in God's Holy Word. 

The plot bothers me. It bothers me when a producer, a mere man, would choose to interpret and change and twist the Word of God into some sort of fantastical story, a myth of fire and healing powers. Nothing more than a mere story. Is that how the Word of the Living God should be portrayed? As a book of fairytales? Not only does Noah mock Scripture, but it mocks God. It derides the power and goodness of God when the story of Noah is portrayed as an illogical fairytale, instead of the historical account of God's faithfulness to a righteous man.

2. Noah

God didn't pick Noah because he was good. God chose him because he was mass-murderer material, a man who could destroy all of mankind, including his own family. Or so it goes in the film. Because according to Noah, Shem had a wife named Ila who was barren. When she was magically healed by Methuselah and became pregnant (show me that in Scripture), Noah threatened to kill her babies if they were girls, so the human race would end. He believed in original sin so strongly that he wanted to carry out justice for God. Yet he looked down on those babies and he couldn't kill them. To quote Ila, he "saw the goodness in man." He chose to have mercy and love, rather than "obey God."

Actually, as a side note, for those who are pro-abortion, would they agree with Noah's decision to murder the babies? Would they remain consistent with what they believe and simply accept the murder of the innocent? I wonder...

Anyway, I have three problems here. 

The first: Noah was not chosen because he could complete the task of destroying mankind and saving innocent animals. According to Scripture, God chose Noah because he was righteous and feared God. Scripture says he was righteous and blameless, and he walked with the Lord and found favor in His eyes (Gen 6). Truth is, God hates evil, and though Noah was still born sinful, Noah feared God. Noah followed after Him. And that separated him and his family from the rest of the world. 

The second: The film teaches that the goodness in man outweighs the evil within us. And that is heresy, pure lies. We deserve hell. We have rejected God. There is no one good, no, not even one, and our hearts are desperately sick. When we die, we will go to hell because God's standard is perfection. We all have sinned. And no matter how many good things we do, God will judge us because of that sin. We cannot be good enough on our own. Our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's eyes, and the little good we do cannot even compare with our wicked hearts.

The third: Obeying God is more important than "love". Let me first go back and point out that God never commanded Noah to kill his own family. This part was strictly never in the Bible but added in by the producer. Also, God will never call us to go against His commandments and murder someone and take justice in our own hands. Let that stand as a warning to us to correctly interpret what we think is God's will in the light of God's Word. However, this movie reminds me of Abraham and Isaac. There, God did command Abraham to sacrifice his only son. At the last second, God stopped Abraham and provided a ram as a replacement for Isaac, both to test Abraham's faith and provide an example of what Christ would do for us on the cross. We see here that Abraham chose to obey God and was rewarded for his faith. Obedience to God should come before everything and anything. 

3. Testimony

After I watched this movie, I wondered to myself what an unbeliever would think of such a illogical, strange, and mythological work of fantasy. After seeing Noah, would it cause a hunger to know God, this powerful Creator who designed everything and who loves justice, yet has mercy? Would it produce a desire to talk about the things of God and ask other Christians more about what they believe? It's doubtful, but perhaps.

And even for Christians, is this movie beneficial? Does it cause a praise and adoration of God or an appreciation for Noah's faith and righteousness? Does it make us admire his trust in God and his steadfastness and perseverance? I think not. I think not. 

-

Noah was a disappointment. I had heard negative things about it, but never had I dreamed Noah would be portrayed as someone who thirsted for murder or the animals pictured as the main point of building the ark. I never dreamed that such a strong pro-vegetarianism and environmentalist mentality would pervade the entire film. And that saddens me. I wonder what God thinks when He looks down on this film. I wonder what He feels when He sees Himself portrayed as a fantastical being or his servant Noah as a person who refuses to pick wildflowers.

Yet at the same time, I pray that God would use this film, even in its brokenness. That coworkers and friends and family would ask about the Truth, that conversations would blossom, that the Gospel would be proclaimed and the truth shared. God can use even the weak and broken and diseased and secular as Areopaguses to display His glory.