Genesis at the Movies, Part 4: Castaway

Part 4 of Ronnie's series on the Book of Genesis highlights Noah and the Flood: "There are a lot of reasons the story of Noah and the Flood is told as it is. To show the superior powers around the nation of Israel that Yahweh remains supremely in command; to show that the Hebrew God is not capricious - that God is capable of emotion, regret, even change; to show that God ultimately commits himself to human flourishing: But above all it is told to embolden a washed-up, washed-over, and washed-out remnant of survivors who are barely hanging on by a thread. For they were at a crossroad with a choice to make: They could give up their faith and be assimilated into the faceless mass of that Empire - or - resolutely, courageously, rebuild on the fresh mud of the freshly inflicted disaster they had suffered.  "This isn’t really a story about animals marching two by two. It’s the test of one family’s persistence. It’s not a story to ferret out historical facts. It’s intended as a lesson in survival. This story is the second option: 'We will not be assimilated. We will not forfeit our hope - not even in a world washed away - not even with a God we don’t fully understand.' This story is written as an act of holy defiance - against their circumstances, against their sufferings, against easy answers, against those who had imprisoned them - and against God himself if need be. They refused to quit believing, and chose to survive for their own sake and the sake of all others.”