Epic Bible Films Making a Comeback

Hollywood will be releasing a series of epic Bible films coming up in the next few years, beginning with Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Other scheduled films are Son of God, Mary Mother of Christ (from the makers of The Passion of the Christ), Ridley Scott’s Exodus, and a few others in the works.

Some of us who grew up watching Ben Hur  and The Ten Commandments might be getting pretty excited about what looks to be a seismic shift in Hollywood. But what’s really going on here? Has Hollywood become more conservative or more Christian? No. They’re just beginning to understand a little better how easy it is to make money off of Christians. Here’s a few reasons why we’re an easy target:

  1. Marketing is easy with Christians. Get their pastors to endorse a film from the pulpit (and show a clip), and BOOM! instant blockbuster.
  2. Christians are used to really insulting, cheesy, badly-produced art. If you produce a movie with even nominally decent acting, passable direction, and better-than-average screenwriting, Christians will be crying huge tears of overwhelmed gratitude. They’ll see the movie twenty times and tell all of their friends it’s the best movie ever made. If they did that with Courageous, imagine what they’ll do with Noah? It will be epic.
  3. America is filled with nominal Christians who want vague family values and Christianese so they can feel good and fuzzy at the movies with the families they otherwise generally neglect. These Christians haven’t read the Book for the most part, so they won’t have that much of a problem if screenwriters take enormous poetic license with the content. In other words, Noah is allowed to be the world’s first environmentalist and the Flood is allowed to be a merely natural disaster, as long as the movie still makes me proud to be an American Christian.

The explosion of animated films following the success of Pixar indicates just how big a market there is for “family” entertainment. And I imagine much of that is due to American Christianity. Hollywood is apparently just making that connection, and they are rolling out a slew of Bible films hoping to cash in. And they probably will.

But I’m hoping they don’t. I’m sick of Christian America being preyed upon by profiteers. We’re easy. We believe all things. We’re gullible. We’re the weak. But all these Bible films really boil down to peddling the Gospel. It’s mercenary, and I hate it. I think the motives here are important. Hollywood doesn’t care about the truth of the Gospel. They want your money. That is all. I prefer to give my money to people who actually believe in what they’re selling.

43 responses

  1. If you’re sick of Christians “being preyed upon by profiteers” your “beef” shouldn’t be with Hollywood but with “mega churches” who preform the “miracle” of turning the donations of dirt poor believers into 60 room mansions!

    • The poor lonely scumbag liberal homo troll, mrBlob should know. That is the reason he hatse Christians and conservatives because he is jealous that he cannot achieve the level of his auntie Jan,

    • Yes Bob I can tell you are a very intelligent person by the way you make yourself known. Your IQ must be at least 3. You should be communicating with someone who understands you, perhaps your dog would be a good choice. You liberal God hating democrats don’t have a clue about anything that goes on in the real world yet you want our respect, Oh perhaps that word respect is a little over your head so let’s change it to sympathy, and if that should be the case you can find it in the dictionary between the words sh__and syphilis . Were you able to find it Bob? I doubt you know what a dictionary is but that’s alright you can always ask someone.

        • So Bob you are saying that you don’t hate God because you do not believe that he exist and I guess that is okay by me but why have such contempt for those who do? I’m sure you are not as obnoxious in person as you present yourself here. We all tend to say things that perhaps we would not if there was a face to the name. I for one will apologize for the things I said about you, I don’t know the real you and you certainly don’t know me. You say you don’t hate God but yet you would lash out at any symbol that represents him whether it be a person such as Sarah Palin or a church. Jesus told of what would take place
          because of the hatred that was held against him and his followers:
          Luke 12:51-53 (ESV) 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

          We really shouldn’t be surprised as we have seen such a division in the country. We should heed well the saying that a nation divided against its self cannot long exist. You and I both would not like the world we live in should that take place so why not let us reason with one another, surely there is common ground that we share. Do we both not love this nation that has been so good to us, are we willing it to crumble around us while we fuss and fight. Many
          claim that we should be tolerant of others who hold to a different opinion but it is plain that there is not much tolerance from the liberal side towards those people of faith. It is not us that stand in your way it is what we
          represent that you find so offensive.

          You would not have a yoke put on you by a God you don’t believe in. Yet you must admit that this nation was far less violent in the past when the majority was honoring God and living by his standard. Oh you may find events that would demonstrate the opposite but as a whole it was true.

          It may not happen that we will exist as a nation for God will not allow a nation that has become so corrupt and evil to go unpunished forever, and it is of little consequence that you believe not for it will change nothing that he has ordained.

          • That’s a fair question that deserves an answer. The problem with religious belief is that, once you have accepted a set of propositions unsupported by logic, evidence or rational
            analysis, you are then capable of believing anything without submitting it to rational consideration. So, what do we end up with? We have religious people that believe that Obama was elected because of massive “inperson” voter fraud (and the solution to this non existent problem is to disenfranchise millions of voters) , that global warming is a hoax, that scientific facts are bogus, etc, etc. I disagree that this country was less violent in the past when the majority was honoring God and living by his standard. Slavery was legal, we slaughtered an untold amount of indigenous people, we burned people at the stake. Our country is divided pretty much along the same lines as it was during the civil war (which is sad) but until the south has a better education system I fear this will always be the case.

          • I know there is nothing I can say that would cause you to believe in a God but if he ever revealed himself to you like he has to some of us you couldn’t help but believe. You want to judge us based on an experience you have never had. There was a time in this country that even those who were non-believers would not be so inconsiderate of those who were. You are in such a rush to lump us all into one category that you fail to recognize that we are human just as you, we make mistakes and so do you. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t’ make them some sort of monster. Don’t I have a right to believe what I think is right the same as you. The big problem we have is that as a nation we were founded on certain principles and those principles were made part of the constitution and bill or rights and now after more than two hundred years people like you want to do away with all the rules and make up new ones as you go along. Why wouldn’t people get up set as it has become so lopsided. We still do have some rights but I guess you would like to do away those as well. If you want to believe in global warming that is your right, yet there are more scientist who would disagree with you than would agree. I say that it has just been a money maker for those who have perpetrated the fraud. People like Gore who ran around the country telling others what they should be doing yet hasn’t changed his life style any, he hasn’t reduced his footprint in a effort to save energy but he has made a whole lot of money. One of those cases where they say do as I say not as I do and that goes for most of those idiots we have sent to Washington.
            They want us to fight among ourselves for when we are then we are not focusing on them.

          • You absolutely have the right to believe in ANYTHING you want! What you don’t have the right to do is discriminate against American citizens (gays, blacks, Hispanics, woman, etc) because of your beliefs. People like ME want to do away with the constitution and bill or rights??? That’s NOT true! It’s people like YOU that want to deny American citizens equal protection under our laws. We could argue global warming but just like the age of the earth, the ONLY people on the planet that believe the earth is 6,000 years old are Christians & the ONLY people that believe global warming is a hoax are Christians too. Why? They reject science. What’s so difficult to understand is how you people seem to believe that if you don’t have the right to discriminate against someone that somehow YOUR rights are being taken away!!!!

          • I think the mystery of Bob has been solved. Bob you are a
            homosexual and most likely not a he but a she. I can understand now why you so desperately want the Christian community lay aside their moral values, it is so that you
            can feel good about yourself. Of all the sins that the bible warns us about the sins of sexual immorality, adultery, fornication and homosexuality seems are the most offensive to God. The fact is we all sin but all are not willing to repent and turn away, even when our own hearts condemn us we will continue for our pride will not allow us to do anything but that which pleases us.

            You condemn those who agree with God and hold onto their values and principles but in it all you are a bigger hypocrite for all the while you plea the case of the homosexual, and others that you would call social outcast yet you are so willing to allow the murder of an innocent child that has yet to take its first breath. Then you say we are not more violent now than in the past. There has been more life lost since 1973 than all the wars the worlds has ever seen but you can’t see that because you only seek to please yourself. Your attitude is much like that of Cain who committed the first murder when he slew his brother Able and what was it that causes Cain to murder, it was because God had rejected his offering but excepted that of Able. Able did nothing to cause his brother to hold such
            contempt. Cain couldn’t strike back at God so he struck down his brother instead. That is what you and the whole
            gay community is doings, you can’t strike back at God so you go after those who follow him instead. God told Cain in

            Genesis 4:6-7 6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

            The only problem man has never been able to rule over sin, yet some have been able to see sin for what it is and do their best to do what is right in the eyes of their creator while others glory in their sin and flaunt it for all the world to see.

  2. Exodus 20:4-6 is not a suggestion. Obey this, forget that, is not the right thinking. This is God’s law: verse 4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

    5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

    6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

    Do not attend a movie that depicts Jesus, God, or anything that is worshiped by pagans. “Make image”, this includes movies, paintings, sculpture and actors.

  3. This was a reply to Bob but I think it is something that we all need to step back and take a look at. We may not think it so but our idle words will come back to bite us in the butt, so lets all try and be a little more understanding with one another.

    So Bob you are saying that you don’t hate God because you do not believe that he exist and I guess that is okay by me but why have such contempt for those who do? I’m sure you are not as obnoxious in person as you present yourself here. We all tend to say things that perhaps we would not if there was a face to the name. I for one will apologize for the things I said about you, I don’t know the real you and you certainly don’t know me. You say you don’t hate God but yet you would lash out at any symbol that represents him whether it be a person such as Sarah Palin or a church. Jesus told of what would take place
    because of the hatred that was held against him and his followers:
    Luke 12:51-53 (ESV) 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

    We really shouldn’t be surprised as we have seen such a division in the country. We should heed well the saying that a nation divided against its self cannot long exist. You and I both would not like the world we live in should that take place so why not let us reason with one another, surely there is common ground that we share. Do we both not love this nation that has been so good to us, are we willing it to crumble around us while we fuss and fight. Many claim that we should be tolerant of others who hold to a different opinion but it is plain that there is not much tolerance from the liberal side towards those people of faith. It is not us that stand in your way it is what we
    represent that you find so offensive.

    You would not have a yoke put on you by a God you don’t believe in. Yet you must admit that this nation was far less violent in the past when the majority was honoring God and living by his standard. Oh you may find events that would demonstrate the opposite but as a whole it was true.

    It may not happen that we will exist as a nation for God will not allow a nation that has become so corrupt and evil to go unpunished forever, and it is of little consequence that you believe not for it will change nothing that he has ordained.

  4. Saw “The Robe” on TMC this week. As an aside, does anyone remember that this was the first movie filmed in the CinamaScope process? Remember when the curtains parted and exposed that enormous screen? Amazing!

  5. I can see the best way to handle people like Bob is to ignore him because you cannot reason with an unreasonable person. He is here only to harass people his mind is closed and I suppose that is because of all the brainwashing that he has had to endure. We can only pity someone like that as it will take death before he will ever admit that there is a God but he will someday when it’s to late. Why not find you a liberal blog Bob there everyone will agree with you and you will be a happy man and so will we.

  6. On the site it asks people to join the discussion. If there was an intelligent one I would. You people are very sad.

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