Last night I had the chance to view the film “Knowing” starring Nicholas Cage. In the film Cage plays John, a physics teacher at a university, who discovers a piece of paper with strange number strings written on it which his son Caleb brought home from school. The piece of paper had been sealed in a time capsule for 50 years, and recently un-earthed. Once John realizes that the number strings contain dates and longitudinal coordinates for both past and future disasters, the plot begins to take off.
At first it appeared that the film would just be another take on the Bible code phenomena, which by itself isn’t necessarily that compelling. But as the movie unfolds we begin to see that it is more or less Hollywood’s take on the Rapture (this is the idea among some Christian faiths that Jesus will come down and deliver all the saved people prior to the Great Tribulation). While I personally feel that the concept of the rapture is based on a misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians, the film itself still did a good job of displaying the Christian worldview in a positive light. This is a big deal, because most of the media and especially Hollywood, depicts the Christian as often neurotic or psychotic. Kudos here to the director, who appeared to have taken the time and effort to ascribe a degree of respect to the Bible.
While certain things in the film were not Biblically accurate, it was nonetheless refreshing to see a thoughtful and even suspenseful dramatic presentation of end time events. Though other smaller films have sought to give attention to the concept of the end times, this movie had an A-list cast and excellent special effects. All the better to appeal to today’s younger cultural market.
Where this film did succeed was the idea of redemption and renewal. Without giving too much of the plot away, it was clear that one of the main ideas toward the end of the film was that certain human beings (those who had been “called”) were to be saved from destruction and redeemed in order to begin anew. This idea does go hand-in-hand with the book of the Revelation in the Bible of course. God tells us that we will have a new Earth and a new Heaven at the end of the age. How interesting to see a major motion picture attempt to capture this truth and beauty in today’s world! Overall I would have to recommend this film – not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. And don’t worry, I promise it will at least be stimulating enough to have an interesting conversation once its over. How many movies can we really say that about?
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At first it appeared that the film would just be another take on the Bible code phenomena, which by itself isn’t necessarily that compelling. But as the movie unfolds we begin to see that it is more or less Hollywood’s take on the Rapture (this is the idea among some Christian faiths that Jesus will come down and deliver all the saved people prior to the Great Tribulation). While I personally feel that the concept of the rapture is based on a misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians, the film itself still did a good job of displaying the Christian worldview in a positive light. This is a big deal, because most of the media and especially Hollywood, depicts the Christian as often neurotic or psychotic. Kudos here to the director, who appeared to have taken the time and effort to ascribe a degree of respect to the Bible.
While certain things in the film were not Biblically accurate, it was nonetheless refreshing to see a thoughtful and even suspenseful dramatic presentation of end time events. Though other smaller films have sought to give attention to the concept of the end times, this movie had an A-list cast and excellent special effects. All the better to appeal to today’s younger cultural market.
Where this film did succeed was the idea of redemption and renewal. Without giving too much of the plot away, it was clear that one of the main ideas toward the end of the film was that certain human beings (those who had been “called”) were to be saved from destruction and redeemed in order to begin anew. This idea does go hand-in-hand with the book of the Revelation in the Bible of course. God tells us that we will have a new Earth and a new Heaven at the end of the age. How interesting to see a major motion picture attempt to capture this truth and beauty in today’s world! Overall I would have to recommend this film – not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. And don’t worry, I promise it will at least be stimulating enough to have an interesting conversation once its over. How many movies can we really say that about?
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