Here is a clip from the new movie Noah portraying the creation.
Is it just me, or does this seem to have an eerily Mormon flavor to it? Take out the reference to creation ex nihilo and I’d swear this is right out of the Pearl of Great Price, with perhaps some allusion to B. H. Roberts’ pre-Adamite theory thrown in for good measure.
I love how the sequence begins. “Let me tell you a story,” the prophet Noah says as he looks at the audience. That’s what our scriptural creation accounts are: stories. Myths that plumb deeper metaphysical truths about our existence, our relationship to God, and our purpose on earth. But these creation stories being myths make them no less true or beautiful.
Also notice that Noah never actually describes things like the Big Bang or evolution, even though that’s what’s going on in the sequence. He just describes what was happening during these “days” in general terms, like the earth forming, life beginning, and everything multiplying after its own kind, etc. Could it not be that our scriptural creation accounts are doing the same thing? They’re not concerned with giving precise scientific descriptions of “how,” per se, but rather are using mythic language to discuss the “why” and the “so what”?
Also, theology aside, the visuals of this clip just rock!
Enjoy!