Noah As Intercessor?

The new movie Noah has come out with mixed reviews.  I've yet to see it, but looking over a plot summary, I can see how a lot of Christians might be offended and disappointed with the movie.  I suppose I would have to watch the movie, myself, to see what all the hubub's about.

The plot sounds a lot like the TV movie I watched back in 1999 on NBC.  That was Noah's Ark with Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen.  I remember waiting with anticipation when the NBC promos came out, and then when the two-night miniseries aired, I was hit with: "What the heck is this junk?"  It was the Bible meets Waterworld.  (Heh ... wasn't Steenburgen in that movie, too?)

Towards the end of the TV movie, God says to Noah, "I'm still going to kill off all the humans."  But Noah said, "Don't kill us off.  We're good people.  Look at this."  And then he danced a little Jewish jig on the deck.  God laughed and said, "I can't stay mad at you guys.  Okay, I'll give you another chance."

And by some coincidence, the new movie has a similar incident.  I don't know the details, but near the end of the movie, Noah talks with God and says, "Give us humans a second chance," and God says, "Okay.  Here's a rainbow.  Don't screw it up."

So, in two different movies, Noah acts as intercessor for the human race.  That seemed to be too much of a coincidence, so I wondered if there was something in the Bible about this.  Do other Christian religions believe that Noah saved us?

As I was raised, Noah's Ark was always a story about how God destroyed all humans and animals except for whoever was on the Ark.  God's intention was always that they would multiply and replenish the earth when the disaster was over.  That is: reboot, not destroy the human race.  The story of Noah acting as intercessor just sounds like strange to me.

Let's check what it says in the scriptures...

Genesis 6:5-8  (copied from the LDS scriptures, which evidently includes all the footnote references ... coolness)

 5 ¶And God saw that the ^awickedness of man was great in the earth, and that ^bevery imagination of the ^cthoughts of his ^dheartwas only ^eevil continually.

 6 ^aAnd it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it ^bgrieved him at his heart.

 7 And the Lord said, I will ^adestroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; ^bfor it repenteth me that I have made them.

 8 But Noah found ^agrace in the eyes of the Lord.

After a Google search, this seems to be where the "intercession" comes from.  God wants to kill everyone off, but he sees Noah and then decides to save him and his family (plus a few animals).  Note that ...

#1) This happens before Noah even begins to build the ark.

#2) There's nothing to indicate that Noah did anything to earn God's grace (that is, no intercessory speech to change God's mind).

#3) Assuming Noah had not pleased God, there's nothing to indicate that God wouldn't have found someone else to be pleased in.  That is, this account does not contradict the idea that God had always planned to save a remnant of humans and animals.

The rest of Genesis 6 consists of God explaining to Noah what was about to happen, and how God would save his family, including his sons and their wives.  Thus, strongly implying that the decision had already been made that humans were meant to procreate after the flood.

In other words, I can find nothing in the Old Testament account that Noah did anything to "save" us other than following God's instructions to build an ark and survive the disaster.

Plus, the idea of Noah interceding seems somewhat contradictory with the modus oprandi of God in other parts of the Bible.  When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he alerted the "righteous" and helped them to avoid the disaster.  In other words, God always seems to find and preserve the righteous.

Also, if God were to destroy all humans, then wouldn't that contradict the reasons why he created us in the first place?  And wouldn't that make him an imperfect God?

My verdict: the intercession of Noah is just some good Hollywood tactic for dramatic effect, but as actual doctrine, I find its support to be lacking and its consistency with other doctrine to be entirely absent.

For those of you who have seen the movie, I'd be interested to hear what you think.  Is it a good movie (despite having incorrect doctrine)?  Does it really stray too far from the scriptures?

P.S.  I'm still working on finishing the Joseph Smith story in my book.  I've learned that studying for actuarial exams adds more stress than I anticipated, and I've ended up taking naps after church on Sunday these last couple of weeks.  I'll find the time ...