Rewatching "Fiddler on the Roof" helped with reading the Bible

[GPV]

I love this movie! :woohoo:

It not only gave me a stronger interest in the foundation of the Christian faith, but also it showed me something that I never really got a sense of through the conservative evangelical charismatic churches I've attended for so long... what a personal relationship with God looks like.

Sure I've heard about it from the pulpit and spoken of in a dry and detached way (or at least it was received by me in a dry and detatched way) and I have even had it underscored for me with Scripture of people speaking with God, but it was watching and listening when Tevye spoke to God that really gave me food for thought.

Here was someone who wasn't bowing and scraping before God but talking to Him like a friend or a father. Praising, complaining, joking.

I think when I read the Bible from here on out, I will imagine the people of Fiddler in those stories.. see their faces, hear their voices... It will help make the scripture come more alive.

(Note: my English teachers said for years and years that Shakespeare's plays were flat on the page, and could really only be appreciated when seen on stage. I think so it is too with the Bible.

 

[Green Gaia]

I saw that once when I was a kid, I think. I'll have to check it out again. Thanks.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

... It will help make the scripture come more alive...

That's an awesome way to look at it! A lot of people I know get bogged down in all the 'begats' and 'thou shalt nots', so it's good to hear ways to bring the scriptures alive.:woohoo:

 

[michel]

Hi GPV,

I remember seeing the film when it came out; you're right too, it was a wonderful insight into the life of a Good jew, who was concerned about keeping 'Traditions', confronted by a daughter who was modern and just a little wild(based in the early 1900's if I remember). I think what made that film so special was the Jewish actor Topol, who has such a wonderfully rich voice - I still often sing 'If I was a rich man'.........