Seek the Truth - Again
Although The Da Vinci Code novel came out in 2003, the May 19 movie release date finally urged me to get informed. I know that there are people who base their perception of Christianity, church, and religion from the ideas in the novel, so how much more would a visual representation create an impact on the masses?
In view of the increasingly large amount of information and critiques presented of the Da Vinci Code's material and claims, there isn't much point critiquing it here. Even the Discovery Channel quoted an author of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" (on which Dan Brown's novel is based) as saying: "There is absolutely no evidence [that Christ was married and had a royal bloodline], but it does make an interesting hypothesis."
Indeed, the media furor reminds me of the Y2K bug. A problem was identified and swiftly dealt with in the fall of 1999. Yet in December of 1999 there were still people who predicted the end of the world was nigh and we would be hurled back to the Stone Age. Today there are still people who take Brown's fiction as cardinal truth.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, "there is nothing new under the sun." That statement definitely applies to the whole controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code. All throughout the history of Christianity there have been claims that Jesus taught something hidden. His recorded words in the Bible are simply the surface. In the depth of Jesus's real teachings lay hidden what He really came to earth to say: be it a sacred feminine or secret cult. This is the idea behind the Gnostic Texts, Aldous Huxley's writings, or even claims that Allah and the Christian God are the same. The Da Vinci Code is simply again trying to go beyond specific teachings … this time in order to entertain.
This idea that there is something hidden or beyond the stated Word flies in the face of what Jesus Himself said. There are several examples, but two fit readily:
John 6:47 "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."
John 14:6 "Jesus answered and said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Certainly some of Jesus's parables require analysis and interpretation beyond a surface level, but the core of Christ's message is readily available to the "uninitiated" and the life-long Christian.
As a piece of literature, and probably as a piece of entertainment in the theatre, Dan Brown's work is great. He writes very well. One only has to approach the ideas within as false. So then, I urge you to get informed. Read the book. See the movie. Be prepared to discuss it analytically. Do not go crazy overboard. Remember that this is the same sort of thing we have been seeing since the beginning of the Church. As the movie's tagline states, "Seek the Truth." To apply it to a Christian life, we could say "Keep the Truth … and Spread the Word."
In view of the increasingly large amount of information and critiques presented of the Da Vinci Code's material and claims, there isn't much point critiquing it here. Even the Discovery Channel quoted an author of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" (on which Dan Brown's novel is based) as saying: "There is absolutely no evidence [that Christ was married and had a royal bloodline], but it does make an interesting hypothesis."
Indeed, the media furor reminds me of the Y2K bug. A problem was identified and swiftly dealt with in the fall of 1999. Yet in December of 1999 there were still people who predicted the end of the world was nigh and we would be hurled back to the Stone Age. Today there are still people who take Brown's fiction as cardinal truth.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, "there is nothing new under the sun." That statement definitely applies to the whole controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code. All throughout the history of Christianity there have been claims that Jesus taught something hidden. His recorded words in the Bible are simply the surface. In the depth of Jesus's real teachings lay hidden what He really came to earth to say: be it a sacred feminine or secret cult. This is the idea behind the Gnostic Texts, Aldous Huxley's writings, or even claims that Allah and the Christian God are the same. The Da Vinci Code is simply again trying to go beyond specific teachings … this time in order to entertain.
This idea that there is something hidden or beyond the stated Word flies in the face of what Jesus Himself said. There are several examples, but two fit readily:
John 6:47 "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."
John 14:6 "Jesus answered and said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Certainly some of Jesus's parables require analysis and interpretation beyond a surface level, but the core of Christ's message is readily available to the "uninitiated" and the life-long Christian.
As a piece of literature, and probably as a piece of entertainment in the theatre, Dan Brown's work is great. He writes very well. One only has to approach the ideas within as false. So then, I urge you to get informed. Read the book. See the movie. Be prepared to discuss it analytically. Do not go crazy overboard. Remember that this is the same sort of thing we have been seeing since the beginning of the Church. As the movie's tagline states, "Seek the Truth." To apply it to a Christian life, we could say "Keep the Truth … and Spread the Word."
posted by Matt Pitchford at 22:27
1 Comments:
Kudos for taking the time to look into this. I wasn't expecting to hear you say that this has been going on all along, but great point! You're right, this isn't a new attack.
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