Re-creation, re-storation, re-conciliation, re-demption: These are all found in the beauty of the Jesus story. This blog is about living those things out and wrestling with their implications for every aspect of life.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Da Vinci Code
Some good thoughts on the upcoming movie and book by Dan Brown. While I enjoyed the book as fiction (really entertaining, actually), there is quite a bit of unfortunate theological implications. This site deals with some of those well.
I am always interested in how Christians seem so eager to hit the warpath the instant someone dares to disagree with or outright reject their beliefs, a reaction which thereby makes their claims less embraceable in the long run. Guess there's still too much of that Crusader blood running through our holier-than-thou selves.
it's also interesting when people get all mad and stuff without really looking at the history or having anything to back their madness up. i've heard some people get really mad about this book without having read it or without having known what it was saying. they just knew that it was controversial and "wrong".
i do think it's good to weigh other people's thoughts and to weigh your own so that you don't just base arguments on feelings. i think that's why i recommend looking at this site. it's actually quite informative, while at the same time, it's not abusive towards those who might think differently than what they think.
i am not so interested in warpaths or anger. i am interested in those who can take certain topics and make them into personal gold mines by speaking about them, writing about them or singing about them. it is incredibly fascinating to me that it doesn't take much creativity to actually make people mad... and their kids buy your stuff.
Truth there, Bri. I should back up my statement by pointing out how others can either incite the warpath or hit it themselves against Christians, ironically while usually claiming to advance religious tolerance. I read this book in Leonardtown because some friends of ours had taken up the cause. What scared me most was how the "truth" of Dan Brown was so delicately presented wrapped in shining gold fiction. The Bible on the other hand is a lousy work literarily. Boring as hell (ok, maybe not that boring...but wouldn't it be a great torture to make people in hell read it? Like, posting it on their walls or something? Oops, already been done to the guests of Leonardtown Church...sorry.), and full of such fantastic stuff that you surely must dismiss it as lousy and uninteresting fiction, hardly the stuff of Brown's caliber.
At the same time, he pieces together his tale in such a way that you almost want it to be true. He feeds upon the general hatred of the Church to present his cause. Now I'm not dismissing the horrible things Christians have done and still do. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be some level of disgust at the way the Church has presented itself lately, not to mention the past. But Brown's argument(s) has just as many holes in it as many Christians have in theirs. And people, in an effort not to settle for something less than truth, have done just that because of his presentation.
I guess when you think about it, Dan Brown is just the newest Benny Hinn of secularism.
I thought The Da Vinci Code was great. I listened to it on tape when I had 14 -hour round trip drive a few months back. There are some key historical errors that are really frustrating, particularly the parts about Constantine somehow deciding Christian orthodoxy. It just doesn't hold any historical water. Also, it doesn't seem to be absolutely essential to the story. It just seemed to be a jab at Christianity. It's hard to fault people for being a little upset with the inaccuracies, but I'm not much for a crusade or anything either. Worse than this (IMO) are the people who don't like Harry Potter. I love it, and my oldest son is getting ready to read the 4th book. It's tough to fault a book where the oldest and most powerful magic is found in the power of self-giving love. I sort of understand people being upset with Da Vinci Code, but the Harry Potter thing has me mystified (not that it takes much to do that).
I was once at a friend's family reunion and the family argued over whether or not the kids could watch Sword in the Stone, since there was a magician in it.
7 comments:
I am always interested in how Christians seem so eager to hit the warpath the instant someone dares to disagree with or outright reject their beliefs, a reaction which thereby makes their claims less embraceable in the long run. Guess there's still too much of that Crusader blood running through our holier-than-thou selves.
yeah, that is interesting.
it's also interesting when people get all mad and stuff without really looking at the history or having anything to back their madness up. i've heard some people get really mad about this book without having read it or without having known what it was saying. they just knew that it was controversial and "wrong".
i do think it's good to weigh other people's thoughts and to weigh your own so that you don't just base arguments on feelings. i think that's why i recommend looking at this site. it's actually quite informative, while at the same time, it's not abusive towards those who might think differently than what they think.
i am not so interested in warpaths or anger. i am interested in those who can take certain topics and make them into personal gold mines by speaking about them, writing about them or singing about them. it is incredibly fascinating to me that it doesn't take much creativity to actually make people mad... and their kids buy your stuff.
Truth there, Bri. I should back up my statement by pointing out how others can either incite the warpath or hit it themselves against Christians, ironically while usually claiming to advance religious tolerance. I read this book in Leonardtown because some friends of ours had taken up the cause. What scared me most was how the "truth" of Dan Brown was so delicately presented wrapped in shining gold fiction. The Bible on the other hand is a lousy work literarily. Boring as hell (ok, maybe not that boring...but wouldn't it be a great torture to make people in hell read it? Like, posting it on their walls or something? Oops, already been done to the guests of Leonardtown Church...sorry.), and full of such fantastic stuff that you surely must dismiss it as lousy and uninteresting fiction, hardly the stuff of Brown's caliber.
At the same time, he pieces together his tale in such a way that you almost want it to be true. He feeds upon the general hatred of the Church to present his cause. Now I'm not dismissing the horrible things Christians have done and still do. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be some level of disgust at the way the Church has presented itself lately, not to mention the past. But Brown's argument(s) has just as many holes in it as many Christians have in theirs. And people, in an effort not to settle for something less than truth, have done just that because of his presentation.
I guess when you think about it, Dan Brown is just the newest Benny Hinn of secularism.
Do you think Dan Brown really wanted to start something?
I thought The Da Vinci Code was great. I listened to it on tape when I had 14 -hour round trip drive a few months back. There are some key historical errors that are really frustrating, particularly the parts about Constantine somehow deciding Christian orthodoxy. It just doesn't hold any historical water. Also, it doesn't seem to be absolutely essential to the story. It just seemed to be a jab at Christianity. It's hard to fault people for being a little upset with the inaccuracies, but I'm not much for a crusade or anything either. Worse than this (IMO) are the people who don't like Harry Potter. I love it, and my oldest son is getting ready to read the 4th book. It's tough to fault a book where the oldest and most powerful magic is found in the power of self-giving love. I sort of understand people being upset with Da Vinci Code, but the Harry Potter thing has me mystified (not that it takes much to do that).
I was once at a friend's family reunion and the family argued over whether or not the kids could watch Sword in the Stone, since there was a magician in it.
Yeah...
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