The Da Vinci Code- tonight, NBC

There is nothing to debate. The author of the book admits that it is purely a work of fiction that he wrote after someone shared some silly story with him about DaVinci.

The writer never intended it to be treated like a history book, and he was as shocked as anyone else to see cults grow up around it.

 

The author is being disingenous to act shocked that people are taking his book seriously.

He has at the beginning of the book this statement:

This is very misleading and is also not true. However, many people believe what he writes, partly because of this statement. The book also perpetuates many myths and lies still out there that are believed, such as the divine feminine and the Gnostic gospels.

I think it is crucial for Christians to know some of the flaws in this book as so many are reading it, including Christians who have had their faith shaken by it (that is something I know firsthand from being asked about it by Christians).

Even fiction is powerful and can affect people's thinking, especially when the ideas cause people to question the Bible and/or mislead others to untruth. It is important to know about this book now, because a movie will be coming out and that will draw even more people into these ideas. The deceiver is busy.

I have some links to some great articles responding to this book here
http://cana.userworld.com/cana_DaVinciCode.html

There are also many books out, including christian ones, refuting this book.

I wonder if this Dateline show is a repeat. I think they did one already but maybe I'm thinking of another show that ABC did.

 

That's a very good point, Marcia.
I've wondered for a long time why people fell for it.

 

From what I have seen of this on PBS or some other channel maybe the History channel, words are formed from letters printed in straight lines and columns so that the letters next to each other (either stacked on top of each other, diagonally, or at right angles to each other) formed words that matched something like a person or an event or a date or all 3, in history.

But then after some other explanations I learned that they jumped all over the page to come up with newer things and that's when I decided I could take a page fully of letters and form so many different combinations that matching to historical events was pointless.

That's what convinced me that that stuff was hokey nonsense.

 

Thanks, TS!

 

Yeah, Ron Howard is doing the movie isn't he? Tom Hanks will be the main character I think. Two of the most talented people in hollywood making this garbage. ugggg

 

I really enjoyed the DaVinci Code as a fictional thriller that included many factual historical elements, several real conspiracy theories/controversies (real in that the theory or controversy existed, not that they were proven true) and lots of completely made up fiction to tie it all together into one coherent believable fiction.

One thing that I do hope will be beneficial about the DaVinci Code is
1) Renewed interest in the study of actual historical Christianity.
2) Reveal to folks how easy it is to make fiction sound like history (which movies and books have been doing for ages)

Dan Brown is not writing historical works. He does what many fictional writers do to make their work believable by including some historically accurate information.

If folks read his works and believe them to be historically true without question, the problem lies with the reader and not the author.

 

I thought the special was quite fair (and quite respectful, I might add), weighing the evidence and dismissing the conspiracy in the DaVinci Code.

 

It is a book.

What this whiplash says to me is that a large group of people are searching so hard for some meaning in their lives that they will grasp at anything. Sad really. You dont have to work that hard to hear the heartbeat of God.

I read the book. I liked the book. I thought about the premise of the book as truth for about 30 seconds and then I went right back to believing what Ive always known. And it did propel me into more study of bibilical figures and historical events. Which was awesome to learn. What was wrong with that?

The architecture, art, documents, and rituals WERE described accurately in the book. There are hundreds of sources to prove that. The book doesn't say that God doesnt exist and we are all fools for believing.

There isnt any conspiracy - refer to my first sentence of this post - it is a book. All the Church is doing is bringing to the attention of all the doubters (which God loves too), that the Church is so afraid that a work of fiction will dismantle thousands of years of belief. Utter nonsense.

I cannot believe people actually are fearful of this. Fear based faith belongs to the Taliban, Not the Baptists. Remember, they were feeding Christians to lions for hundreds of years, and we are still here. Anyone can say anything about God that they want, it bothers me none. When you are right - you dont have to fight.

And if you want to talk about garbage in media, there are hundreds of thousands of things that could fall into that category. Might want to start another post.

 

FYI--when I referred to the "conspiracy," I was referring to the conspiracy IN the novel.

 

"It is error, and error alone, that needs human support.”
-John Leland (1754-1841), Baptist, American advocate for religious liberty

 

I thought it was pretty balanced; I don't understand why so many got so upset about the book. It's a work of fiction.

 

I think Christians get upset because the unsaved are just incapable of understanding this is fiction or a lie of satan! To NOT speak out is the same as validating these untruths.


http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/torah.html

 

Now if I werent a Christian, by that last statement, I would think that the church thought I was too stupid to tell the difference.

 

Scripture says:

If that means 'stupid', then so be it, but I see it as blinded to the truth.

 

[ June 26, 2005, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: ASLANSPAL ]

 

Yikes! I just realized I posted on the baptist side again ...I linked from the recent post page
and jumped right on in...also noticed I linked
to a Gentle charasmatic Wesleyan church. Not exactly very Baptists of me, sorry bout that.

 

Yep. It appears to me that its largely believed that a passage out the Bible about veils over the heart, somehow endures everyone else to being stupid. I guess some cant help but be their own crown of thorns.

Still, it is just a book. And if you are threatened by it, might want to pray just about that and see what God tells you.

I read 'Cracking the Da Vinci Code' as well and thought "well at least Dr. Garlow isnt the least bit afraid of being tested." I really appreciated that. This is not the first, nor will it be the last in all of time and eternity where the foundation of faith will have someone taking a run at it. I would be more concerned over what God thought of me when I made sweeping statements about others than reading a book that did nothing but entertain me for a couple of hours on a long plane ride to the mid-East. I thought it was fun and educational because it brought me straight back to the foundation of my faith. It just made it abundantly apparent that Jesus was right all along. Guess I am alone in this one.