Da story 2,000 years in the making, amidst a whirlwind of criticism and excitement, comes out in theatres today. Historical? Factual? Fictional? False? All of the above?
I know there are some historical characters in the story, which is a work of fiction and that there are some facts that have been twisted into falsehoods. I also know that believing the premises that Jesus Christ “was only a man, who married, fathered children, and died a normal death in first-century Palestine” flies in the face of history – not to mention that silly little document we Christians call the Bible.
I appreciate the need to engage the culture – to dispel falsehood and counteract that with the truth. I’m just not convinced that seeing the movie or reading the book is required to do that. Also, I’m not interested in condemning anyone for doing that because what I know of the book is based on their review. I am moved more by Paul’s encouragement, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). This movie/book does not strike me as particularly noble and it certainly doesn’t provide truth.
At the end of the day, I don’t want my money in Dan Brown’s pockets. But honestly, the pull of Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and an intriguing story does entice me. I asked a friend who read the book, not if the book was good but if it was good that the book was written. He said, “No, Satan is certainly delighting in this.” And that is where I draw the line.
Drew Trotter, in an article titled The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon, provided some great arguments against the historicity of the story and makes some great observations about our lack of historical understanding. He then goes on to write, “We cannot fulfill this great commission by disengaging ourselves from its most important cultural markers, and The Da Vinci Code promises to be important, at least at the popular level.” I’m not convinced that knowing the storyline is required to refute the historical inaccuracy. Being the light in the darkness will always outshine even the most perverse falsity.
For more thoughts:
• The Da Vinci Code Discussed
• Inadequate
• Links
I plan on reading it borrowed from the public library since that's the best I can do to keep my money out of Brown's pockets without illegally downloading it from the Internet.
The reason I am going to read it is that, while I have read several reviews and responses to this work of fiction, I cannot say that I know that the book says firsthand and I look at that fact as one thing that could potentially keep someone else from listening to my opinion on it.
I agree that you don't need to have read the book or seen the movie to discuss it, but others disagree and I want to be ready to handle these individuals as well.
Posted by: Larry at May 19, 2006 05:31 PMLast fall I decided not to read the Da Vinci Code after learning a little about it, and while I do not condemn those who make a different decision, I discourage them from doing so. I don't need to read it to know that it fictionalizes various people from the Bible (those associated with the book & movie do not dispute this) including Jesus.
The problem with that is that by reading the book, I'm filling my head with untruths about real people. And being the imperfect person that I am, it would be entirely possible (and likely given my memory) that I would confuse fiction with truth. In fact, I ead an article about a survey taken of people's knowledge of the Bible. Those surveyed who had read the Da Vinci Code were much more likely to answer particular questions incorrectly. Sure I can't tell you exactly what the book fictionalizes, and I also can't tell you what nude women Playboy features this week either. But I don't need to know the details to know it's wrong and better off not floating around in my head.
As I grow in my relationship with God, I'm finding more and more that one of the best ways to avoid temptation and confusion is to avoid filling my head with certain information and images. Don't get me wrong--I'll welcome another viewpoint on predestination or the like, but when it comes to someone rewriting the Bible (even if the author has asserted that disclaimer) I do not welcome that information. Entertainment just isn't worth it to confuse my already flawed memory.
Posted by: Ally at May 19, 2006 11:19 PMI understand what you're saying, Ally. For your particular situation, I agree that you're better off not reading the book. It sounds like you're saying that you're not willing to take the chance that anything in the book could influence the thoughts in your head.
I'm not worried about that. I'm leaving it up to God to help keep my thoughts and my faith strong in Him. He commands us to be involved in the world without being part of it and I don't think that I can do that by protecting myself from the things the world tries to promote. At some point, I feel that I need to turn it all over to Him and do my best to keep the falsehoods of this novel from becoming truths to me while remembering that He won't give up on me no matter what now.
Posted by: Larry at May 20, 2006 01:36 AMLarry I certainly appreciate where you are coming from and could very easily see myself coming to the same conclusion. Aren’t libraries great! I honestly go back and forth with this as I am someone who is of a very curious nature and likes to be informed. You give Ally a great reminder of turning it all over to Christ in the end.
Ally I really appreciate your heart and willingness to admit your weaknesses; something that is far too often a rarity. Furthermore your point about not having to have first-hand experience of every sin/lie/mistruth under the sun in order to refute the morality is also well taken. We need not look any further than the example of our Lord Jesus Christ who himself was blameless of all sin, but had all authority to condemn. Looking to Christ we also see where his ministry was to the unrighteous and not the righteous, so he did spend time with even the greatest of sinners.
Ultimately it comes down to how is the Spirit moving in your heart and leading you to respond. That is unity in the Holy Spirit and not necessarily uniformity.
Look to Paul’s inspired words here in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
Whether you look at these words and see an opportunity to use God’s divine truth by being in the world and not of it OR you rest on the power of the divine to demolish these lies – by making every thought captive to Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit you remain obedient to His calling in your life.
Posted by: Jeff Price at May 23, 2006 01:26 PMHey Jeff,
Given our past discussions I thought you might find it interesting that I have no interest in seeing the movie, nor have I read the book. People I know who've tried to read the book have put it down after a few pages because, they claim, it's totally unreadable. Also, having read descriptions of what the book is about I can say it sounds totally uninteresting. I can't imagine a movie based on the book could possibly be interesting, so I won't be wasting my money.
--j
Posted by: jayinbmore at June 6, 2006 05:31 PMI appreciate your thoughts Jay. I have tended to stay away from "the story isn't even any good" rhetoric, and tried to focus on the mistruths that are presented. But it's good to know there are some non-Christians out there who do not want to waste their money either! :-)
Posted by: Jeff Price at June 8, 2006 02:47 PM