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| Ignoring �Da Vinci� By Antonio C. Abaya Written May 16, 2006 For the Standard Today, May 18 issue Those who find The Da Vinci Code, book and/or movie, objectionable, blasphemous, sacrilegious, puerile, erroneous, abominable literature and worse history, should just shut up, instead of incessantly writing about it and complaining about how terrible it is. Don�t they realize that giving publicity, even negative publicity, to such a supposedly wicked and insidious work, will just titillate more people into reading the book and/or watching the film? Forty million (not four million) people around the world have read the book. I would not be surprised if 200 million or more watch the film. I wonder how it will compare with Mel Gibson�s The Passion of the Christ. I am glad that the movie and television review board gave the film an �Adults Only� rating, instead of banning it, as some gibbering hotheads wanted it to. And I am glad that even the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, through its spokesman, Bishop Quitorio, did not allow itself to be stampeded into condemning it. Reverse psychology is at work here, and the faithful can rationalize that it is the Holy Spirit that is enlightening everyone. More than a month ago, Newsweek reported that Christian Evangelicals in the US have decided not to condemn the film. On the contrary, evangelical groups are planning to buy tickets to the film and give them away free to non-evangelicals. The reasoning probably goes like this: if they were to give away free tickets to 100,000 people, perhaps 20,000 will not bother to see the film and throw the free tickets away. But if they (the evangelicals) were to mount a shrill and strident anti-Da Vinci campaign, all those 100,000 people, plus their grandmothers and grandfathers, would likely troop to the movie houses to see what the fuss is all about, if only to satisfy their curiosity. Their non-confrontational tack, therefore, might theoretically give them a net of 20,000 souls saved, unpolluted by Dan Brown�s blasphemy. As for myself I do not intend to watch the film when it is exhibited, starting tomorrow, May 19. It is not a must-see film, as far as I�m concerned. I will wait until the globalized DVDs come out in a few weeks. I have read the novel twice. I have read the much more detailed non-fiction book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which Dan Brown borrowed (or plagiarized) for his plot, once, and am reading parts of it for the second time. I have started to read Margaret Starbird�s Mary Magdalene: The Woman with the Alabaster Jar. I was going to order The Jesus Papers, by one of the three authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but it has gotten such poor reviews that I will not bother. I have also read more than 20 lengthy articles, books and booklets, most of them critiquing Dan Brown. Frankly, I�m getting sick and tired of this brouhaha. What this fuss has done, aside from making both devoted and nominal Christians more aware of the origins and early years of Christianity than they have ever been, is enrich the menu in the Cafeteria that I alluded to in my article Cafeteria Catholicism (April 11, 2006). Because most literate Christians now have access to computers and the Internet (and the limitless information at their command), they are now more discerning about what to believe and what not to believe, unlike in the early days of Christianity when only the monks and priests knew how to read and write, and everyone else was illiterate, ignorant and stupid, and blindly accepted what the monks and priests told them to believe. Despite the efforts of learned critics to give point-by-point refutation of the many theological or historical issues raised in the novel, readers will accept some and disregard others, according to their psychological make-ups, emotional hang-ups and personal values. Isn�t this relativism or indifferentism? Of course, it is. But so what? As I wrote in Cafeteria Catholicism, the days of the One True Faith are probably over. In its place are or will be millions of personal true faiths, each one somewhat different from the others, but each one giving the emotional solace and moral guidance that religion is supposed to bestow on each believer. The use of artificial methods of birth control by tens of millions of Catholic couples worldwide, the near-universal acceptance of divorce even in predominantly Roman Catholic countries, the dwindling number of young men studying for the priesthood, the empty Catholic and Protestant churches in Europe, the seat of Christendom�.all point to the decline of the concept of One True Faith. The Opus Dei is an attempt to revive that moribund concept, but time and the spread of secularism are not on its side. In the matter of The Da Vinci Code or, more correctly, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, their central hypothesis � that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her whose bloodline has continued to the present � is not backed by any credible historical records that can stand up in any court of law. It is all based on legends, myths and conjectures. Some will accept these shallow foundations, others � including myself - will not. What is most intriguing about this hypothesis is that it ties together several historical events or eras, each of which deserves attention in its own right. These are: the flight of Judean refugees to the south of Gaul, now France (1st century AD), the Merovingian dynasty in France (7th to 9th), the Knights Templar in Jerusalem (12th), the Albigensian heresy and the crusade against them (13th) and the extermination of the Knights Templar in Europe (14th). The weakest link in this chain is the Priory of Sion (11th to the present kuno), said to be a mysterious society guarding the secret of the bloodline, but which is not credible at all, in my opinion. . These events and eras have one thing in common: they all either happened in this region in southern France or involved some prominent person or persons who had some kind of connection with this region. In particular, the village of Rennes-le-Chateau (pop 200 in 1891) and its environs, which is not even mentioned at all in The Da Vinci Code or in the many critiques of Brown�s novel. But it was in Rennes-le-Chateau that all this began, according to Henry Lincoln, one of the three authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, as I wrote in my article Before the Da Vinci Code (Jan 31, 2006): The real-life parish priest in Rennes-le-Chateau, named Berenger Sauniere (Brown named his fictive Louvre curator Jacques Sauniere), was doing some renovation in his church (which happened to be dedicated to Mary Magdalene) when he unearthed some ancient documents, some in code, in a hollow part of a 6th century column. Not knowing what these documents were, he brought them to church authorities in Paris. For some unexplained reason, Fr. Sauniere suddenly became rich and famous. Important people visited him in his village, including the French state secretary for culture, the reigning opera diva at the time (with whom he apparently had an affair in Paris), even the German composer Richard Wagner. Most of all, he was visited by Archduke Johann von Hapsburg of Austria. According to HBHG, bank records show that the archduke and the priest opened consecutive bank accounts on the same day, and that a large amount was transferred from the former to the latter. How large? One source put it at two million pounds sterling, an astronomical sum, probably an exaggeration, especially for a village parish priest who was then subsisting on an income of six pounds sterling a year. Speculation is or was that Fr. Sauniere was being bribed to keep quiet about something that he had discovered, and that the bribe money came from the Pope himself, Austria being a predominantly Roman Catholic country, and the Hapsburg dynasty intimately involved in papal politics. And what did he discover? Again speculation is or was that whatever it was that he discovered in those coded documents, it had something to do with the Holy Grail. When the composer Wagner visited Rennes-le-Chateau, he was working on his last opera, Parsifal, which is about the search for the Holy Grail. Because of lack of space here, the interested reader will have to read my article Before The Da Vinci Code for more details about this real-life mystery, which is actually more engrossing and more credible than Dan Brown�s novel.***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2002 in www.tapatt.org. Current articles also in tonyabaya.multiply.com OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �Ignoring �Da Vinci� Christians and Proud of It The Philippines is Jesus Christ country. Roughly 90% of Filipinos identify themselves to be Christians. That is, if we include those who are so young and innocent to truly be aware of what religion is all about, but who will grow and almost as sure as the sun will rise from the east each day, will take up the religion they were born into: the religion of their parents. Many Pinoys are quite proud of the fact that the Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia (not true anymore, e.g.). You hear this repeated ad nauseum that it's now to be considered a national self-therapy pastime for those who cannot find any other good thing to say about his country so that he can make himself feel a little nationalistic pride. It shows just how much our people is so desperately in need of consolation that something that at the very least should be a non-issue is turned into an object of pride, like a placebo. It's like hearing the Japanese say they are proud of the fact that they are the only Kitty-chan nation in Asia. So what? Is that something to be really proud about? Our confused brethren think so. They are proud of something that is on close inspection was just an all too effective instrument used by the Spanish conquistadores to subjugate our ancestors - the uncivilized Indios � for more than three hundred years. Yes, three hundred freaking years! They say, Christianity is a precious gift from our colonizers. That's how deceived our people are. Our European colonizers used the Catholic religion so effectively side by side with the mighty sword to keep the Pinoys ignorantly in line. So effective is this method that today, more than a century later, our nation is still predominantly Catholic like Spain and remain intellectually subjugated by faith and by the opportunistic bishops and priests and pastors. I long for the day when the Pinoy will finally be free from the shackles of the dogma of religion, of ignorance and superstition. That day will truly be a day of pride. Tony Basa, [email protected] May 19, 2006 http://www.philippineatheists.org/ wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, The decision of the Manila city council to ban the showing of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" in Manila is just plain stupid. Since when did the city council become religious fanatics? The last time I checked, the book is still in the Fiction section of any book store. I don't know whether the members of the city council understand the difference between fact and fiction. But based on their actions, it's so obvious. Too bad for the thinking residents of Manila. You have to go to another city to watch the movie. Although a lot of movie critics panned it, it may be worthwhile seeing, just to see what they've changed from the book. Chito Salalac, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I'm in the USA this week, and the Da Vinci Code has been in the news, with ads playing all the time. Discovery Channel did an investigative report, and it did seem the bias was towards having a blockbuster TV special, proving Dan Brown, and the authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail, as being either right, or at least giving them credit for pulling up an interesting theory, and then highlighting the evidence. Instead, it was the exact opposite. Their investigative research concentrated on the history of the Priory of Sion, the links of Newton, Da Vinci, and others, the theory that Mary Magdalene went to France, and that something was buried beneath the floor of the church in Scotland. To make a long story short, but to whet your appetite: The Priory of Scion DID exist! - but, it was a total hoax cooked up by three people in the 1950's. The hoax was very well thought out and planned, and it eventually got the guys into such trouble that they confessed to it. The document linking Newton, Da Vinci etc, was a part of that hoax. The story of the hoax is worth a movie! Mary Magdalene landing in France? There IS a historical connection- but it wasn't Mary. The Chapel in Scotland, It exists, it�s related to the knights, but digging has found nothing, and they have stopped, and are, like many, just hoping the visitors will come after reading Dan Brown's book, and/or watching the movie. Peter Capotosto, [email protected] May 19, 2006 MY REPLY. But I said all that in �Ignoring �Da Vinci��, namely that the Priory of Sion is �the weakest link in the chain (of events and eras) and is not credible at all,� and that the story of Mary Magdalene, pregnant with Jesus� child, landing in the south of Gaul, is �based on myths, legends and conjectures that would not stand up in any court of law.� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished). I think Mr. Abaya spelled it out succinctly and correctly. I read the book, and while I am �0� religious, I found it fun and titillating and enjoyed how it tweaked everyone�s noses and created a maelstrom of publicity for both the book and the movie. Yes, we bought the whole 9 yards �hook, line, and sinker�. The publishers should be congratulated for an excellent promotional job that sucked everyone in. Galing!!! Aside from all this, the book is formulaic, shallow and extremely predictable. If you take out the religious/historical fluff (which as I said is extremely fun and irreverent and worth several conversations) the book has shallow characters, a predictable plot, and in the unfolding of the plot, completely unbelievable. Well guys, we just turned a completely mediocre, commercial writer into a new star!!! More power to Dan Brown and his publishers. And by the way, there wasn�t even a sex scene in the book. ;-). Alas! Being a book lover, I actually thought of buying more of his books, but after reading �Da Code�, I decided I was not going to waste any money on lousy books. Enjoy! Watch the movie � albeit the pirated version! But please, let�s not send suicide bombers out to protest something some of us may not agree with. By the way, one of the reasons I first bought the book was because of its use of �Leonardo�s� name. Da Vinci is a fascination � genius unparalleled. But the book wasn�t. The marketing of the book � and the movie - was. Dondi Joseph, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I read the Da Vinci book a long time ago, way way before Hollywood announced it to become a movie. The book was very entertaining. In fact when I read it, my first reaction was "this will be a great thriller movie", kind a like " The Firm". I took the book as fiction. I think we should lighten up about the book or the movie. It is purely for entertainment only. There more serious issues than this, such as true stories of some priests who molested kids; and that is blasphemy!!! Gloria Lilly, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I agree wholeheartedly with your article and I know you are probably sick by now of all these "refutations" of the Da Vinci Code. Nevertheless here is one more. An interesting one. 20 Big Lies in the Da Vinci Code By James A. Beverley Source: http://www.charismamag.com/display.php?id=12860 David de Padua, [email protected] May 19, 2006 MY REPLY. Someone sent this to me earlier. I didn�t find it interesting at all. Sorry. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Very well put! Jack Sherman, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir, Based on yesterday's new item from cnn.com entitled "Da Vinci Code meets with catcalls", the book has now sold more than 60.5 million copies translated to 44 languages. FYI. Jun Valenzuela, [email protected] Naga City, May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hello Tony! This brouhaha about Da Vinci Code (book and movie) reminds me of my high school days in a Catholic school run by brothers in which it was considered a mortal sin to read Rizal's Noli Me Tangere. The friars in that novel were really obnoxious, and some of the natives even more so. Anyway, I finally read the novel in college and although I am a "cafeteria" Catholic nowadays, I do not ascribe this "cafeteria-nism" to reading that novel; its more probably due to exposure to various ideas as one matures and becomes more discerning (hopefully.). Hell, I like priests and brothers as individuals and greatly respect their dedication to their faith and sense of mission; I nearly became one myself. What I dislike are those hypocritical do-gooders like the Manila City Council which banned the movie and that obscure group which considered it pornographic. Frankly, I would rather ban some of those moronic shows being shown in prime time TV by ABS-CBN and GMA 7 which do not encourage critical thinking and make a mockery of the intellect of viewers. I've read Da Vinci Code and found it highly entertaining. The issue about Mary Magdalene and Christ for me is not of central concern in the novel. Sure it made me think for a minute about the sexuality of Jesus Christ but I'm not really surprised if He had a wife and off-springs. What's so shocking about that? God the Father caused the Blessed Virgin Mary to become pregnant and begot Jesus. In myths around the world, gods have always mingled with humans and bore children with them. What is important is that this fictional book is a good thriller and I got my money's worth. I'll also watch the movie not because I enjoy the Catholic Church being "bashed", if indeed the movie does that, but because I like Tom Hanks and I know he will not consent to star in a bad movie. Herminigildo Gutierrez, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mixing a "fictional" movie with "facts" (as claimed by Dan Brown) is a very dangerous. Ang malinis na tubig haluan ng konting tinta, madumi na. Mike Delgado, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. A. Abaya, Dan Brown's Da Vinci's Code will make a lot of money because it has the right formula, thanks in part to the media, to make money, it is called curiosity factor. People will buy his book and see the movie to find out what's in it. What's in it is pure entertainment, that is. The truth is there is nothing seriously religious in the book. It is pure fiction. Dan Brown is an English language teacher and has no religious credentials to back him up. Leonardo Da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, inventor, architect, engineer and a mathematician which means he was remotely religious. Because of his preoccupation with so many things, I doubt if he had the time for religion. When Leonardo moved to Milan, he was competing against top artists of his time like Michaelangelo and Raphael doing the same thing. He had to develop his own style of painting to get a commission to paint religious images in chapels and churches. LIke the saying goes, there are different ways to skin a cat. He was known by some experts to paint faces of young male subjects to look feminine which is exemplified in his painting of the Last Supper (John, the dude on the right side of Jesus looks like a woman). Cryptic messages in his paintings? I doubt it. Dan Brown made it all up. Dan Brown deliberately created a fact from fiction that the Priory of Sion was a real secret organization founded in 1099 which included Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Botticelli and Victor Hugo as members. Pierre Plantard who had a criminal conviction as a con artist founded the Priory of Sion in 1956 and fabricated the notion that the Priory of Sion is the same secret organization as the Abbey of Sion. Wrong! Dan Brown probably scooped this notion to establish his "fact". Therefore the whole thing is a hoax. Da Vinci's Code is a fabrication of biblical proportion written to create curiosity and money, lots of it. This one should not shake our religious foundation one bit. Let's enjoy the movie anyway. Emil Diaz, Jr., [email protected] Vancouver, B.C., Canada, May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Tony, I watched the movie and you are quite right....It's much ado over nothing much--it's really just a riveting mystery story, with lots of holes in it (like why would Sophie's grandma relinquish her care to a total stranger even if he was a great protector.) I now understand why they laughed at the film in Cannes.... Now as for our local politicians here banning the movie or damning it (heard one monsignor on TV, tsk tsk- such profanity,) I would rather they focused on more important things, like how to keep our bulging population from growing into bursting points--I cannot bear seeing the people- especially the children--living under the bridges, or in squatters, worse than pigsties I see abroad... Our wonderful Catholic faith sustains many of us, but it can also kill us, if we do not use some common sense, or question its leaders. Cita Abad-Dinglasan, [email protected] May 19, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, One observation that I want to share is that we are not seeing any embassies or movie studios being bombed, are we ? Well, maybe not yet...... Ray Eced, [email protected] May 20, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Linda and I saw the Da Vinci Code yesterday. The theatre at Shang was packed. We couldn't get seats we wanted and had to be satisfied with a later show. There was even a waiting list and reservations ahead for seats today. You were so right when you predicted the controversy would be good advertisement. The movie was not easy to follow, and I felt most everyone was left trying to puzzle much of it out. Perhaps it whetted curiosity further for some, while others were simply lost. You offer a light, revealing the way through the labyrinth. Thanks for the help. It is a fact that now reading your article again, most of the main pieces come together. You could write your own book which would enjoy a big market. People definitely appreciate your help, as you have the background and style of writing to make it easier to grasp. I am not looking for any Holy Grail, but would like to read the Holy Blood, Holy Grail. I enjoy very much what you write. Jack Sherman, [email protected] May 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww If a person writes a lot of lies and false information about you, or your business, or your employer (a beloved one, that is), will you pay him money for it? Why then are so many Christians, and even Catholics, lining up at the bookstores and the cinemas for "Duhh Vinci Code", and thereby giving their honestly earned money to Dan Brown and Sony Pictures? They are just encouraging and financing such greedy people to make more attacks at our Christian faith. If we are true to the demands of Christianity, then we should defend our faith more staunchly than our own reputation, or our businesses, or our beloved employer, or anything else for that matter. Hollywood and Dan Brown must really be smiling together with the devils, since they have succeeded in duping even the most Christian country in the whole world --that is over 90% Christian � to patronize their anti-Christian propaganda. As the good Cardinal Arinze and many others have said, nobody will ever dare to write, much less make any movie against any other of the major religions in the world. One can simply look at the kind of international uproar, violent protests, closure of some European Union offices in some countries, boycotts of European goods, etc., that came as result of merely depicting Mohammad, in a cartoon, as wearing a turban that resembled a bomb. While its true that there is a positive side to this, especially for people who are attracted to and are seeking the truth, still Christians shouldn't show Hollywood and fakes like Dan Brown that Christians are push-overs and do not lift a finger to defend the faith. The least we can do is not to give money to Hollywood and Dan Brown. Antonio Santos, [email protected] May 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Forwarded by Mifflin Ann Garcia, [email protected]) A Code to Consider Christians have invested plenty of energy and creativity in debunking and debating The Da Vinci Code. Maybe we can also take a cue from the Code by focusing some of our efforts on telling better stories. By Brian Godawa | posted 05/16/2006 This Friday, The Da Vinci Code, one of the best-selling books of all time, hits the big screen. Although Dan Brown's book is purely an invented story, his following has been "religious." The book has sold almost 50 million copies,has been translated and published into over 40 languages worldwide, and Brown has been named by Time magazine as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People. The film's release is only adding to those numbers and all the hoopla. Brown's story claims to uncover the "truth" of long-held secrets about Jesus, attacking foundational beliefs of the Christian faith�including accusations that the Bible is not true, that Jesus was not God, that he fathered children with Mary Magdalene and embraced pagan goddess religion. It also depicts the Roman Catholic Church�and Christianity in general�as attempting to cover up these alleged "truths" with a diabolical web of lies and murder. But these kinds of claims are nothing new. Christian-haters have been spinning conspiracy theories since the day of the Resurrection, when the chief priests started a whispering campaign that Jesus' disciples stole his body. Nero pinned his burning of Rome on the Christians in a first-century conspiracy theory of persecution. The Da Vinci Code is not unlike another conspiracy theory created in the late 19th century, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." This hate-filled hit piece was written by an anti-Semite to "expose" a non-existent conspiracy of a cabal of Jews to take over the world. Its intent was to demonize Judaism and feed irrational bigotry against the Jews. Millions in the Muslim world still believe it today, which props up their hatred of Jews. A gullible public When it comes to Da Vinci, the real problem is not Dan Brown's fiction. He has the moral and Constitutional right to craft any kind of tangled logic and laughable paranoia against Christianity that his mind can devise or "borrow" from other conspiracy nuts and bigots. The problem is the gullibility of the public and its susceptibility to a well-told story, regardless of its historical veracity. To anyone who has actually read ancient history, this stuff is on the level of Heaven's Gate UFO abductions, but those with an anti-Christian agenda believe it because it makes them feel better about their prejudice. It reminds me of an editor's response regarding the fraudulence of the Dan Rather memo. It may have been a forgery, but it was "probably what happened anyway," so they believed it. So it has been with many who have read The Da Vinci Code�and believed it anyway. In today's postmodern world, and indeed throughout history, so-called "historical facts" do not usually persuade the masses, but the most convincing interpretation does. In other words, the culture is guided or controlled by whoever tells the best story. And unfortunately, the church has been mired in the story of modernity for too long, slavishly devoted to make Christianity utterly logical, scientific and respectable in intellectual terms, while neglecting the equally legitimate story of imagination that the Bible supports through its use of story and artistic imagery, visual, dramatic and musical. We need better stories Christians need to stop boycotting and protesting entertainment, which helps sales and makes us look like sourpuss complainers. We need to stop seeing Hollywood as a Sodom to flee from, and start seeing it as a mission field of unreached peoples. We need to transcend our propagandistic approach to art and media and begin to value excellence and style as much as content. Perhaps the most important thing Christians can do is simply to tell better stories. In his book, The New Testament and the People of God , scholar N.T. Wright suggests that the way to handle the clash of competing "stories" is not to engage in abstract logical and "scientific" refutations, but to tell yet another story�one that encompasses and explains the opposing stories, yet contains an explanation for the anomalies or contradictions within those stories. Wright: "There is no such thing as 'neutral' or 'objective' proof; only the claim that the story we are now telling about the world as a whole makes more sense, in its outline and detail, than other potential or actual stories that may be on offer. Simplicity of outline, elegance in handling the details within it, the inclusion of all the parts of the story, and the ability of the story to make sense beyond its immediate subject-matter: these are what count." We need to write better novels, better plays, better journal articles, paint better pictures, film better movies, sing better songs and through this all, tell better stories that include an authentic connection with those who do not see the world the way we do. Perhaps the best defense against the deception of The Da Vinci Code is not merely books explaining each factual error of Brown's delusion with intellectual precision, but more powerful all-encompassing stories that capture the imagination like The Passion of the Christ, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. By telling more of those kinds of stories with excellence�whether in print or on film�we'll capture the attention of a seeking public, simple as that. No code-busting needed at all. Brian Godawa is the award-winning screenwriter of the movies To End All Wars and The Visitation, as well as the author of the book, Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Forwarded by Gloria Lilly, [email protected]) Is The Da Vinci Code dangerous? by Ryan McCarl Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has topped bestseller lists, entertained millions of readers, and inspired a major film as well as a host of other books investigating whether the novel's so-called claims about history, art, mathematics, the Catholic Church, and Jesus Christ are true. In addition to fans, the book has created some major enemies. The Catholic Church has suggested its followers boycott the movie set for release this week. Many evangelical groups are torn between supporting the boycott and using the film's release as a teaching moment to expound their own views of the truth. The New York Times reports that some prominent evangelicals, such as Richard Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary, are calling for Christians to see and discuss the movie. But do Christians really have anything to fear from The Da Vinci Code? It is true that the novel's characters make assertions that challenge much conventional wisdom about Christian history and raise difficult issues for believers. But anyone who loses his or her faith by reading The Da Vinci Code, or any single book, needed a stronger foundation for his or her beliefs before reading it. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| Dear Mr. Abaya, In your article "Ignoring "Da Vinci'" you wrote: "In the matter of The Da Vinci Code or, more correctly, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, their central hypothesis � that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her whose bloodline has continued to the present � is not backed by any credible historical records that can stand up in any court of law." This would apply as well to another "literary" work wherein it is claimed that Jesus was born of a woman who had not been impregnated with the human male "seed" -- a biological precondition for conception. And further, that he was the son of the authors' supreme diety (what could a son do that an "almighty" being couldn't do? We wonder!). At least, up front, Brown admits his work is fiction; the latter work's "publishers" on the other hand, claim theirs to be deserving of unquestioning belief/faith because it definitely is true and historical. Their claims could neither stand up in any court of law... nor in any forum where reason and "god-given" common sense prevail. This is probably why they are soooo threatened by popular books/movies like Brown's. Nabibisto sila -- especially to the flock who meekly allow themselves to be fleeced to death in this lifetime for the promise of a better, worry-free life in the next! Enjoyed your article. Mario C. Hernandez, [email protected] RPN Creative Services Manager May 24, 2006 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |