Da Vinci Thoughts...

So, Erin and I are taking this week off together so that we may have a little breather before little Peyton Brooke shows up here in another month and a half. So, we had a little bit of time on our hands and decided to go see this little film that premiered this past weekend called, The Da Vinci Code. You might have heard of it. Well, I'd read the book some time ago for multiple reasons. One reason was that I try to stay abreast of pop culture and when a book is number one on the bestseller list for as long as it had been, it was probably wise to check it out in order to be able to dialogue about it. Second, I was also aware that the book raised some marked questions regarding Christianity and Christ. I wanted to interact with it so that I could be honest in my discussion rather than one of those people who decry a book without having even turned it's pages.

The book was good. It was a riveting page turner, something of an Indiana Jones-type quest and adventure that kept me up late into the night to see how it ended. The movie was not quite as good but was pretty faithful to the story. The film suffered, at least in my opinion, largely to a stilted performance from Tom Hanks and some rough dialogue. Indiana Jones never had this much "blah blah blah" dialogue. Some may argue that the dialogue and expostion within the film is necessary but it lost my attention.

I disagree with Dan Brown's conclusions and theories. In all honesty, the greater majority of history does too. The Priory of Sion, the "sinister" Opus Dei, and many other concepts held as "fact" within Brown's work have been proven false and wanting. But, perhaps the most critical question to ask, and one asked by theologian and professor, Scot McKnight, as well, is this: Why are people so predisposed to believing the lie over the truth? Why is a conspiracy theory more compelling than the truth of history?

Some may argue that the divine issues surrounding the person of Christ are mere fictions themselves. Others may claim that power structures within the world lend themselves far more to the idea of conspiracy than the so called truth. I wonder if perhaps we who call ourselves Christians and followers of Christ are not more to blame than all of these. Certainly the concept of a resurrected Savior is a fantastical one to believe but I claim it nonetheless. However, perhaps what an unbelieving world finds most difficult to follow is how people who claim the name of Christ, who taught love, peace, and joy, could have so perverted the message as to engage in such atrocities as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and other such wars? Donald Miller in one of his books, I believe it was Searching for God Knows What, tells the story of setting up a confessional booth on the night of a huge party on his college campus with a few other Christians. People began to flock to the booth out of curiousity and were surprised to find that the confessional aspect was that the Christians sat and apologized for the atrocities committed by fellow believers in the name of Christ. We need to be an apologetic people as well as a proactive people.

I will add this, just to get my full two cents worth in. The other issue that lies at the heart of those willing to buy the Da Vinci mystique, which is alluded to at the end of the book and film, is the desire to see man as the ultimate divinity. This runs counter to the teachings of the Scriptures wholeheartedly. We are nothing on our own. It is through the work of Christ and His love within us that we can accomplish anything good. This is not an easy truth nor one that we particularly enjoy but it is true nonetheless. Man left to his own devices finds himself in a jam every time.