The DaVinci Heresy!

I started responding to a quote over on Billys blog and thought that because it was turning out to be such a long one, that I would post the majority of it over here…

I wasn’t aware that Dan Brown had bad intentions while writing this novel. Mr. Brown says that his “hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history”. That doesnt sound like a bad intention to me. In fact that sounds like a brilliant and wonderful intention! I find it funny that people get so worked up about this. TBN is going wild, good christians everywhere are protesting it. Perhaps we have forgotten how to read…The DaVinci Code is a “novel” which means that it is a work of “fiction“. In the beginning of this novel Dan Brown has a “fact” page that says: “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” He says nothing about any theology or any theories. Dan Brown says on his website that “interpreting those ideas is left to the reader.”

What scares me about all of this is that we somehow get the idea that God can’t handle a bit of controversy. Do we think that God is powerless over the thoughts presented in this novel? Just as much, are we people who can’t handle any thoughts other than our own? Are we afraid that people are going to come and ruin our nice little religions? Can we find no way to deal with others who think differently than us than to protest and exile them?

I dont know about all of you but I am glad that this film is coming out. I cant wait to see it. The novel was exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time to where I couldnt put it down (oh I almost forgot that if a book does this, it must be from demonic influence, ie. Harry Potter). Really smart people will tell you that they didnt like the novel very much because it felt like Dan Brown treated the reader as an idiot, constantly reminding and re-reminding them of various plot issues, but I am not one of those smart people. Looking back, I do agree with them, but I still find the novel fantastically entertaining. I kept having to remind myself that it was fiction because historical fact and fiction are so interwoven throughout the book that sometimes they are hard to separate in your mind. As a result, I began to find myself questioning.

Some may shout: “Oh no! Heresy!” to my questioning, to which I would say that those who do not question are usually the ones committing heresy because they refuse to listen to others. Why has questioning become so taboo in the church? Why are we so afraid of the thoughts of others? I for one love when we begin to question because it means that we are really thinking and processing, rather than blindly believing what some guy on television has told us. Perhaps if we began to ask more questions we would find ourselves growing closer to God.

I am looking forward to all of the spiritual conversations that this film will generate and all of the questions that will be asked. If you are looking for me on the 19th of this month, I’ll be one of the millions sitting in a packed out theater waiting to indulge in a bit of heresy and good ol’ fashioned entertainment. Will you?