The Da Vinci Code Movie (48 views)
From:  David (DavidABrown)    Mar-13 11:39 am  
To:  ALL    
 
  835.1  
 
Source: WWW.engageculture.com

March 12, 2004 
Dear Concerned Citizen, 

Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code has hit #1 on every bestseller list in America. It is being translated into more than 35 languages. With more than 4 million copies in print, Brown was able to sell the movie rights this summer to Columbia pictures for $6 million. Ron Howard was signed to direct and Brian Grazer to produce the film.

The Da Vinci Code, a spiritual thriller tucked inside a conspiratorial mega-romance novel (pagans love women, Christians hate them), has captured the imagination of millions which promotes the deconstruction of the church. Toward this end Brown and his P.R. team promote the books theories as history, not fiction. The first written word of Chapter 1 is Fact. 

After the book surged to the top of the charts, Brown was featured on an ABC News Special. There he disclosed his own belief in the theories that the book espoused. These include: Jesus was an opportunist with aims at reclaiming the throne of David. Jesus fell in love with Mary Magdalene because of her wealth and because she carries the royal blood of Benjamin.

Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false, laments one of Browns characters. In one of the 50-odd texts of the Gnostic Gospels one line states that Mary Magdalene was Jesus favorite and he often kissed her on the mouth, according to Brown. In fact, the parchment is so damaged it is impossible to read what kind of kiss Jesus gave Mary. The texts also identify Mary Magdalene as the companion of Jesus. Brown believes the term means she was Jesus' wife.

Mary Magdalene and the offspring she bears with Jesus are the Holy Grail, not Jesus cup at the Last Supper. Michael Baigent promoted this theory in his 1983 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. The name of the historian in The Da Vinci Code is Teabing, an anagram for Baigent. Brown should tip his hat to Baigent. Brown will make tens of millions off of Baigents theory.

Mary Magdalene and her royal bloodline end up in Provence, France. The Grail-keepers (Templar Knights, Cathars, and other secret societies) protect her relics, proof of this powerful secret that, if widely known, will destroy the church. This bloodline has been kept pure through the Merovingian dynasty in Dark Ages France until today in several prominent French families represented by the Priory of Sion. Unfortunately for Brown, no evidence substantiates The Priory before World War II. But then, that makes it all the more mysterious.

The Grail, Langdon said, is symbolic of the lost goddess. When Christianity came along, the old pagan religions did not die easily. Legends of chivalric quests for the Holy Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests to find the lost sacred feminine. Knights who claimed to be searching for the chalice were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned non-believers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine. (The Da Vinci Code, pages 238-239) Constantine and other early church leaders unite the Roman Empire into a woman and pagan hating monolith Christendom). At the Council of Nicea in AD 325 they invent the divinity of Christ Constantine couldnt fully relinquish his Son God paganism) and the universality of the Catholic Church to unite the Roman Empire under one religious militia. Until that time Christians believed Jesus was only human, an assertion dispelled by vast historical evidence, not to mention the martyrdom of thousands of Christians.

To find out how Brown develops this plot, you will have to buy The Da Vinci Code. Dont worry, complex characters, a believable plot line, and accurate research wont impede your read. You might find his numerous lectures on why his conspiracy theory is fact somewhat tiresome.

The buzz over The Da Vinci Code has fueled renewed interest in subjects usually reserved to academic journals and theology books. The emphasis in many churches is on experiencing faith through worship. The success of The Da Vinci Code challenges this as incomplete. Believers need to know their faith, not just feel it. Church history was once an essential part of a liberal arts education within the context of teaching Western Civilization. Today schools no longer teach Western Civilization and the church has long abandoned its responsibility to teach its history to its people (believers). 

Contrary to a claim made by a character in Browns novel, the vast majority of Christians do NOT know the history of their faith. Because of this members of Stanwich Church came out in droves when their pastor, Reverend Neely Towe, sensed this controversial book presented a unique opportunity to teach the basics of church history. She put together a series of four lectures called Christianity and the Da Vinci Code. She drew from existing resources to give a coherent framework for discerning facts from fiction in the novel. The lunchtime lectures were given at a local country club and open to the public. The response was so positive she is repeating them this January and February, as an evening series. 

Many critics and academics have written articles to break, crack, decipher, dismantle and dismiss the code. Philip Jenkins, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University and the author of a new book The New Anti-Catholicism writes that, In the end, The Da Vinci Code simply appeals to a culture that's increasingly skeptical of claims to religious truth.

"I think anti-Catholicism is a contributory factor, but the main reason for the book's popularity is deeper, a fundamental suspicion of traditional claims to authority, where they conflict with contemporary ideas and standards, especially over sex and genderIt mainly illustrates a broader suspicion about orthodoxy generally, and the idea that the truth is out there." 

The antidote to the books criticism of orthodoxy is certainly not to assert that all was right with Christendom. In all of its Gothic and resplendent glory, Christendom had countless failings as do all cultural epics that encompass a billion lives over a thousand years. But it must be said that much good came from Christendom. Brown suggests otherwise in The Da Vinci Code: 

The Church may no longer employ crusades to slaughter, but their influence is no less persuasive. No less insidious. 

We live in a post-Christendom world. If Brown and others like him have their way, we will be living in an exclusively secular, post-Christian culture. This would be unfortunate, as would be the loss of any great tradition. The antidote to Browns criticism of Christianity is sound academic research and teaching, and people like Neely Towe who are willing to teach it.

Brown asserts that Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. Fabrication is one word that comes to mind to characterize The Da Vinci Code.
 
 




David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
From:  David (DavidABrown)    Mar-13 11:46 am  
To:  ALL   (2 of 6)  
 
  835.2 in reply to 835.1  
 
The following .PDF file addresses this topic very well and shows the impossibility of Jesus having a sinful person as a wife. 

Hot Topic! Did Jesus have a Wife and Child PDF: JesusNoWife.pdf
 
http://people.delphiforums.com/DavidABrown/Downloads/JesusNoWife.pdf 
 
"Any marriage prior to the Cross would mean that Jesus was marring a sinner and really teachings of an earthly marriage of Jesus are yet another false set of teachings that are attempting to do away with the need of mankind for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and of His Glorious Resurrection and it is an attempt to deny the special relationship that Jesus has with His Bride - The Church."
God Bless you,
David A. Brown

 



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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  From:  Robin (peryton)    Mar-20 9:56 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (3 of 6)  
 
  835.3 in reply to 835.1  
 
Cool.  Sounds like it'll be a great flick.

 Robin Lea
Host, Yellow ButterFlavored Grease Forum
and general trouble-maker.  ICQ# 966660
http://www.butterflavored.com 
 
   
"Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box. Religion is the smile on a dog."  --Edie Brickell
  

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    Mar-20 11:47 pm  
To:  Robin (peryton)    (4 of 6)  
 
  835.4 in reply to 835.3  
 
Hi,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Why would it be a cool movie?

 

Would it be cool to see God lowering His standards and marring a sinner.

 

I think the public is really misinformed about this topic.

 

God Bless you,
David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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  From:  Robin (peryton)    Mar-21 8:21 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (5 of 6)  
 
  835.5 in reply to 835.4  
 
Why not?  If there's anything to be learned from Passion, etc., it's that Jesus is entertainment, and Da Vinci sounds entertaining.  I don't know if the public is misinformed or not, but it's probably good for most of 'em to hear some ideas about Christianity that didn't come from their Sunday school teacher.  Even if the Brown is wrong, at least he's given people something to think about.


 Robin Lea
Host, Yellow ButterFlavored Grease Forum
and general trouble-maker.  ICQ# 966660
http://www.butterflavored.com 
 
   
"Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box. Religion is the smile on a dog."  --Edie Brickell
  

 
  
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   From:  David (DavidABrown)    Mar-21 8:39 am  
To:  Robin (peryton)    (6 of 6)  
 
  835.6 in reply to 835.5  
 
Hi,

 

Good point. I was wondering if you were seeing it as mere entertainment or as a documentary which is what the Passion is.

 

Movies are great and it is appropriate to maintain that fiction is fiction and fact is fact.

 

Sure Dan Brown now wants to ride the Passion success but he has different material and any claims that his material is Biblical is a false claim.

 

I have visited your forum from time to time and really enjoy it. Great decoration the popcorn theme is really great.

 

God Bless you,
David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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