Just realized what the DaVinci Code

[Ortho]

Mom of 5:

We know it is fiction, the problem is with those who seek out anything they can to "prove " their anti-Catholic views. To those readers, Browns novel is “truth”. As I recall, the novels you mention did not get the hype Da Vinci is getting. The authors did not put forth the story as being “true” as Brown is doing with this novel. Did you read the post telling about the religious instructor who obviously thinks there may be some merit in this fictional novel.

Love and peace,

Mom of 5

The only reason Brown’s book is gettig hype is because of the case of collective vapors among some Christians. I think they like the attention.

 

[Fidelis]

Island Oak:

The book is an entertaining fiction. Nothing more, nothing less. I derive equal amusement from those who “believe” it is divulging some secret truth about the antics of the Catholic Church as I do from those who say it is fiction, and then feel the need to bolster their argument with all sorts of authoritative tomes “debunking” the premise of the book.

Religious faith and tradition–especially involving an ancient, wealthy and politically powerful institution like the Catholic Church–has frequently been the source of entertaining fiction. Wasn’t The Exorcist a wildly popular fictional film a generation ago? How about Rosemary’s Baby…The Lost Boys, The Omen movies, Agnes of God, Angel Heart, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, etc. I continually fail to see how or why the DaVinci Code is so troubling to those who know it to be a fiction.

You must have missed Post #2 above. The problem with this approach is that it fails to take into consideration the fact that most people these days, like it or not, get their historical and theological “facts” from popular movies, novels and TV shows. Then they go around spreading error either in casual conversation or even, heaven help us, as teachers. thus spreading ignorance and misinformation. Here is an example here:

nationalreview.com/comment/vigilante200601260813.asp

Is the spread of ignorance and misinformation ever a good thing, especially as it pertains to religion? Ideas affect one’s world-view, which affects one’s behavior, which affects one’s eternal destiny. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s important.

 

[Island_Oak]

Fidelis:

You must have missed Post #2 above. The problem with this approach is that it fails to take into consideration the fact that most people these days, like it or not, get their historical and theological “facts” from popular movies, novels and TV shows. Then they go around spreading error either in casual conversation or even, heaven help us, as teachers. thus spreading ignorance and misinformation…

Unfortunately there is no proven antidote to the idiot factor in the general population. Some folks will believe the most ridiculous tripe no matter how your try and “educate” them. Most of them seem to take the “don’t confuse me with the facts” approach. This, however, does not transform a work of fiction into an instrument of evil.

 

[Fidelis]

Island Oak:

Unfortunately there is no proven antidote to the idiot factor in the general population. Some folks will believe the most ridiculous tripe no matter how your try and “educate” them. Most of them seem to take the “don’t confuse me with the facts” approach. This, however, does not transform a work of fiction into **an instrument of evil. **

Perhaps not (and I haven’t seen anyone here describe the work in question in those words), but as a tool of ignorance and bigotry the implications are sufficiently bad to warrant the effort to try and educate whom one can.

 

[CWG2006]

Half truths? You have to come up with something more than just saying " the poster is spreading half truths about the Church". You have to prove your point, or disprove me (and the history books).

The main reason why the Da Vinci Code has become so popular is not so much because it has an anti-Catholic theme. It became a bestseller because the search and the call for the Truth has always been repressed inside the minds and hearts of the readers all this time. Dan Brown’s work only served as a catalyst, a spark. The fire has always been ready to burn. And you know what? It will and you can’t stop it. No one can. That is what you call evolution – an inevitable and irrevocable process of change, of growth, and of maturity in perspective.

Traditional Catholic beliefs that support stories of seas being split in two by the wave of a staff, virgin mothers giving birth, and prophets defying the properties of water by walking on it just do not make sense anymore (they violate laws of nature which is God made), and give insufficient (and often irrelevant) answers to the world’s more pressing problems. Even if they were true (which I highly doubt), so WHAT? How does it serve this planet and its population?

It’s high time for a paradigm shift, for people to try and think “out of the box”, outgrow fairy tales and fables, and elevate themselves to a higher consciousness of the What Is which is Life. Dan Brown’s book in its own little way presents this option.

(We’ll have more on this. Til next time…)

 

[mlchance]

CWG2006:

It’s high time for a paradigm shift, for people to try and think “out of the box”, outgrow fairy tales and fables, and elevate themselves to a higher consciousness of the What Is which is Life. Dan Brown’s book in its own little way presents this option.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[ezra1892]

CWG2006:

The “Da Vinci Code” is actually a very good book in that it challenges traditional beliefs and dogma and tests the depth of one’s understanding of his/her faith. As Dan Brown himself has said, the book is intended to spark debate, particularly within ourselves.

However, the only way to appreciate the novel is to keep an open mind and suspend judgment at least for the duration of the story. Try to see where the author is coming from. “True knowledge (or wisdom) sees both sides of the coin, and discovers the unity of the two.”

Thank you. Close minded Christians are scary.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Someone recommeded The Da Vinci Code to me as a total work of fiction but a thoroughly good read from a fictional point of view. Hence I was pleased when someone gave me the book for Christmas.

I got a third of the way through it and started to get bored and I’ve put the book down totally bored a little more than half way through it…I got so tired of every Chapter ending with a crises which introduced the next part of the book that it became boring. Its not too many books I dont finish reading…but this just might be one of them! From a literary point of view to my mind…it is like a soap opera…crisis at the end of every episode. Soap operas bore me! although I usually get the crisis end of “The Bold and The Beautiful” as it is immediately before our late afternoon news starts on TV here in South Australia.

I think the author has done an aweful lot of research on many subjects and commend him from this point of view…but as I writer, I think he would be more outstanding as a researcher. As a writer of soap operas, he would have found his level. I think in the hands of a good writer all that research and a basically fascinating fictional tale could have been weaved…without the overworked crisis of some kind to end each chapter.

If anyone out there has read the book and can assure me that the author drops his method of writing a little over half way through the book, then I might pick it up again and finish it.

My view. …

Peace…Barb

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Even if they were true (which I highly doubt), so WHAT? How does it serve this planet and its population?

You almost had me…until I read the above…in the search for truth, truth is an important factor …and very often a truth simply stands alone and does not perhaps directly serve this planet and the population, in fact a truth may work against servce of planet and population. Truth is…and what is, is simply a fact existing - undoubtedly it is in relationship of some kind either to our minds positive or negative according to our insights at this point in history. No law anywhere to state reality has to make sense…in fact often we have to accept a truth or a reality though it makes no sense to us at all simply because it is. This is not to infer that perhaps at some future point in history matters may being to make sense to mankind…perhaps yes, perhaps no!

It’s high time for a paradigm shift, for people to try and think “out of the box”,

… mmm…I think we all think in boxes…the danger is perhaps when we think that we dont and dont recognize the box which confines our thinking? In other words, do not insight reality. It’s not thinking in the box that is the problem, but that the box in which we do think remains unqueried and unpondered.

Barb

 

[TPJCatholic]

No Christian should see that movie or read the book, it is pure evil and vile stuff straight from the demons of this world.

 

[cenpress]

TPJCatholic:

No Christian should see that movie or read the book, it is pure evil and vile stuff straight from the demons of this world.

EVERY Catholic should read the book! (Seeing the movie is purely optional) … We should all read the book however, if only to expose oneself to the heresies the book suggests. Then, we ought to read every-last-thing we can get our hands on that debunks the “Code.” Why? Because we need to arm ourselves with the Truth and use it as our defense, but we can’t logically defend against something we refuse to pay attention to in the first place.

I know what you’re gonna say … “Why not simply read the books that debunk the “Code” and just not bother with the drivel Brown offers up?”

Because … no self-respecting man or woman will ever listen to someone’s opposing view knowing the alternate view has not first been studied and tried.

C.S. Lewis entered into a “chess game” with God and lost. He tested out every atheistic argument his incredible mind could concoct, and in each instance, God trumped him.

If we are to ever win back the abandoned beliefs of a lost sheep/Dan Brown-devotee, we need first empower ourselves by learning how to speak their language. Otherwise, we might as well compose our arguments using invisible ink … speak only after we’ve sucked the helium out of a balloon.

There’s no greater way to watch your argument go up in smoke than to mumble “No” after the person you’re discoursing with poses the question: “Have you even read the book?”

 

[cenpress]

Of course, we should all do our best to buy the book at a used book store … we wouldn’t want to add to the millions already festering in Brown’s Swiss bank account.

 

[TPJCatholic]

cenpress,

I respect you views, yet I must admit that I disagree strongly.

Should a good Catholic buy a porn magazine in order to properly talk about the sinful nature of porn?

Should a Catholic delve into witchcraft in order to more fully explain the sinful nature of such evil acts?

Should a Catholic get an abortion in order to explain how bad abortions are?

Obviously the answer is “no” to all of the above.

If Catholics support such garbage, then the garbage just keeps coming. A good definition of insanity is a person who does the same thing over and over and expects a different result. Catholics reflect that same weakness when they continue to purchase products that they know are bad/evil and yet they expect the culture to be different then the very things they delve into are evil in nature. If Catholics/Christians support evil, the culture will be evil, period.

Catholics and all Christians should stay away from such filth in huge numbers, only then will such garbage not be made.

 

[Fidelis]

TPJCatholic:

Catholics and all Christians should stay away from such filth in huge numbers, only then will such garbage not be made.

Sorry, TPJ, but I agree totally with cenpress. His main point…

Because … no self-respecting man or woman will ever listen to someone’s opposing view knowing the alternate view has not first been studied and tried.

…is a valid one for those of us who are apologists and have taken up the challenge to help stem the lies and misinformation. Otherwise, more and more people will continue to be misled.

Karl Keating, founder of Catholic Answers once said: In a war, generals will send spies to bring back the plans and tactics of his opponent. That way you can counter his best strategies. In apologetics, we sometimes have to do the same.

Yes, not everyone is cut out to be an apologist and may be harmed more than helped and equiped by reading bad material. Those people should definitely stay away from garbage like this. The serious apologist does not have that option.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction and a novel…it is not a theologican assertion or a fact of history…simply a work of fiction and to my mind a boring one. I dont think it is well written at all, could have been done better and weaved a fascinating fictional tale. It didn’t to my mind.

I do agree that since an uproar has come about and from Catholics it’s best not to support the book financially by buying it and personally I had made up my mind not to because of the uproar from Catholic quarters despite it having been recommended to me as a good read as a work of fiction and a novel. I only part read it because it was a gift at Christmas.

I think I’ll donate it to our local Lending Library, so those who want to read it, can do so without supporting it financially by buying it and a fairly expensive book it is too.

If one wants to read it then I suggest you go to your library and simply borrow it…don’t support it financially.

I also think that the fuss about the book that has been made from Catholic quarters has merely been free advertisement for the book and arousing curiousity as to why there is such an uproar. We have supported the book by making a fuss about it and given it free advertising that has sold many copies. Why the fuss, its a silly work of fiction and does not claim at all any truth, unlike *Chariot of The Gods *which claimed an element of truth, yet another book that on a read was boring and ridiculous. I have heard that Opus Dei plan to make some sort of move against the The Da Vinci Code because they are slandered in it and I tend to agree with such a move on the part of any slandered organization or person(s) slandered by name in any way at all…including in a fictional work…if they have the finances to do so and Opus Dei I hear do have such finances.

There are heaps of books out that have slandered The Church and matters connected with it…no fuss being made about them and they just die a natural death without making millions for the authors and publishers. There are heaps of books and a few movies that have slandered Jesus too and best not to get all emotive about them and hence give free advertising for indeed there is no such thing as bad publicity…even bad publicity is still advertising whatever and drawing attention to it.
If I was a writer in it for money only…after the Da Vinci Code I sure would know in which direction to head to make money.

Peace…Barb

 

[cenpress]

Wonderfully put, Fidelis. Thank you for making those points so clearly.

TPJ, of course one needn’t participate in evil in order to understand it … in order to argue against it. But when dealing with ideas, with philosophy, it is absolutely necessary to understand where your “opponant” is coming from if you ever hope to rival him/her with a solid argument of your own.

Furthermore, you made the comment that the book itself is “bad/evil.” But I am willing to say that no book (not the Da Vinci Code, not even the Bible) is inherently good OR evil. Rather, it is in what the reader gleans from the text and in the reader’s reaction to it where one might discover a “moral worth.”

For example, one incredibly positive effect the Da Vinci Code has had in the U.S. is the strong surge of Catholics (in great number!) who are now proactively researching church doctrine in a way that debunks the heretical claims made by the book. Perhaps for the first time in their lives. On the flipside, we all know how people of every denomination, of every disposition, can quote verses from the Bible completely out of context, thereby using them to push an agenda that may in fact be heretical (i.e., Jesus making reference to his “brother”). This doesn’t make the Bible a “dangerous” book. It doesn’t make it bad/evil.

Besides, how are we to expect Da Vinci Code fans to read OUR side of the story (which now includes a whole slew of books) when we aren’t willing to first read theirs?

The bottom line is, we ought not black-label any book that might plant seeds of doubt or spark intellectual discourse. I point to Bertrand Russel’s Why I’m Not A Christian as a prime example. I say read it … read it and challenge yourself to disagree with this great thinker of the 20th Century. You’ll be surprised by the way such a book STRENGTHENS your faith rather than shakes it.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Mom of 5:

We know it is fiction, the problem is with those who seek out anything they can to "prove " their anti-Catholic views. To those readers, Browns novel is “truth”. As I recall, the novels you mention did not get the hype Da Vinci is getting. The authors did not put forth the story as being “true” as Brown is doing with this novel. Did you read the post telling about the religious instructor who obviously thinks there may be some merit in this fictional novel.

Love and peace,

Mom of 5

Hi Mof5…what one focus’s on gains strength…hence anti Catholic viewpoints are best starved out by giving them no attention. Over and above that we are asked to value and esteem every person no matter their viewpoint and we are entitled to choose what we believe…which is precisely what we have done as Catholics. “I cannot agree with what you say, but will defend with my life your right to say it” said some ancient philospher or other.
No way can Brown claim that his novel is a true story, since the story simply did not happen. It’s a poorly written mystery novel and completely fictional nor can anyone state anything else. If you actually read the book or attempt to…it will be obvious that no way is it fact. Brown could claim that he has researched facts and written a fictional tale around those facts…but a read of the book reveals even that claim cannot be made.

Barb

 

[TPJCatholic]

fidelis,

I disagreee…serioues and true children of God do not intentionally participate and help propogate evil (of course, this is my opinion).

When we spend our money the movie/book, and by reading/watching such evil, we are helping to spread that evil.

One does not need to visit an abortion clinic as a “spiritual spy” in order to know that killing the unborn is a mortal sin. One does not need to take the Lord’s name in vain to know doing so breaks the Commandments of God. When you see the movie, your ticket and money will be part of the receipts that help to encourage making more movies of the same evil.

God’s children are supposed to be in the world, not of this world. When we partake in the evilsd of the world, a small part of us attaches to the world.Further, one cannot do evil in order to wreak some good.

I do applaud your love for Jesus and your heartfelt desire to defend His kingdom. Yet, the best way to defend His kingdom is to live as Jesus did–imo.

We are called to be set aside for Christ, living and speaking the truth throughout our lives…not engaging in acts that perpetuate sinful acts and behaivors.

 

[TPJCatholic]

cenpress,

I respect your point of view, yet I strongly disagree. If we Catholics refused to involve ourselves in any forms of evil, then evil would have less foothold in this world. I agree that the book is not inherently evil, to that point you are quite correct…it is just a book. However, the messages within that book are strongly blaspehmous and we should not partake knowingly in blasphemy.

Jesus trie to tell us this, we sinful humans still cannot see His message–sadly.

 

[TPJCatholic]

cenpress and fidelis,

You are each well versed in your faith and are very sound represenatives of our Lord in terms of your strong desire to defend Him. Yet do no forget the lesson that Peter learned when he began to attack the soldiers who were attempting to arrest Jesus in the Garden. Jesus rebuked our first Pope and told him to put down his sword. Jesus then willingly marched off as the lamb…not as the warrior.

It is this simple: If all Catholics ceased watching/reading books like the Da Vinci Code, those books would never get into print. Yet alas, Catholics do not cease delving into and going into places they should not tread.

Instead of seeing the movie, tell people why you will not support such trash. Let them know the truth as to why you would never wander into such debased wordly tales that do nothing for the soul–except harm.