The Da Vinci Hoax

[Antonio_B]

JCPhoenix:

A co-worker and I discussed this a little at work today when he came into the lunchroom where I was reading on my break.

He commented that it was one of the most intelligent things I could do and revealed that he’d been surprised at how many of our fellow employees had been taken in by the lies.

Now, I respect this particular person for a few reasons:

• he used to teach theology, albiet as a Protestant
• he also admitted he was a "once saved always saved “nut” and went around trying to convert everyone, especially Catholics. (He is an ex-Catholic. However, he learned that this is not the way to get converts, and even though he is still Protestant he sees Catholicism as a valid religion and has not once tried to convert me…only encouraged my ongoing study.
• when I told him, knowing full well that he left the Church, that those who do so only do so because they don’t understand their faith. He flinched, but did not respond. I sensed a grain of…well…understanding there.
• I have learned things from him regarding the Bible and they are not contrary to Catholic teaching.

And now I respect him more because we see eye to eye on Church history as portraid in the “Hoax” rebuttal. I look forward to more discussions with him, and then hopefully discussions with people who have swallowed the lies without thinking critically.

DVC is a call to action, folks. Satan may get a foothold, but he’ll never climb the ladder. Through the grace of God we can put this dragon of a story back where it belongs, and when we do so can you imagine the number of people who come to Christ?

Funny you should mention this! Where I work there are many Catholics with whom I have nothing in common, for their catholicity is progressive and sometimes beyond progressive. So, who do I have more in common when it comes to Christianity? With the librarian who is an evangelical Protestant. We have deep discussions about the faith and I’m learning how she perceives Christianity and she is learning much about the Church from me. Her profound distaste for The Da Vinci Code is as deep as mine and we both agree that Satan is somehow involved in this endeavor to confuse Christians as a whole.

Antonio

 

[Antonio_B]

Faustina:

No, I haven’t read the DVC ( I do plan on it), but this is what I do not like about Dan Brown. When the book first came out, it was a book a fiction and Dan Brown talked about it being a book of fiction. However, once the controversy started, now he protrays it as a book of fact. In this regard he is so much like Michael Moore. Michael Moore said in one interview, how his film F 911 is a documentary, yada, yada, yada, however the film is " just my opnion"
My questions for these two is simple: Is the DVC a work of fiction or fact?
Is F 911 a documentary or an opinion piece?

You can’t have it both ways.

The problem is that both Michael Moore and Brown have millions of followers. Last year when I was in Costa Rica, my country of origin, I walked into a bookstore and guess what I found in plain Spanish? You guessed it, Michael Moore’s venon in a book. Also, The Da Vinci Code has been translated so Brown can poison Latin Americans too with his distortions of the faith. How many folks in Latin America will be able to read “The Da Vinci Hoax?”

Antonio :crying:

 

[Antonio_B]

Fidelis:

I read the novel, but I didn’t buy it. I borrowed it from the local library (They have a dozen copies. Even so I had to be on a waiting list for more than a month). The book is written at such a sophmoric level, it was an easy read; without straining, it took me three evenings. I did it as a sacrifice because I knew I would be engaging people on this issue and the first question they ask is “Have you read it?” I think a person’s credibility does suffer if he attempts to refute something he hasn’t seen. In some cases this isn’t possible because it would be an occasion of sin (like watching pornography to refute it, or even spending money to buy the DVC). Reading the DVC was an annoying sacrifice, but it wasn’t sinful. If a person innoculates themself thoroughly by reading, say, Amy Welborn’s book before holding his nose and reading the DVC, they are that much more in a position to provide credible witness against it.

It’s a good idea, I will get it from the library and read it but I know I’ll be literally sick for days!

Antonio

 

[JCPhoenix]

I actually have picked up the book several times…and read the jacket. I actually felt physically ill and still feel I CAN NOT make myself read that garbage!

I know it would make me more credible as a witness against it…but I’m really praying hard for the grace to get around not having to read it at all and still have credibility.

 

[Fidelis]

Antonio B:

The problem is that both Michael Moore and Brown have millions of followers. Last year when I was in Costa Rica, my country of origin, I walked into a bookstore and guess what I found in plain Spanish? You guessed it, Michael Moore’s venon in a book. Also, The Da Vinci Code has been translated so Brown can poison Latin Americans too with his distortions of the faith. How many folks in Latin America will be able to read “The Da Vinci Hoax?”

This pains me as well (although I am not a Spanish speaker, my ethnicity is Hispanic). While we have all these great books, articles, tapes and articles in English refuting the DVC garbage, I doubt if they are so lucky in Spanish speaking areas. I hope and pray I’m wrong. Many Hispanic Catholics have such a tenuous grasp of the fundamentals of the Faith, this type of literary toxin could have terrible effects. As if being swarmed by JW’s, Mormons, Pentecostals and garden variety Fundamentalists weren’t enough!

 

[Antonio_B]

JCPhoenix:

I actually have picked up the book several times…and read the jacket. I actually felt physically ill and still feel I CAN NOT make myself read that garbage!

I know it would make me more credible as a witness against it…but I’m really praying hard for the grace to get around not having to read it at all and still have credibility.

I see the the book in book stores and break into a cold sweat and get this tremendous desire to have that distorter of truth in front of me to give him a piece of my mind.

Antonio

 

[Antonio_B]

Fidelis:

This pains me as well (although I am not a Spanish speaker, my ethnicity is Hispanic). While we have all these great books, articles, tapes and articles in English refuting the DVC garbage, I doubt if they are so lucky in Spanish speaking areas. I hope and pray I’m wrong. Many Hispanic Catholics have such a tenuous grasp of the fundamentals of the Faith, this type of literary toxin could have terrible effects. As if being swarmed by JW’s, Mormons, Pentecostals and garden variety Fundamentalists weren’t enough!

The good thing is that many Hispanics in Latin America and here are suffering from that horrible illness, book phobia, so they don’t read the garbage that the Michael Moores put out.

Antonio

 

[Fidelis]

I would like to believe that’s true, but I know of a large Evangelical bookstore in California where I grew up that a few years ago that expanded to add a Spanish language wing. They seemed to be doing a pretty brisk business It seems that Catholic hispanics don’t read religious material until they become ex-Catholics.