The Da Vinci Code
Posted on May 7th, 2006 by catalyst into the Uncategorized categoryJack sent in the following link about the Catholic Church. Evidently the Catholic Church is now urging Christians to take legal action against the Da Vinci Code. The church doesn't specify exactly what legal action should be taken, but they do clarify their reasoning:
Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," Arinze said in the documentary called The Da Vinci Code A Masterful Deceit. "Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others," Arinze said.
I'm still flipping through the Bible looking for that verse about not forgiving. Oh well, I'm sure this will work. Protests usually prevent people from seeing a film. I mean all the outcry about The Passion of the Christ certainly kept people from watching that film. If the Catholic Church was smart they'd try to get the film company to cast Tom Cruise in the sequel. Then I'd know the book was crazy.
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May 7th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Tom Cruise is the new Marty Feldman.
May 8th, 2006 at 6:13 am
That’s pretty savvy … say the Pope buys 20,000 shares of Warner Bros. and then the Cardinals tell members not to watch Harry Potter.
Who needs the tithe? Cash in on sin, lust and greed instead!
May 8th, 2006 at 7:09 am
The whole thing with Da Vinci code and urging Christians to legal action, reminds me of the inquisition … Karen and I watched the DVD Cassanova over the weekend, and the local bishop/inquisitor played a prominent role in hunting down heretics, torturing them to extract confession, and ultimately bringing them to court for pronouncement of a death sentence. It’s amazing to me that people still think like that, and that they’re blind to the parallels …
More than anything, what caught my eye, is the claim in the article that something “offend(s) Christ and the Church he founded.”
How do the Cardinals know the book and film offends Christ? Or for that matter, the Church? Does the Cardinal claim to speak for how Christ and the Church feel? Or is it that the Cardinal is the one who is offended, but since he doesn’t have the ‘nads to take ownership of his feelings, he imparts what he feels to Christ and the Church?
The Christ I know would not take offense. After all, the Holy One of Israel lived with us in this filthy world for 33 years and not once does scripture tell us that Jesus took offense to sin. In the end mankind mocked and insulted him, hit him, spit on him, drove a crown of thorns into his scalp, whipped him, drove spikes through his hands and feet, raised him up and dropped the cross in a hole, refused his request for drink, and pierced his heart with a spear. Despite all that, Christ did not express offense with us, but said “Father, forgive them”.
I don’t think the Cardinal(s) know Christ at all, but are instead imparting their feelings to Christ and the Church.
I’m not offended at all. But then again, the Cardinal would probably argue that I’m not a member of the Church, and my mind is seared over from sin.
May 8th, 2006 at 8:20 am
The cardinals must be afraid that their people will actually believe the DaVinci code and their minds will be changed from believing things like praying to Mary, confessing to a priest for forgiveness of sins, absolution provided my man, etc, ad nauseum…. In essence, they might exchange one set of lies for another set but the new set will not provide them any income.
In the meantime they are providing the makers of this movie with terrific publicity and maybe they deserve a small cut of the profits for that.
May 8th, 2006 at 8:57 am
whats more nausiating?
holywood ad nauseum
OR
holy church ad nauseum.
May 8th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Magdelon, that’s definitely a toss-up.
John 444, I agree with you!
I don’t think the Cardinal(s) know Christ at all, but are instead imparting their feelings to Christ and the Church.
Fortunately, “the Catholic church” is not synomyous with “Christianity.” Whether one is a Christian is an individual thing, not an institutional thing.
The DaVinci code (I read the book) does pose untruths (the worst of which is that Jesus never claimed to be God); whether or not he married or had children is mostly irrelevant to me, as neither would detract from the fact that he lived a sinless life and died as a sacrifice to reconcile us to God (although I do think that marriage and/or children would be significant enough that God would have ensured it made it into cannonized Scripture had either truly happened).
I read it as fiction and, as such, liked it.
Were I in leadership in the Catholic church, I might take offense at the insinuations the book makes regarding the Catholic church’s M.O. for burying truth that doesn’t benefit it.
I also agree w/John 444’s assertion that Christ is likely offended by this book or movie.
Cheers.
May 9th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
The best told lie is one that contains a lot of truth along with the lie. Many of the best fiction novels are also ones which contain a lot of truth along with the made up stuff. It makes for a good read, but hardly grounds for a lawsuit.
Get over it.
May 10th, 2006 at 10:51 am
May 13th, 2006 at 6:04 am
Chinook, are you talking about the bible?
May 13th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Thought provoking, but no,…I was just talking about the DaVinci Code.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:12 am
As far as the Catholic Church goes, they do feel that THE CHURCH (the papacy) does speak for Christ, and is held on same level of authority as the scriptures. So before you get your pants in a bunch about Catholic beliefs, be careful to set aside your Protestant prejudices about things like what would Christ would be offended or if it contradicts “canon”. For example, many Protestants and Evangelicals hold fast to the “truth” that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. As shocking as it may seem, not all Christians believe this, even though places like CBC would like to pound it into your head. I just finished reading the book “Misquoting Jesus” which sheds light on the subject of where the New Testament came from. The book is a textual criticism about the alleged accuracy of the “original” greek (we don’t have an original copy of anything). I found it enlightening but surprisingly didn’t shake my faith in the least, but just gave me a new perspective on how high to hold the scriptures in terms of authority.
All that being said, I can now understand why the Catholic Church is in a huff, because even though the book/movie is fiction it calls into question the teachings of the church and as such is heretical, even if it is meant to be entertaining. For many people, this will be their first and only exposure to the beliefs of the Church and doesn’t put them in a good light and casts doubt on some of the fundamentals of Christian belief.
Personally, I don’t think Jesus is offended. I think Hollywood has inadvertently created opportunities to talk about the real Jesus where there might not be any normally.