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DaVinci Code Movie Madness By Jeremy D. Joy |
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The blockbuster movie The DaVinci Code directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks hit movie theaters on Friday. Unless you have been living on a remote island in the Pacific, the movie has been a hot button topic for months because of the issues it raises concerning the canon of Scripture and the identity of Jesus. Unbelievers love it and believers bristle at its blasphemous suggestion that Christianity is a hoax. How should Christians respond to the action-packed thriller? What Is It? The movie is based upon a best-selling novel of the same name by author Dan Brown published in March 2003. The main characters in the story are Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor who specializes in religious symbols, and Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist for the French police. The curator of the famous museum the Louvre in Paris is murdered and Langdon is called in the middle of the night to help police investigate the crime. He discovers a series of coded messages about an important secret and that he is a suspect in the murder. He teams up with Neveu who is also the victim’s granddaughter in a race against the clock to uncover who and what is behind the murder. The trail leads them to Sir Leigh Teabing, an expert on the Holy Grail, who reveals that the clues point to the coveted Grail. The surprise is that the Holy Grail is not the literal cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper, but that it is the veiled truth that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had children. He intended to establish a ruling dynasty with Mary as the first head of the church, but the Catholic church suppressed the truth in order to oppress women and maintain its power. Teabing also states that the Bible is the product of the Catholic church and that the Roman Emperor Constantine and the Catholic church conspired to have Jesus voted as deity at the Council of Nicea. In the end, Langdon and Neveu solve the riddle and the Catholic church is exposed as a hypocritical organization. What Is The Problem? It may prove to be much ado about nothing, but the problem is that Brown claims the book is historically factual although the story line is fictional. It merely confirms what some think is true about the Bible and Jesus and others may believe it simply because they see it on the big screen. Christians should not run scared from the book, the movie, or the issues they raise. It is an opportunity to bolster our faith by examining the evidence that supports our most cherished beliefs and to talk to our friends and neighbors about religion (1 Peter 3:15-16). The DaVinci Code may open doors that were previously closed. |
