[Apologetics] Re: Da Vinci Code - Adventist Review

[Stuart D. Gathman]

On Sun, 7 May 2006, Art Kelly wrote:

> To successfully combat the evil of this book and
> movie, Catholics should be fully prepared to speak out
> against The DaVinci Code. 
> 
> It would be nice if we could count on the Protestants
> to "put their shoulder to the wheel," but I suspect
> that many of them are secretly pleased that the
> Catholic Church is being attacked.

Art, I can't understand why everyone is wasting time reading the book.
I enjoy a good yarn with a few bogus but plausible "facts" thrown
in to make it feel historical (e.g. Jules Verne stories, Mark Twain's
"A Conneticut Yankee"), or internet age versions like
http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/ "Boilerplate Man".
(I even got to add my two cents!
http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/bp.lab.html )

Unless the author actually believes his own fiction.  Then you are
dealing with mental illness.  The bogus "facts" listed in the DaVinci
promotions would make for an interesting yarn, except for:

1) the anti-Christian nature of the premise is a turn-off (although
   I've enjoyed some Arian based mythology)

2) the author and half the US can't seem separate the fact from the fiction

The book is basically a "fictionalized" version of "The Templar Revelation"
http://hiddenmysteries.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16314
("fictionalized" in quotes because the "documentary" is also fiction).

The Gnostic values are blatently apparent from the domain name...

> Before the blasphemous movie, "Dogma," was released, I
> predicted that Protestants would hate it as much as
> Catholics. Boy, was I wrong! I found numerous
> fundamentalist websites that loved the fact that the
> Church was being lampooned by this movie.

The AOG church my brother goes to did a "Living Last Supper" - where
actors wear clothes and makeup form a tableau behind a table set to
closely resemble the Leonardo DaVince painting.  The tableau is "frozen",
but the spotlight picks out each actor in turn, who then faces the audience
and tells their story.  This is an AOG tradition - like a protestant mystery
play.

This year, the pastor started by showing an enlargement of the painting
on the big screen, noting that Mary Magdalene was nowhere to be seen,
and then reading excerpts from DaVinci extensive notes on the painting
(DaVinci says the figure leaning on Peter is the Apostle John).

> I suspect that a lot of the same will hold true for
> The DaVinci Code, i.e. Protestants will mildly protest
> some parts of the movie, while hitting hard against
> the Catholic Church as much as they can.

Lee Stroebel was on Dr Dobson talking about his book on the DaVinci code.
The theme was debunking the "facts" on which the overt fiction was based.
No "hits" against the Catholic Church.

> Catholics will have to answer The DaVinci Code
> essentially alone. The movie and book are very serious
> attacks that MUST be refuted!

I would be ROTFL - except that apparently a lot of people are very gullible...

-- 
	      Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at bmsi.com>
    Business Management Systems Inc.  Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.