HI! Just returned back home after 2 awesome weeks away on honeymoon! I got married to my princess, without an doubt the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth. Lizl and I got married on the 25th of May! Thank you for every message of good wishes through email and sms! Will try and upload pics!
As you all know by know, the Da Vinci Code, hitt the big screen! I read the book about a year ago and found it to be a good STORY. I think the movie didn't crack up to the hype surrounding it, but more people will see the movie than read the book. Over 60 million copies of the book has been sold! On this post I do not wan to comment on the accuracy of the book, or speak for or against it.
Today I want us to think for a moment why the story is so popular. Why is that so many people are drawn to the story? What can the church learn? Let me offer my 2c:
1.) The emerging culture is drawn to mystery, to the spiritual. Maybe we have thought away too much of the mystery and with our systematic answers and theology has reduced God and spirituality to fit our categories and little boxes.
2.) Maybe the world is looking at the church, looking at the lives of nominal Christians, and coming to the conclusion that there must be more. The must be more to spirituality, to God, to Jesus that going to church on a Sunday, knowing all the right words and prayers, but still not really living any differnt from the rest of the world or bring real hope and change to a desperate world.
3.) I think the book also confirms the notion that the emerging culture is drawn to Jesus. They are interested in who He was, how He lived and said. The emerging culture is not interested in the portrait that the church holds up.
How do we respond to people interested in the Da Vinci Code? I think we should go into conversation with them, find out what made them think , what questions they have. I think it could be a great starting point for conversation! Let me know what you think!
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- "Jesus today" - Albert Nolan
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4 comments:
i think the reason why the movie is so popular is plain and simple, because of the unknown. We are always looking for answers and reasons for WHY WE ARE HERE, WHAT IS OUR PURPOUSE, etc. How to respond to the people, that is the difficult one. I think it would all depend on who the person and their situation is. if it is a non christian...dont hit them with the Bible dudes, or thats just my opinion. Cheers!
Hey Jacques,
First of all congrats on your wedding once again, it was it was a special day and both of you looked great! Glad you guys had an awesome honeymoon, and that you're back safe and sound!
I think part of the da vinci franchise’s success is due to the "controversy" it sparked amongst the church, and some of the reactions towards it. Any film or book that causes people (or a specific group) offence will spark interest. I too will not go into the glaring inaccuracies of the book, and my approach towards people have not been from what the da vinci code does or does not say, but from what the Bible does and does not say. If I were to be true towards my beliefs as a Christian I have to trust the Bible as the true inspired word of God, and while I don’t want to be “throwing the Bible” at people, it is the foundation of my life and every discussion on faith/beliefs/etc I might go into. Now I’m not saying to approach people with the Bible under your arm and a “the end is nigh” board around your neck, rather with love in your heart and it’s wisdom in your head.
The da vinci code in my opinion does/did create a huge opportunity for the church (which many did not seize) to teach/tell people about the infallible truth of God’s word, thus giving them that something we all look for…purpose. Many churches did however use this opportunity and I believe many people have been reached and many more seeds have been sown because of the da vinci code. It’s certainly caused me to spend more time reading the Book that’s withstood the critique of near 2000 years.
Keep up the good work bro!
-A
Don't you think that this movie was created from an investors point of view... they know that if you make a Christian controversial movie that most Christians will actually go and see the film and talk about it and thus a return on investment is ensured! It's a solid investment the likes of which are set to return consistently and the church takes the bate every time! Honestly, God is big enough to handle these kinds of attacks. If any thing the attack on all Christians worked just by distracting us from what ever else we where doing at the time! Lets stick to our convictions and callings (ex 14v14)! A good example of this is in Acts where Paul gets to a town and a demon possessed woman follows them around... he didn't take her on the first moment he saw her instead he continued with the work that the Lord gave him to do and only some days after he arrived did he cast the spirit out in the Name of Jesus!
Some thing that I find extremely interesting about our modern situation is that when the da vinci code was released Christians spent a lot of time preparing themselves for the whole event planning to make the most of it and spending a great deal of time trying to convince other Christians of how sevier this attack is. When a situation arises such as that of Israel invading Lebanon and combine that with a massive terrorist attack attempt and more reports from powerful US cabinate members predicting how this could potentially erupt in a world war three we discover the Church to be unprepared, silent and unvoiced. I found your comments on the interests and needs of the emerging culture very interesting and I agree with your second point about how the world is looking at Christians and realizing that there has to be something more. But my worries of the previous post are re-iterated: That perhaps we've been distracted by these works of fiction and not mindful of the times and not prepared to give an answer to any question!
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