Posted on 04/11/2006 3:41:19 PM PDT by Rockitz
WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAY 19TH?
May 19th is the date the Da Vinci Code movie opens. A movie based on a book that wears its heresy and blasphemy as a badge of honor.
What can we as Christians do in response to the release of this movie? I'm going to offer you the usual choices -- and a new one.
Here are the usual suspects:
A) We can ignore the movie. ........
The problem with this option: The box office is a ballot box. The only people whose votes are counted are those who buy tickets. And the ballot box closes on the Sunday of opening weekend. If you stay home, you have lost your chance to make your vote heard. You have thrown your vote away, and from Hollywood's point of view, you don't count. By staying home, you do nothing to shape the decision-making process regarding what movies will make it to the big screen.
B) We can protest. ........
The problem with this option: It doesn't work. Any publicity is good publicity. Protests not only fuel the box office, they make all Christians look like idiots. And again, protests and boycotts do nothing to help shape the decisions being made right now about what movies Hollywood will make in the next few years. (Or they convince Hollywood to make *more* movies that will provoke Christians to protest, which will drive the box office up.)
C) We can discuss the movie. We can be rational and be ready with study guides and workshops and point-by-point refutations of the lies promulgated by the movie. ........
The problem with this option: No one's listening. They think they know what we're going to say already. We'll lose most of these discussions anyway, no matter how prepared we are, because the power of story always trumps the power of facts (why do you think Jesus taught in parables?!). And once again: rational discussion of history does nothing to affect Hollywood's choices regarding what movies to make.
But there's a fourth choice.
D) On May 19th, you should go to the movies.
Just go to another movie.
Save the date now. May 19th, or May 20th. No later than Sunday, May 21st -- that's the day the ballot box closes. You'll get a vote, the only vote Hollywood recognizes: The power of cold hard cash laid down on a box office window on opening weekend.
Use your vote. Don't throw it away. Vote for a movie other than The DaVinci Code. If enough people do it, the powers that be will notice. They won't have a choice.
The major studio movie scheduled for release against DVC is the DreamWorks animated feature Over the Hedge. The trailers look fun, and you can take your kids. And your friends. And their friends. In fact, let's all go see it.
Let's rock the box office in a way no one expects -- without protests, without boycotts, without arguments, without rancor. Let's show up at the box office ballot box and cast our votes. And buy some popcorn, too.
May 19th. Mark your calendars now: Over the Hedge's opening weekend. Buy a ticket.
And spread the word. Forward this e-mail to all the Christians in your address book. Post it on your blogs. Talk about it to your churches. And let's all go to the movies.
E ) Get a life
I don't go to ANY movies at the theater.
IT'S FICTION! And of no importance.
No kidding, Captain Obvious! So were The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, or weren't they?!
GOOD post.
It'll be a smash hit.
I do not go to movies and I'll not order this film when it gets to NetFlix.
LOL
Just say its a fictional book that isn't even that good, I know from reading the boring book. Any book where the lead detective is an artist is BORING.
Just plain silly, anyone who doesn't understand it's bad fiction should go fall off the edge of the ocean........
That doesn't mean there are those who won't use its message as an excuse not to believe. I spoke to a seemingly intelligent man on the plane a couple years ago who informed me that it was true. I shook my head in disbelief and assured him it wasn't and that he should check which category of the NY Times Bestseller list it was on.
It's a screwy book inspired by a screwy fictional book and I think ignoring it is the best plan. If people want want to believe tripe like this, that's their problem. I'll only have to put up with them for a relatively few moments compared with eternity.
What is the blasphemy or heresy in supposing that Jesus Christ was married? From the logical point of view, a hetero-sexual male in his late 20's and at that point in time was typically married. How does that impact his message to us? Consider this, Christ was a Jew; he was called 'Rabbi' and guess what? Rabbi's were REQUIRED to be married. Now whether he was or not, I do not know. But it isn't heresy to ponder this question.
F) Stand in front of the box office and reveal the ending to the breathless member of the crowd buying tickets and mindlessly parroting the line "it's fiction".
DVC opening in second? Quelle dommage. The Merovingians will be spinning in their graves!
Why is this important, I'm a born again Christian. This book is fiction, if people want to read a fiction book than let them. I think both sides of this debate are overreacting a little.
The whackos who think it is history and not fiction are off the rocker, and the ones who want to burn it because they are afraid people think it's real are just plain overreacting.
Just my two cents though.
I think I may have intended to use the word 'movie' after the first 'screwy' but it is nearly quiting time so I have already ingested several beers and can't be sure.
I read the book. It was ok to put me to sleep each night after about 10 minutes of reading. I've read the Potter books too. I enjoyed them in a light-hearted way. Probably because I went to boarding school. The "Elders" was written with evil intentions, but I don't think DV Code has any such evil pretentions. It's just a fictional mystery.
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