Posted on 05/26/2005 6:09:47 PM PDT by peacethroughstrength
Excuse me for being so bold as to post, but I am struck by something. After reading "The DaVinci Code", I was angry. The ensuing wave of criticism that came after that book was released by like minded folks validated my emotional response, but then I found myself mollified by what I heard from the author(or more likeley his PR people). He (they) used the seemingly reasonable explanation that the book is a fictional piece, therefore nothing in it could be taken to heart or be accepted as factual or as believed to be factual by that author. Easy to say after your book has sold milions world wide. This stuck in my head for a while, but never really resurfaced until I watched the movie "The Last Samurai". Again, a fictional piece. Nothing in it would or should ever be considered a historical account. Yet, sadly, I fear that to too many of the uninformed, it would be accepted as fact. If the reader has not seen the movie, it implies that it was post-bellum American imperial influence that inspired the Japanese to wipe out the Samurai and, by extrapolation, we can also assume that eventually the Rising Sun army that so dutifully sought to take over the world was indeed a creation of late 19th century American influence. Where to begin! Even my layman's knowledge of history tells me that not only does this put the cart in front of the horse, the cart and horse in question are indeed in different hemispheres. The imperialistic Japanese warlords were murdering women and children in the name of expansion before Eric the Red ever set eyes on the cost of Iceland, much less before Little Big Horn. Yet, accompanied by the painful lack of history being taught in schools today, these fantasy pieces are being accepted as fact by more people than I would care to know about. It has also struck my that all of you Freepers who were kind enough to read this already know these things, but hopefully by by putting these words in this order it will inspire some original thought.
Thank You!
Popular fiction is a great vehicle for teaching history. Simply have the student read it, and instruct him that what really happened was the polar opposite of the way it was depicted in the fictional piece.
How many times are you going to hear that Jesus had a wife, Jesus had children, etc., etc....
whereas believing what He actually said about Himself is the greater challenge.....
non-historical fiction is much easier than the faith required by historical Christianity!
The seekers of signs will be mighty surprised by the unannounced return of the King.
Unfortunately, ignorance rules the world.
Only those to whom history (truth) is not kind care to change it.
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