Posted on 05/05/2006 10:06:53 PM PDT by churchillbuff
A well-known pro-family media critic advises Christians to forego seeing the movie screen adaptation of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, and he says they should warn others to avoid the film as well.
Dr. Ted Baehr is chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission (CFTC) and publisher of Movieguide, a biweekly journal that reviews and rates films according to their values and family-friendly -- or unfriendly -- content. And when it comes to the kind of content viewers will find if they decide to go see the upcoming theatrical release, The Da Vinci Code (rated PG-13), the Christian movie reviewer says, "There's a lot of good reasons for people not to."
On May 17, two days before the movie's general release, a group of Christian leaders are going to hold a press conference in Washington, DC, to address the issues surrounding the controversial film. Baehr, who will be part of that group, says there is a lot more to The Da Vinci Code's plot than just the assertion that Jesus married Mary Magdalene. That is minor, the critic says, compared to some of the other blasphemous ideas presented in the story.
In the novel and its film adaptation, a Harvard symbologist named Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) teams up with a brilliant French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), to follow clues revealing that the recently murdered curator of the Louvre was involved in an ancient secret society called the Priory of Sion, over which an evil Grand Master presides.
Following clues from the murder scene, Robert and Sophie are caught up in a dangerous mystery as they match wits with an unknown enemy somehow connected with Opus Dei, a clandestine Catholic organization. Opus Dei, according to Brown's story, is believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory's carefully guarded secret -- the secret the "code" supposedly obscures, that Christ was not crucified but instead survived, married, and sired progeny.
Besides the story's more obvious blasphemies, Baehr notes, are other issues that he feels make the movie unfit for Christian audiences. "One of the problems," he explains, "is that The Da Vinci Code's main point is leading up to Sophie discovering that the Grand Master's invitation into eternal life is a sexual ceremony where he's surrounded in the basement with his cohorts in the cult of the Priory, having sex with the temple prostitute."
The CFTC chairman says he has heard some prominent Christians tell other believers to go see The Da Vinci Code because they can use the storyline of the film as a springboard to tell people the truth about Christ. But God's Word tells believers to look upon the good, the true, and the lovely, the Christian film reviewer points out. They are not told to look upon the evil, sexual ceremonies that are contained in the upcoming Tom Hanks movie, he insists.
"In Ezekiel, God tells us to be a 'watchman on the wall,'" Baehr continues, "and he says if you know that somebody is going to make a mistake, you tell them not to." Christians should avoid the movie based on Brown's novel, he contends, "because the book is just chock full of occultism, Rosicrucianism, Masonic Satanism, et cetera -- I mean, we have a lot of material on all the satanic material, all the sexual material, all the pornographic material."
The Movieguide publisher says a conscientious, thinking Christian "would be hard pressed to argue that people should indulge in this, because it's going to be engraved on people's minds." He urges believers to ignore anyone advising them to "invite the devil through dialog."
Obviously I'm no Saddam appeaser. I just realize we didn't need to invade Iraq. I also don't favor invading China. Does that make me an "appeaser" of the tyrants there (who have killed ten times as many as Saddam? Obviously not, but you're too logic deprived (or clouded by hate) to understand that.
LOL!!! Well, since most of your threads are bait, as this one is, there comes a time to say "adios."
If you're saying "adios" from this thread, I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be happy. Since you claim you don't go to movies, one wonders why you feel the need to chime in on this thread, which is about a movie. But then, apparently you'll seize any opportunity to sneer at traditional Christians.
It's also used very selectively. When Mel Gibson put out the Passion, suddenly liberals weren't saying "It's Just a Movie - No Big Deal." They were basically saying it should be boycotted - if not banned.
Just what would you hope to catch with these "bait" threads, anyway? What constitutes such a thread?
Everybody would like to ban something...
As with much of what that particular poster writes, I had no idea what he (or she) meant by "bait thread."
I got caught by the thread. I actually read the book and enjoyed it. But it's just a thriller and I did not take it seriously. Most people are smart enought to know fiction from fact, or at the Republican ones can. Foaming at the mouth and arguing against plot elements that aren't even in the book wont do anybody any good. It's plain silly.
Oh really? What about this?
Your mission in life is self-promotion.
You put up threads like this one, and threads trashing the Iraq war, so you can boast that you are not like the rest of us heathens out here.
Whatever
Speaking as a Christian, I would never pay to see this movie, but not because of its absurd plot line. I would just find it boring and laughable, knowing the truth, and all the things Christ has done in my life. I might watch it one day when it is on TV or DVD, just to see what all the hoopla is about. From what I can gather, its like the Omen movies, pure science fiction.
A couple months ago it was Brokeback. Now it's the DV code. In three months it'll be something else.
Unlike Blowback Mountain, DV Code was actually entertaining. Neither was worth taking seriously.
True. I read it too. By the way, I abhor Christian bashing, which is a form of bigotry. They claim that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus. Also, they claimed Jesus had children. Now, the question is, are they even around?
It was actually an aggressive marketing campaign by outreach inc and motive entertainment who were responsible for all those seats being sold...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.