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The Da Vinci Code's secret of success
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE31Aa01.html ^ | Spengler

Posted on 05/30/2006 5:12:52 AM PDT by croak

The danger that Dan Brown's prose style might be contagious discouraged me from reading The Da Vinci Code, and I decline to see the film. In 1982, I read the same asinine story in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail presented as fact, and do not gladly dive twice into the same sewer. Why this rubbish became the world's best-selling work of fiction, though, paradoxically confirms the strength of America's Christian faith.

Why should an American novel depicting Christianity as a hoax command such a readership while Christian faith is resurgent? Americans are migrating en masse to evangelical denominations who preach Christ crucified and eternal salvation, abandoning the blancmange beliefs of mainline Protestantism. Americans, to be

(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adumbmovie; davincicode; davincihoax; loversofbookdie; pileofmerde; poland
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1 posted on 05/30/2006 5:12:55 AM PDT by croak
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To: croak

Don't know about the book, but the movie was plain awful. Hank's acting was wooden at best. A lot of noise about nothing.


2 posted on 05/30/2006 5:28:53 AM PDT by txzman (Jer 23:29)
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To: croak

>> Despite John Paul II's papacy, Poland remains a battleground between neo-pagan nationalism metastasized throughout the Polish Church and the late pontiff's vision of Catholic universality. <<

After millions of Polish men, women, and children died at the rationalized torture of German invaders, the Polish had to survive decades more of cultural obliteration by the Russians. But they did not waiver. Emerging as a beacon of hope throughout the Eastern bloc, the Sandanistas and their gentle former pastor in Rome, rallied against the horrors of the Soviets by relying on the simple, God-given testimony within every human's breast: "this is not the way it is supposed to be." Thus, Poland led the way for freedom for a billion people, exposing the centrality of Satanic deceit in Marxism. May God preserve the simpleton fool, who wrote the article above, from ever having to even glipse into the horror through which Poland's sense of Catholic identity preserved.

How cavalier, how dehumanized, how ideologically fixated despite dwelling in a house of straw, how contemptuous, how disrespectful, how shamefully ignorant, how blinded by unthinking presumption must a man be to call the will to survive of this heroic land of Poland, "neo-pagan nationalism metastasized throughout the Polish Church," just because they won't bow and worship the god of his own fevered imagination? That he actually argues for a position I've argued for is no vindication, or even support, but a shame, an embarassment, a sharp poke in the kidney at how vigilant one must be to avoid teaching the errors of ad hominem.

With friends like these, I am far better off surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves.


3 posted on 05/30/2006 5:38:44 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus; Admin Moderator

embarassing switch:
I was denouncing central American policy on another site, and Solidaritarians was switched in my mind to Sandanistas. For the sake of preventing slander, is it at all possible to change this?


4 posted on 05/30/2006 5:40:44 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus
Whew, had me scratching my head there for a minute . . .
5 posted on 05/30/2006 5:42:12 AM PDT by guitar4jesus (Black Conservative . . . I think, I vote!)
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To: guitar4jesus

Given how hard JP2 fought the communists, refering to his people as Sandanistas should get me bannished from Poland for life!


6 posted on 05/30/2006 5:45:49 AM PDT by dangus
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To: croak

I think the controversy provides a wonderful opportunity to share the true gospel. With over 60 million books sold there must be a great interest in things "Jesus" even though there is nothing in the book that is based in reality. I'm enjoying the debates.


7 posted on 05/30/2006 5:57:52 AM PDT by patriot_wes (Law of Unintended Consequences; Infant Baptism = an unbelieving, unsaved church.)
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To: dangus
You know, I knew what you meant. LOL!

Thanks for the response to this article's attack on the Polish church. The Poles national identity IS Catholic Christianity; they guarded their faith well, and to attack them is beyond the pale.

8 posted on 05/30/2006 5:58:45 AM PDT by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's and Jemian's sons and keep them strong.)
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To: croak

the da vinci code is to catholics what the protpcols of teh elders of zion is to the jews.


9 posted on 05/30/2006 6:16:12 AM PDT by camle (Keep your mind open and somebody will fill if full of something for you.)
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To: croak
I read The da Vinci code and saw the movie. My reaction was so what? I managed to get through both.

It was fun being in Paris and London again. I loved the scene in the movie when they descend the stairs, escaping the Louvre, and pass the Victoire de Samothrace by the way. (I have always loved the Victoire.) But it wasn't nearly as dramatic as the escape from Atlanta in Gone with the Wind. Remember that scene where Clark Gable carries Olivia de Haviland down the stairs??? How beautifully can anything be staged?

The message of Christ and of Christianity could not be more relevant today: Love, Forgiveness, Redemption, Faith.

A dangerous and frightening world wondering about the strength of terror, misplaced faith, hatred, intolerance, and revenge finds the answer in the teachings of Jesus.

The cosmos is God's holy scripture. The truth is there for mankind to discover. God's Truth was not revealed just once. It is constantly revealed.

10 posted on 05/30/2006 7:18:02 AM PDT by Savage Beast (The Spirit of Flight 93 is the Spirit of America!)
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To: Savage Beast
It was fun being in Paris and London again. I loved the scene in the movie when they descend the stairs, escaping the Louvre, and pass the Victoire de Samothrace by the way. (I have always loved the Victoire.)

I couldn't agree more. I also thought Tom Hanks at the beginning was way too stiff. Really think this was much to do about nothing. I don't see how this obvious work of fiction could cause someone to doubt their faith. I enjoyed the scenery more than the acting.

11 posted on 05/30/2006 7:29:12 AM PDT by PhiKapMom (Elect Bob Sullivan OK Governor -- Throw out Dem Gov DoLittle Henry in 2006!)
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To: Savage Beast
Actually, that was Vivian Leigh, and he carried her UP the stairs . . .

. . . but I know what you meant.

(My mom went to the premiere at Lowe's downtown, and saw Gable and Leigh go into the theater. I worked for years right across the street from where Margaret Mitchell wrote the darned thing, and about four blocks from where she was run over and killed on Peachtree Street. It, and the movie, were of course an icon of a South that never was . . . mostly. But the book's a good read, and the movie was extremely well made.)

12 posted on 05/30/2006 7:33:53 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: PhiKapMom
I don't see how this obvious work of fiction could cause someone to doubt their faith.

It doesn't. It gives those that know nothing about Christ a lie to believe in instead.

13 posted on 05/30/2006 7:40:36 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: dangus
None the less very well stated. I wish I could write as passionately yet make a point as succinctly as you do.

Bravo!

14 posted on 05/30/2006 7:43:58 AM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: DJ MacWoW

>> It gives those that know nothing about Christ a lie to believe in instead. <<

I have struggled (and failed) to put it so simply, gracefully, and succinctly as that.


15 posted on 05/30/2006 7:59:02 AM PDT by dangus
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To: patriot_wes

>> I think the controversy provides a wonderful opportunity to share the true gospel. With over 60 million books sold there must be a great interest in things "Jesus" even though there is nothing in the book that is based in reality. I'm enjoying the debates. <<

Kudos to those working feverishly to make lemonade out of this lemon; I hope not to discourage them, but to remind people of the seriousness of the task: I have read people say stuff such as "I think this movie is good; it may be inaccurate, but it helps inspire people to seek out the truth."

Suppose there was a man, wandering the streets of calcutta, giving away food laced with Ipecac and arsenic. Who would say of such a man, "I think his food is good; it may be poisonous, but he is whetting people's appetite for more nutritious food."


16 posted on 05/30/2006 8:05:05 AM PDT by dangus
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To: croak; HarleyD; Alex Murphy; Dr. Eckleburg
The Da Vinci Code's secret of success

Itchy ears (plus Christians raising such a stink that the pagans wanted to see what all the fuss is about)
17 posted on 05/30/2006 8:10:26 AM PDT by Gamecock ("False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel." Machen predicting Osteen)
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To: dangus

You said -- Suppose there was a man, wandering the streets of calcutta, giving away food laced with Ipecac and arsenic. Who would say of such a man, "I think his food is good; it may be poisonous, but he is whetting people's appetite for more nutritious food."

Whether you think this is an opportunity or it's an outrage (or whatever else you may think, in-between) -- it doesn't change the fact that it's happening. You aren't going to change the fact that it's happening and more like this will happen. That's because this is Satan's world. It has been given over to him, until the time that Christ comes again and takes over ruling this world. Christians are "in the world" but "not of the world".

So, given the fact that this is Satan's world, according to the Bible (until the time of Christ's return), this is what we get, regardless of what we think. There is only the question of what to do.

The Muslim's answer to what to do is to take over the world, install their sharia law and cut off your head if you don't agree to their evil religion and worldview.

The Christian's answer is to rescue everyone (each individual, one at a time) out of the power of Satan and into the salvation of Christ by His blood (His death and resurrection and being seated at the right hand of God).

Having said all that -- I went to the movie, but haven't read the book. I never saw any point to reading the book before. Maybe I will now -- I don't know. But, I figured I would see the movie, simply so I could answer that I did see it, if someone questioned me about my ability to "talk" about it (as I will), and *not* having seen it. Since it wasn't any big deal to me to see it, I went and saw it.

It was "nothing". I wondered, afterward, what the big deal was. Apparently it's a big deal to those who want to escape from anything to do with God -- and this gives them a way out (from what the Bible clearly says) and still have a modicum of "spirituality" (but not of the true God, in Jesus Christ).

It does provide an easy entrance into talking about Jesus Christ. So, that's a benefit to those who do want to talk about Christ. But, it will require some knowledge of what the author of the book was saying (which really is no big deal anyway, for a Christian to deal with).

So, it does turn out to be an opportunity for those who know Christ to talk to those who don't.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." [Romans 8:28]

Regards,
Star Traveler


18 posted on 05/30/2006 10:07:25 AM PDT by Star Traveler
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To: txzman
Americans are migrating en masse to evangelical denominations who preach Christ crucified and eternal salvation, abandoning the blancmange beliefs of mainline Protestantism.

I disagree with this statement. While Christians are abandoning the Episcopal, Methodist, UCC, ELCA, and American Baptist churches (primarily) for more conservative denominations, I think that:

1. The % of Christians in American society...
2. The effect of Christian morality on the public sphere...
3. The effect of Christian morality in the lives of those who claim to be Christian...

Are at historic lows in our nation, and the trends are worsening.
19 posted on 05/30/2006 10:36:40 AM PDT by Old_Mil (http://www.constitutionparty.org - Forging a Rebirth of Freedom.)
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To: dangus

What I don't understand is why there are some who think Christians are fighting the liars because of their own weak faith. It should be self-evident that those who are ignorant of the truth are the ones that will be fooled. When Dan Rather lied about Bush, those who knew it for a lie exposed the lie. Dan Brown is Christianitys Dan Rather.


20 posted on 05/30/2006 11:55:22 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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