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We're all Jesus' children: 'Da Vinci Code' got its genealogy wrong.
Los Angeles Times ^ | 5/19/2006 | Steve Olson

Posted on 05/25/2006 10:45:12 AM PDT by Mike Bates

DOES JESUS have a secret line of descendants who are living today? It's an oddly appealing idea. We tend to think of ancestry in terms of bloodlines, in which some individuals are descended from famous ancestors and others are not. And the idea echoes deeper religious themes of individuals and groups favored by God.

But this is one idea in "The Da Vinci Code," which opens today in theaters worldwide, that just won't wash. Jesus couldn't have just a few descendants living today. If anyone alive today is descended from Jesus, then so are most of the people on the planet.

This absurd-sounding statement is an inevitable consequence of the workings of ancestry. People may have just a few descendants in the two or three generations after they lived, but after that the number of descendants explodes. For a population to remain the same size, every adult has to have an average of two children who grow to adulthood and have children. So the number of descendants for the average person grows exponentially — two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and so on. In just 10 generations — roughly 250 years — an average person can have more than 1,000 descendants.

SNIP

In real genealogies, a person's descendants either peter out within a few generations or begin to grow exponentially. That's why people who came to America on the Mayflower now have thousands of descendants. People who lived just a few centuries earlier have many millions of descendants.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: davincicode; genealogy; hairclub4opie; pudgytom
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Waiting for the first "It's just fiction" comment. :)
1 posted on 05/25/2006 10:45:14 AM PDT by Mike Bates
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To: Mike Bates

OK. It's fiction. It's made it's debut and the whole of Christianity hasn't collapsed. In fact, some people seeing it have said their faith is even stronger.


2 posted on 05/25/2006 10:47:38 AM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. 17,400+ snide replies and counting!)
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To: Mike Bates

"Waiting for the first "It's just fiction" comment. :)"



How about... "It's just stupid".


3 posted on 05/25/2006 10:47:44 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: Mike Bates

Sure, it's fiction. Lousy, rotten, bigoted, blasphemous fiction.


4 posted on 05/25/2006 10:48:08 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Mike Bates

Jesus has many kids. He left them at home when he illegally crossed the border to do jobs 'Americans won't do.' Not to worry, Jesus' family will soon join him in the U.S. Not divine intervention...just RINO activity making it possible.


5 posted on 05/25/2006 10:48:21 AM PDT by peyton randolph (Time for an electoral revolution where the ballot box is the guillotine)
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To: theDentist
Ding, ding. I thought you might be the winner. Congrats!
6 posted on 05/25/2006 10:48:45 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: Mike Bates

I am actually Jesus' brother (the bible tells me so).


7 posted on 05/25/2006 10:49:41 AM PDT by NeilGus
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To: peyton randolph

Don't think this was referring to Jesus Martinez. But maybe. . .


8 posted on 05/25/2006 10:49:56 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: Mike Bates

It's either fiction -- or I'm offended at people dissing my great X 100 grandparents.


9 posted on 05/25/2006 10:50:25 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: NeilGus

Yeah, but will Ron (Opie) Howard be making a movie out of that?


10 posted on 05/25/2006 10:50:41 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: PetroniusMaximus

How about... "It's just stupid".

Now THERE's a winner!
11 posted on 05/25/2006 10:51:09 AM PDT by JohnnyZ (Happy New Year! Breed like dogs!)
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To: theDentist

"Christianity hasn't collapsed. In fact, some people seeing it have said their faith is even stronger."

I find a lot of people (including myself at one point) are just looking for an excuse not to believe. The rehashing of this forgotten heresy provides them a new source of excuses.


12 posted on 05/25/2006 10:51:43 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: Mike Bates

How about a 'I wish it was true' comment.

The more I read why people don't like it,
the more puzzled I become.


13 posted on 05/25/2006 10:52:04 AM PDT by najida (Love like you've never been hurt, work like you don't need the money, dance like nobodys watching.)
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To: Mike Bates

Well, to be more specific, the worlds human population must all stem from Noah's Ark and the families aboard.


14 posted on 05/25/2006 10:54:32 AM PDT by YouPosting2Me
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To: Mike Bates; rlmorel
Ding, ding. I thought you might be the winner. Congrats!

Thank you, Mike. Thank you all. I'd also like to thank my agent, the family, 2 girls from "Hooters" for last evening's feast, Guinness for creating such a wonderful elixer, my ex-gf for that night on the boat in the lake, rlmorel for the time he hit me square between the eyes with a football and helped me see stars for about 20 seconds, and Dan Brown for writing a piece of fiction that has provided us with so much discussion.

15 posted on 05/25/2006 10:54:47 AM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. 17,400+ snide replies and counting!)
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To: PetroniusMaximus

You know what? The people who love this film and the book are the same people who think that the Trilateral Commission is secretly plotting to take over the world. The belief in conspiracy, not matter how fanciful, is quite alive in America, to wit: Who killed president Kennedy?; We never landed on the moon...it was all done in a sound studio somewhere; The Mason are going to takeover America, etc.

Even if it were true about what the books says about Christ, how many ka-zillion people would have to keep there yaps shut for centuries to prevent the truth from leaking out?

And as for the people seeing the film and then asserting that it somehow made their faith stronger, well, that makes as much sense as blaming rain on wet streets. If this film strengthens your faith, you probably had very little faith to begin with.

Alas, the story is, at last, just a story made up to look real.


16 posted on 05/25/2006 10:59:29 AM PDT by RexBeach ("There is no substitute for victory." -Douglas MacArthur)
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To: Mike Bates
If Jesus had children, How can I introduce my sons to his daughters. Cause if ever there was a family I wanted to marry into, that's the one. Probably would lead to red carpet treatment at the pearly gates, you know kinda like the HOV lane to heaven. ...

And for all those people who believe in the DaVinci Code, i hope you don't watch reruns of Pretty Woman, or you might making some bad life choices.
17 posted on 05/25/2006 11:01:39 AM PDT by Waverunner
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: theDentist
. . . 2 girls from "Hooters" for last evening's feast. . .

A feast? At Hooters? Now that's what I call fiction.

19 posted on 05/25/2006 11:06:15 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: alexs

Welcome to FR.


20 posted on 05/25/2006 11:07:37 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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