Posted on 05/26/2006 5:55:34 AM PDT by Simi Valley Tom
If you knew that someone was about to drive off a cliff, wouldn't you warn that person about the danger? Wouldn't that be the loving thing to do?
When Jesus calls His disciples to be salt and light, he was calling for Christians to do two things:
1. Warn people about their sins.
2. Show people that the answer to their sin problem is to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through faith and discipleship.
The warning about sin is not to condemn people for their sins; that is something only God can do. The warning about sin is to warn people about eternal separation from God, who is the Source of all Knowledge, Wisdom, Love, Joy, and Beauty. The call to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is an attempt to share with people the Knowledge, Wisdom, Love, Joy, and Beauty that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will bring.
To be salt and light, therefore, is an Act of Love to protect people from the destruction that comes from sin and to make people aware of the Light and Truth that comes from Jesus Christ.
Thus, when we at MOVIEGUIDE® warn people about the dangers of THE DA VINCI CODE, violent horror movies, or sex comedies like AMERICAN PIE, it is an Act of Love designed to point people away from darkness and toward the Light of the True, the Good and the Beautiful.
Although these works are fiction, recent polls from the Barna Research Group in the United States and the IPSOS Institute in Europe show that millions of people will change their beliefs after reading or seeing these fictional works. Barna reports that 11 million of the 60 million people or so who have read THE DA VINCI CODE have changed their spiritual beliefs about Jesus Christ after reading the book. IPSOS reports that up to half of the people who have read the book, 30 million people, have changed their beliefs about Jesus Christ. These numbers include people of weak Christian faith and non-Christians.
According to worldwide box office figures, at least 35 million people have seen the DA VINCI CODE movie so far. This means that the movie may affect the beliefs of an additional 17 million or more people.
The book version of THE DA VINCI CODE is a slanderous, vicious attack on Jesus Christ, His church and the Bible. Unlike the book, the hero in the movie, played by Tom Hanks, makes some positive statements regarding the traditional view of Jesus Christ and His divinity. He then says, however, that it doesn't matter what the real truth is, it only matters what people believe. Such irrational, anti-historical statements may be even more insidious than Dan Brown's book, because they lull people into a deadly sense of apathy about the historical, moral and spiritual identity and mission of Jesus Christ.
What makes this even worse is the fact that children, teenagers and young adults, who don't have the knowledge and wisdom that comes with age and experience, are the most vulnerable to the wicked effects of popular works like THE DA VINCI CODE.
No mater how you cut it, therefore, THE DA VINCI CODE, though a work of fiction, will greatly weaken Jesus Christ's loving mission to bring salt and light to the human race. Anyone who reads or sees THE DA VINCI CODE, especially those who advocate reading it or seeing it and those who say it doesn't matter if people read or see THE DA VINCI CODE, are taking a stand against Jesus Christ and His Gospel. It is they who are being unloving, not those who warn people about the dangers of such works like THE DA VINCI CODE. It is also they who will be encouraging the entertainment industry to make and market more books, movies and videos viciously attacking Jesus Christ, His mission and the Bible.
This is a Culture War that Christians dare not lose. We must win this Culture War and defeat the forces of darkness if we are to follow Jesus Christ's loving command to bring salt and light to the human race. Only by winning this Culture War will we be able to continue baptizing people in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them everything that Jesus Christ commands us to do.
The fate of the world hangs in the balance, but God is the ultimate power on whom everything depends. If we remain faithful to God through Jesus Christ, then God will remain faithful to us. For, it is ultimately He who will bring the fruit to our efforts to preach the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is His blessings on our work that will help make this world a better place for future generations, our children and grandchildren.
Let us prayerfully ask God, therefore, to deliver people from the historical, moral and spiritual confusion that comes from such things as THE DA VINCI CODE. Use us, Oh Lord, to bring salt, light and love to our fellow men and women. Fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Note: For more about THE DA VINCI CODE and other current movies and issues regarding the mass media, go to www.movieguide.org.
I do not have a God, I believe only in one God, for all things, creator of all things.
How is it, that you can speak for what you believe is my god? I thought you had said earlier, that there was no way of proving any of this? You speak, as if you are certain of these things which are un-provable.
It's odd, but I feel that you do not read what I say either.
To all I have been talking with..time to leave for now, thank you all, and I'm sure we will have similar conversations in the future. I may get back to FR this weekend, I may not...it's up to God.
Have a pleasant holiday weekend.
I did not say I was unable to prove it. Just not to someone who is whose master is not THE Master - one whose master is man and his own version(s) of a god. When one knows the one True God, then it becomes obvious when others are following/trusting in something else. Only God Himself can reveal Himself and it will be absolute proof to your soul that He is the God of the bible. Absolute proof.
And, if you need proof, just read some of the comments following this very good/accurate article!
You're being ridiculed for posting this, and the article attacked...
..I say....Thank-you for posting this.
If your name is Stuart, and someone on the street calls out "Bob!", are you going to turn around? Probably not. In the same way, we may think we're praying to God, and calling on his name, but maybe we're not. Yes, there may be one God, but that doesn't mean that we're praying to the correct one. "God" has different names, after all -- God, Allah, Adonai, Jah, etc. In my opinion, it's not just different names -- it's different gods. And perhaps one of them is the correct one.
If one God demands murder of the infidels, and another God demands turning the other cheek, are we still praying to the same God? Is it the same god with two different names? Or two different gods?
I think that's a bit too glib. In the Bible, Jesus is tempted by Satan with the power to control of Earth's kingdoms. Judas is also thought to have wanted Christ to take a more direct, controlling role in the affairs of humanity-- you might say Judas was the first totalitarian leftist.
It does not follow that because God can do anything that's possible, God has or will do everything that's possible. The belief that we have limited knowedge as to how God will exercise His power is entirely consistent with belief in God as all-powerful.
The problem with the Da Vinci Code is not what it does to Him, but to us. One might argue that the ideas in it are not so sophisticated. Well, gnosticism has lasted for centuries--- it manifestly has a great and enduring appeal. The fact that gnosticism is made kinder and gentler than the real/original thing in the Da Vinci Code serves to make even more attractive, just as the movie is made more palatable if, as I've heard, it is kinder and gentler than the book.
What's the problem with that? If you're a conservative and understand gnosticism, you have a problem with it. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, it violates what we call conservatism and Thomas Sowell calls the constrained vision by assuming that some few individuals are given a truth inaccessible to the masses, who are merely deluded. The Jacobins, Lenin's Vanguard and the Khmer Rouge all believed they possessed knowledge of such truth with tragic results. Ideas have consequences, sometimes large, sometimes small--- so it's best to challenge bad ideas before you find out the size of its consequence too late.
Absolutely. I have been a member of Protestant churches on both coasts for about 50 years, and I assure you we pass around the collection plate. However, having said that, even when in leadership, when we lost someone, the conversation never went to what they had been giving. The concern was always for their spiritual welfare.
Only if you question a known fact. Let's kick the can further down the road..let's question all facts. Even the so called "facts" in this movie and the so called facts produced by "intellectuals" and those who would bring down all religions with reproduced facts. Let's question if in fact a world without religion at all will be a better one.
Things are not looking good for the non-religious religion. Just look at france.
When one thinks that Muslim money has financed this abomination - it is especially shocking to see people and especially Christians flocking like sheeple to see this trash.
God help them.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-2063399,00.html
"Until someone asks what it means to believe."
Even Satan "believes" in Jesus Christ.
Satan KNOWS whom Jesus IS and what He has accomplished through His Cross (now my Cross, thanks be to God). To say Satan 'believes' in Jesus Christ is obtuse. Care to explain just what it is Satan 'believes'? Satan certainly isn't saved through Jesus Christ because the father of lies a murderer from the start has no broken and contrite spirit ... as his continuing evil in this world prove to those with eyes to see.
"To say Satan 'believes' in Jesus Christ is obtuse.'
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Agreed - and that was my point to the post that said Christianity is just John 3:16 - the rest is just extra (or something to that effect). I think many people say they "believe" in Jesus in just such an obtuse manner.
Even Satan knows (believes) that Jesus exists. But he sure doesn't take Him as his Lord and Saviour and all that that entails.
And some of the stuff in the movie/book could be debatable to how it would change my beliefs IF true.
Jesus as married? Maybe not such a big deal.
Jesus as just a guy? Big Deal.
Jesus not resurrected? Big Deal.
And I don't take the book/movie as an attack on Christianity. I ee it used as a tool against those weak in their Biblical knowledge and history that could undermine their faith.
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