The DaVinci Code - there was a lot of hype over this one. In fact, my church, Kempsville Presbyterian Church, will hold a three part series on decoding The DaVinci Code. They have put out a special invitation to the public at large. When our pastor was interviewed by the local media about the controversy, he was quotes as saying, "Bring it on, baby" being quite confident in his ability to address the many facets presented within the story.

The movie itself was an "okay" movie. It reminded me of a very watered down contemporary version of Indiana Jones movie. Tom Hanks gave one of the weakest performances I have seen in years (I usually like his stuff). His co-stars did not do much to improve the movie either. However, it was not the acting that will get people to the box office on this one, it is the conspiracy theory story line--one that will keep people talking for sometime.

The Church took this movie seriously; however, Christians had mixed perceptions about what this movie would do on both cultural and spiritual levels. On one hand, the foundations of Christian faith are attacked through a medium that many Americans (though irresponsibly) consider credible. Some people will believe it to be true. They will use this as evidence to feed into their paradigms of disbelief about Christ. They will base their belief on a fictional movie/book that took a historical era and carefully twisted the facts to make a story. This belief may eventually condemn some, but save others. How?

On the other hand, this is a great opportunity for serious dialogue. In fact, many churches are counting on it! "Bring us your questions, doubts, cynicism, and sarcasm" they say, but also "bring with you one shred of desire to search for the truth." If one actively researches the facts presented in the movie/book, he or she will find this story to be full of inaccuracies, and moreover blatant fallacies.

Whether or not you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is not what the arguments are about! The dialogue is based soley on the misrepresenation of historical facts (facts that can be proven from sources other than the Bible) presented in the book/movie. The DaVinci code presents "proof" that Jesus was a great guy, but not the son of God. A popular misconception is that Christians will retaliate and use this movie to prove Jesus Christ was more than mortal--this is not true. At least those that I associate only want to clarify and correct the facts that are presented. People still have to make their own choices. No one is really going to convince someone of that Christ is the son of God by arguing about theology, that is a personal choice. The point is, people should have correct information before making their decisions.

To me, The DaVinci Code is nothing more than a conspiracy theory thriller. It resembles National Treasure in that it is nothing more than ficition. I look forward to the dialogue it creates. From this dialogue, more people will be talking about Jesus, asking questions about Jesus, and eventually learning the truth for themselves.