We're Such a Big Club, That's Why
Every once in a while I pick up the news monthly Christian Examiner, a newspaper publication that addresses issues of concern to evangelical Christians. It is actually a pretty good paper, and I like to peek around at what they're all thinking about.
With the film The DaVinci Code due to come out next Friday, lots is being said about it and across the top of this month's Examiner is a banner headline, "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Christianity." The instant I saw this I thought, great, another pitiful postmodern concession.
The point is that the headline should read "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Truth." Instead we make it seem like the film (and book) just don't jibe with our particular brand of religion-slash-philosophy-slash-lifestyle. The fact is, people read that headline and think--as they should--that all the huffing and puffing is merely the result of a spat between clubs. Here's the DaVinci Jesus-was-married-and-had-children-and-was-really-a-Gnostic people and there's the real-true-blue-dye-in-the-wool-American-Christian people and let's git it on.
"Hey you foolish Christian people you don't know what the real deal is with Jesus." Never mind that what Dan Brown says--however much "history" he may base it on--is exactly like me writing a book about your brown-haired blue-eyed clarinet-playing 14 year-old sister and describing her as a rainbow-haired zig-zag-eyed amoeba-slapping 87 year-old Hitler clone.
"Hey you foolish secular people you just don't know about what our club is about." And guess what the secular people do? They go great, good riddance. I don't blame them. I don't want to be in that club either. One reason is that when good church-going Christians see a headline like that they too are convinced that their God club is the best and since it's really really big it can yell really really loud. "You're not like us so nyah."
And zero reconciliation happens. Zero.
What breaks my heart is that everyone then thinks that God's word is just part of a club. The words are the club charter, the club rules of conduct.
I was in Barnes and Noble today and saw a whole table devoted to books about the DaVinci Code thing. Books about DaVinci and secret societies and the Masons and the "history." A whole bunch of 'em. But guess which book was very much not there. Nowhere around.
The one book that would tell them all what the truth is.
The Bible.
Oh I'm sure a lot of people assume we all know what the Bible says, and the DaVinci Code stuff is just the latest take on it all. But, I wonder, why is that?
Why do we assume that?...
Well, for what it's worth, here's the history.
With the film The DaVinci Code due to come out next Friday, lots is being said about it and across the top of this month's Examiner is a banner headline, "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Christianity." The instant I saw this I thought, great, another pitiful postmodern concession.
The point is that the headline should read "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Truth." Instead we make it seem like the film (and book) just don't jibe with our particular brand of religion-slash-philosophy-slash-lifestyle. The fact is, people read that headline and think--as they should--that all the huffing and puffing is merely the result of a spat between clubs. Here's the DaVinci Jesus-was-married-and-had-children-and-was-really-a-Gnostic people and there's the real-true-blue-dye-in-the-wool-American-Christian people and let's git it on.
"Hey you foolish Christian people you don't know what the real deal is with Jesus." Never mind that what Dan Brown says--however much "history" he may base it on--is exactly like me writing a book about your brown-haired blue-eyed clarinet-playing 14 year-old sister and describing her as a rainbow-haired zig-zag-eyed amoeba-slapping 87 year-old Hitler clone.
"Hey you foolish secular people you just don't know about what our club is about." And guess what the secular people do? They go great, good riddance. I don't blame them. I don't want to be in that club either. One reason is that when good church-going Christians see a headline like that they too are convinced that their God club is the best and since it's really really big it can yell really really loud. "You're not like us so nyah."
And zero reconciliation happens. Zero.
What breaks my heart is that everyone then thinks that God's word is just part of a club. The words are the club charter, the club rules of conduct.
I was in Barnes and Noble today and saw a whole table devoted to books about the DaVinci Code thing. Books about DaVinci and secret societies and the Masons and the "history." A whole bunch of 'em. But guess which book was very much not there. Nowhere around.
The one book that would tell them all what the truth is.
The Bible.
Oh I'm sure a lot of people assume we all know what the Bible says, and the DaVinci Code stuff is just the latest take on it all. But, I wonder, why is that?
Why do we assume that?...
Well, for what it's worth, here's the history.
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