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"That
I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never
denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with
intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of
Christians in particular." -
Abraham Lincoln
As
the opening of the "Da Vinci Code" movie nears, the Debate
Persists!
`Da Vinci' paperback sales top 1 million. Yes,
there are still people who haven't read "The Da Vinci Code."
But the number seems to be shrinking. Dan Brown's international
sensation has sold around 1.4 million copies in its first month as a
paperback release, a big number for any book and astonishing for a novel
that's already sold more than 40 million copies in hardcover.
I believe that the paperback version of the book has sold
so well because those who oppose the movie ... have created so much
publicity for the book and the movie. Few people in 2006,
including Catholics, are passive enough to allow someone else to tell
them what they can and cannot read ... or what movies they can
see. The world is changing and the increase in Evangelical
Christianity and Catholics are mostly in third-world countries where the
level of education and awareness of the political activity and false
dogmas of certain religions is nil. But for most people who are
curious about the book or the movie ... they will either read it or see
it ... and that is just the way it is.
MMy level of for respect of Catholicism greatly
diminished this week with the controversy regarding whether or not
married couples in which one of them has AIDS, should be allowed to use
condoms. The Catholic leaders are in this major discussion on
whether it is the lesser sin for condoms to be condoned in these
circumstances. My thought was ... sin against who? To me, to
not use our wisdom and intelligence is a sin against God ... so the only
sin that the use of condoms could ever be in such a situation would be a
sin against an out-dated religious dogma that still tries to hold people
in their power through fear. Now ... this is the same religion
that is telling people to boycott the "Da Vinci Code" movie.
IF RELIGIONS EXPECT PEOPLE TO PAY ATTENTION
... THEN THEY MUST USE THE SAME INTELLIGENT APPROACH TO LIFE THAT JESUS
DID!
Dr. Stan Reader in his sermons, "See The
Real Truth" writes: What I find remarkable about the Gnostic
understanding of Jesus is how similar their descriptions are to those of
the New Testament and all the writings of the early Christians! No
where in the Gnostic Literature is Jesus ever referred to as being just
human ... nowhere! Contrary to his word that all descriptions of
... documents ... are accurate, Dan Brown has completely misrepresented
the documents of "The Dead Sea Scrolls" and "The Nag
Hammadi Library."
It is interesting that Dr. Reader would look to the
Gnostic writings for validity since no mainstream Christian religion
finds these writings valid. In the Bible we can find several
instances of Jesus displaying both His human and Divine nature ... and
in Truth, He taught that we too share this "double-thread" of
human and Divine. He stated clearly, "don't ye know that ye
are gods?"
Assaults on "Da Vinci" don't just come from
evangelicals, or from Roman Catholic leaders such as Chicago's Cardinal
Francis George, who says Brown is waging "an attack on the Catholic
Church" through preposterous historical claims. Among more
liberal thinkers, Harold Attridge, dean of Yale's Divinity School, says
Brown has "wildly misinterpreted" early Christianity. Ehrman
details Brown's "numerous mistakes" in "Truth and Fiction
in the Da Vinci Code" and asks: "Why didn't he simply get his
facts straight?"
Let's be very clear with this ... "The Da
Vinci Code" is fiction ... just as much of the theology espoused by
many religions is man-made fiction "about" both God and Jesus
... beginning with the writers in the New Testament. This can be
proven if we put their writings to the test of Truth; is what they have
written changeless, immutable Truth ... or are some of these writings
limited by the culture and awareness of the people of that era?
After all, the people who wrote the books in the Bible ... still thought
the Earth was flat!
The Master Mind Jesus
taught that "the kingdom of heaven is within" ... but so few
have looked for it there ... and that is why a fictional "Da Vinci
Code" book and movie creates such a strong debate.
And
So It Is!
Maximum
Love,
Rev.
Bates
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