SUMMARY:
THIRTY SIX million copies in print, translated into forty four languages; the worldwide release of the blockbuster movie took the world by storm.
Whatever The Da Vinci Code is, there is no denying its popularity.
Dan Brown has concocted a very potent and profi table recipe.
The Da Vinci Code is a runaway success. So it begs the question: Why is Da Vinci so popular?
The last few years of travelling Sydney Rail to and from theological college has shown fi rsthand the popularity of the book.
Many Da Vinci adorned commuters sat engrossed in the pages, oblivious to the rickety, clickety-clack of their surrounds. It would be an exaggeration to say there were no other books on show, some Sydney siders even make commuting their quiet-time haven and so the odd Bible got a look in, but in the end, as far as popularity went Da Vinci won hands down.
So again we ask why is The Da Vinci Code so popular, and, why is the Bible so unpopular?
The Da Vinci Code is popular because it is something new
Before Da Vinci who’d heard of the Priory of Sion? Who’d heard of Opus Dei? Who’d thought of Jesus as middle-aged and married with children? Who, like me, thought the quest for the Holy Grail belonged to Indiana Jones? (Or, if you’re game to admit it, to Monty Python!)
For many readers The Da Vinci Code is new, and not just a new storyline.
If everything in it is right and true we actually have a new reading of history. We are presented with, among other things, a totally different story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
The Da Vinci Code amounts to a total rewrite of Christian history.
The Bible in contrast is anything but new. It is comprised of ancient texts and familiar stories. The Bible for the modern man is so yesterday.
Da Vinci – New, Bible – Old
Have you ever been to a theme park?
It beats me why we have any roller coasters at all, and so I fi nd it absolutely staggering to see that the biggest and meanest ride today is very quickly yesterday’s model. In fact while you’re riding that death defying, bone crunching, gut wrenching metallic monster, chances are the scaffold is already up for the new model.
The old doesn’t satisfy for long is almost the motto we live by — “Out with the Old, In with the New!”
Da Vinci is popular because it strikes this particular chord in the 21st Century psyche. It fi ts nicely with our quest for the new, new knowledge, new enlightenment.
But in this case at least, we have had what is popularly called “a goldfi sh experience”.
You know the view that the goldfi sh has no memory. In theory every lap of the bowl is a brand new adventure.
Every time he passes that bottom-dwelling pirate ship he finds the sunken treasure with fresh gusto.
Every swim-by is a new revelation, a new discovery.
The same is true with us, and The Da Vinci Code; the new secret code, clandestine society, married Jesus, church conspiracy.
These ideas are not new at all.
Here’s what author Dan Brown says on his website:
The ideas in this novel have been around for centuries; they are not my own. Admittedly, this may be the fi rst time these ideas have been written about within the context of a popular thriller, but the information is anything but new.
It surprised me to discover that other books similar to The Da Vinci Code have been published within my lifetime.
One, in 1982 was called Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Another in 1993 was called The woman with the Alabaster jar:
Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail. It seems we swim past this “sunken treasure” about once every ten years.
So, if The Da Vinci Code has been appealing to you on the basis that it’s new, I’m sorry to burst that bubble.
Admittedly we’re in a fairly large aquarium, but we’ve defi nitely swum these currents before.
Da Vinci is popular because on the surface at least it appears to offer new information, new knowledge.
But just a little scratch under the surface reveals that it is just like a lot of stuff that is passed off as new, it is a clever repackage of something old.
If Da Vinci appears to be new but really is old, I wonder if the reverse is true of the Bible?
Does the Bible appear to be old but really contains something new?
Is the Bible old and yet new?
Hold onto that thought for a moment and we’ll come back to it.
But fi rst let’s look at the second reason why I think Da Vinci is popular.
Da Vinci is popular because it is a ripping good yarn
I don’t know about you, but I love sitting around a campfi re listening to a skilled storyteller spin his yarn. Well Dan Brown is a good storyteller.
You don’t have to take my word for it, just read the reviews:
WOW... blockbuster perfection. An exhilaratingly brainy thriller.
Not since the advent of Harry Potter has an author so fl agrantly delighted in leading readers on a breathless chase and coaxing them through hoops — Janet Maslin,
The New York Times.
This masterpiece should be mandatory reading. Brown solidifi es his reputation as one of the most skilled thriller writers on the planet with his best book yet, a compelling blend of history and page-turning suspense. Highly recommended — Library Journal
I like action thrillers. You know the kind, a book with an unbelievable plot and an unbelievable action hero. The story gallops along at a million miles an hour. And you can’t put it down till you get to the end gasping for breath.
I must confess Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station was a good read for me.
I raved about it to a mate. One day he was going on a trip, so I gave it to him to read.
When he got back I couldn’t wait to fi nd out what he thought of Ice Station. I was expecting another convert.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget his response.
He said, “It’s not very believable”.
Not very believable!
It is important to understand what kind of literature you are reading.
Whenever we approach a piece of writing we have to understand certain things.
You don’t read the front page of the newspaper and say, “That wasn’t very poetic”. You don’t pull out your shopping list and say, “Not much of a plot there”.
So back to Da Vinci, what kind of literature is it?
The best authority surely is the author. I’m quoting Dan Brown from his homepage, and he says:
“The Da Vinci Code is a novel (his emphasis) and therefore a work of fi ction”.
Brown goes on to say that his hope for this novel is that it would “serve as ... a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history”.
Well it’s certainly done that hasn’t it?
Here we are doing just what he hoped would be done.
But if Dan says it’s a novel why is it so controversial?
Well it all stems from the fi rst page of the book. It’s a page headed “Fact”. On his website Dan Brown is questioned about the claim made by the “Fact” page.
Doesn’t the novel’s “Fact” page claim that every single word in this novel is historical fact?
Brown replies: “If you read the “Fact” page, you will see it clearly states that the documents, rituals, organization, artwork, and architecture in the novel all exist.
The “Fact” page makes no (emphasis his) statement whatsoever about any of the ancient theories discussed by fi ctional characters. Interpreting those ideas is left to the reader”.
Dan Brown either intended this interpretation of his “Fact” page from the start, or has been forced to retreat to it.
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People have already made up their minds ... and Da Vinci gives them the excuse they’re looking for to justify the life they’ve already chosen. |
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Option one: If you just read the “Fact” page you’d think Dan Brown is claiming that the book is accurate in everything it says about certain “real” artefacts (art, documents, buildings) and organisations.
Option two: His statement about the “Fact” page says that the “Fact” page only claims that the artefacts and organisations exist, not necessarily that everything he says about them is accurate.
The truth is that many of the “so called” facts in the novel have been proven to be wrong.
I’ll focus on just one that is signifi cant to Christianity and easily rebuffed.
In the book the following exchange occurs between Sir Leigh Teabing and Sophie Nouveau.
“My dear,” Teabing declared, “until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet… a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal.” “Not the Son of God?” “Right” Teabing said. “Jesus’ establishment as the ‘Son of God’ was offi cially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea.” “Hold on. You’re saying Jesus’ divinity was the result of a vote?” “A relatively close vote at that”, Teabing added…
This all sounds quite intriguing and plausible, but unfortunately for Da Vinci, Teabing’s view doesn’t match any history in the real world.
We should immediately get suspicious of anyone who says a vote is close when the actual result was 298 to 2.
Contrary to the claims made here by Teabing, Jesus is the Son of God. Historically this was what all Jesus’ followers (Christians) believed way before Constantine.
The Council of Nicaea didn’t “propose” the teaching of the divinity of Jesus.
Rather this council came to agree that this was exactly what Jesus Himself had taught, and by an overwhelming majority vote of 298 to 2 they decided that scripture demonstrated that Jesus was divine. Right from His fi rst disciples this is what the followers of Jesus had believed.
You would think, if this were just a conspiracy dreamt up by Jesus’ disciples, or Constantine, or Nicaea, or the Church, the story would have come unstuck.
But instead, right throughout history, the opposite has been true. Christians have been persecuted and tortured and they have died, rather than say their story wasn’t true. I can’t imagine dying for something I knew was a lie.
To this error of fact many more could be added. It’s not my intention to nitpick through the novel and show you every detail that’s not factual.
The critics, it should be noted, extend further than theologians or Churchmen.
Many secular academics (historians, linguists and art historians) contend against Brown’s claim to “Fact”. (If you want more detail there is now an extremely large array of secondary literature.
A great starting point is Greg Clarke’s, Is it worth Believing?
The Spiritual Challenges of the Da Vinci Code, Matthias Media, Sydney.)
Instead of wallowing through dense arguments I just want to emphasise the fact that words and stories are very powerful and they can sway and move you.
So you need to choose wisely what it is that guides you and what you will act upon.
Don’t go looking for reality in a novel or look there for truth.
Please don’t make important decisions based on a work of fi ction. You wouldn’t do it with Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, or even Lord of the Rings.
The Da Vinci Code is popular fi ction. You read it to escape into a world of makebelieve, and when you close the book life is just as you left it.
The Bible on the other hand is not popular for exactly the opposite reason.
For starters you pick up the Bible and you know there’s no way you’re going to knock that off in a couple of days! It is a big book with lots of good literature.
On some pages it reads like a history book; on others it’s a bit like a biography.
Some pages would be at home in a fantasy novel. It’s got songs, poetry, philosophy and even romance. And because it has such a rich variety of literature it can be hard to pin down exactly how we should read the Bible.
But one thing is obvious.
You know from the beginning to the end, that the Bible is a book about God.
And if the Bible tells you about a true and living God, then that has implications for you, doesn’t it?
This is real world stuff.
It confronts you in your own real world, and brings you face-to-face with God. That has huge implications. If there is a true and living God then you’d better make sure you know who He is and what He wants.
The Bible is not popular exactly because it’s not a Da Vinci kind of ripping good yarn.
Da Vinci is popular because it let’s the reader escape to fast-paced conspiracy, suspense, murder, intrigue.
If you like that kind of thing then you might want to read Da Vinci.
On the other hand, if you like science fi ction then you might prefer Star Trek. If you want to know about real history then you will have to read a real history book.
And if you want to know about God then you must read the Bible.
Now we’re ready to look at the third reason that Da Vinci is so popular.
And I think this is the heart of the issue.
Da Vinci is popular because it gives people the excuse they’re looking for
People have already made up their minds. They can’t be bothered with the Bible or with Jesus and Da Vinci gives them the excuse they’re looking for to justify the life they’ve already chosen. Let me repeat “Da Vinci is popular because it gives you the excuse you’ve wanted to ignore the Bible and Jesus.”
A conversation was heard in the pub.
It went something like this:
“Hey have you read The Da Vinci Code?” “Yeah, what a great read.”
“Yeah you know what. I knew that (Beep) church was telling us lies.
It’s about time someone blew the lid.”
The plot of The Da Vinci Code “involves a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to cover up the true story of Jesus. This implies ... [the church] consciously knows it is living a lie, but does so to keep itself in power.” *1
And, it seems to me, this is a very big reason for The Da Vinci Code’s popularity.
You see The Da Vinci Code hits a raw nerve. At one level it is just the anti-establishment raw nerve that has simply become a way of life. “You beauty Dan, stick it to ‘em!”
But I suspect the nerve is more raw than that. Dan Brown reminds us that much pain and suffering has been dealt out in the name of the “Church”.
And it hits the raw nerve in each of us, that screams out against the powerful who abuse the powerless.
If you are reading this and you’ve been dealt with unfairly, unjustly or unlovingly by someone who’s in church; a minister, a Sunday-school teacher, a family member, a neighbour.
If you have looked to the church, with trust expecting love, but instead you were hurt, betrayed, abused, oppressed, can I say, “Sorry”?
Chances are you have felt some pain, seen some hypocrisy.
It makes me mad. I hate it, that it happens, and I’m sorry!
When the powerful abuse the powerless we, rightly, get mad.
The Da Vinci Code runs this theme at two levels.
First the “Church” is just plain power hungry, and second, the male dominated church oppresses women.
On these points we needn’t quibble.
Throughout history things called “Church” have sought after power, and abused the powerless.
But in reality they dishonour the name “Church”.
They have lost touch with the true teaching of the Bible.
They have stopped following Jesus.
Some of the most powerful words of Jesus are these. They come from the biography of Jesus written by one of his followers, Matthew. We fi nd these words in the writing commonly called the Gospel of Matthew:
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high offi cials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be fi rst must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28 NIV)
Did you get that?
Right at the end Jesus is talking about Himself.
He calls Himself the Son of Man.
Let’s read it again.
“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
So you see, the raw nerve Dan Brown hits, the raw nerve we all have, is exactly the issue that Jesus contended against. If you want to know what the Bible is about, you need to know who Jesus is.
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The Da Vinci Code is a new version of the oldest lie that tries to turn people away from God. |
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That’s the real Jesus, and that’s the real Christianity.
But we can’t wait for someone to give us a reason to ignore Jesus.
If you’re honest, you know you do ignore Jesus.
You’d rather do what you want to do than listen to what God wants you to do.
The bad news of course is that when you ignore Jesus, you ignore God.
You offend Him and He’s rightly angry with you.
What a terrible thing it will be, to meet the God who created this universe.
To meet Him face-to-face, and know you’ve been ignoring Him.
Can you begin to imagine how that will feel?
God’s Son, Jesus, died on a horrible Roman cross and you give Him no more time of day than use His name as a swear word.
There’s no wonder God is hopping mad about that!
There’ll be no escaping; no bribes; no tricks. God is angry about you ignoring Him.
You can’t hope that He will overlook your turning your back on Jesus.
When you stand before God on judgement day, you can’t plead ignorance.
Don’t think for one moment that you’ll be able to say to God, “But Dan Brown said it was all a conspiracy”.
It’s striking isn’t it?
That Jesus became a man, was crucifi ed on a Roman Cross, and died to satisfy the death penalty for rebellion.
Christianity is not about the powerful abusing the powerless. No way!
The Son of God.
The most powerful.
Became powerless.
And He did this in order to save the hopeless.
You and me.
The Da Vinci Code is a new version of the oldest lie that tries to turn people away from God.
It brings into question the trustworthiness of God and goes like this:
Can you really trust God?
Does he really want what’s best for you?
Along comes Da Vinci:
Can you really trust the God that the church professes?
Do they really care about you or just their own power?
And we swallow the lie again.
The Bible’s not much of a ripping yarn is it?
The main plot is this: “You’re ignoring God and He’s very angry about that.” It’s really no wonder at all that the Bible is not popular.
We began by saying that Da Vinci is new and yet old.
This caused us to ask if the Bible is possibly old and yet new?
Can it be that something so old still speaks something new today?
The answer is “Yes”.
Every generation fi nds the Bible to be old and yet new, because it’s God’s personal message to every individual. It is new, i.e. it’s His message to me, and I’ve heard it.
It’s His message to many who may have read this, and have received God’s personal message to them.
Maybe it’s new for you now.
You might have been hiding from God and now you understand that you are hiding because you have been ignoring God.
God’s message is one of love and forgiveness. Just when your situation seems most hopeless God reveals His great rescue plan.
His rescue plan shows just how much He loves you.
God transferred onto His only Son, the punishment that your ignoring Him deserves.
He’s telling you that even though you’ve been avoiding Him, He loves you.
You are His creation and He wants you to live with Him forever.
And you know that He loves you, because He sent His only Son to die in your place.
He couldn’t do any more than that, could He?
So what should you do with Da Vinci?
Well if you like that kind of thing, read it as a ripping good yarn.
What should you do with the Bible, this book about God and you and me?
It’s not popular because it shows you exactly who you are and what you are doing.
You are ungratefully ignoring God, hurtling toward the judgement day, hopeless and helpless.
So read it as God’s new message to you.
It’s your warning about the judgement that is to come. And it’s your invitation to become friends with God.
Which will it be for you?
Footnotes:
*1 http://en.wikepedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code
About the Author...
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Appeared in Issue 36 CETF 12.2 NR June 2006
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3
© Copyright 2006 Christian Witness Ministries, except where noted. All rights reserved
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-Last revised-
Monday, October 09, 2006
