Da Vinci Code, Christians, Conspiracies, And You

For what it's worth, I haven't read The Da Vinci Code book. Let's get that out of the way first and foremost. I have been known to read my fair share of conspiracy theory works, as you've probably seen from a few of my other blogs, but I in no way would consider myself an expert or theologian or anything like that. Let's get this out of the way also: believeing in one conspiracy theory doesn't mean you believe in all of them. You can believe the JFK conspiracy without necessarily having to believe that the government is behind 9/11. You can believe in UFO's without having to believe that Dick Cheney is a Reptilian.

Although I do enjoy reading the opinions and theories on cause and effect of Nation and Policy, and even would say I might agree with a certain amount of what I've read and seen, I always walk into every new article, book, or video clip with trepidation and skepticism. I won't take the time to go into what I think is real and what is flat-out absurd, but I will tell you that there is a healthy amount that falls on both sides. I would say that overall, I'm far from being a kook, but far from taking everything at face-value also. I am a firm believer that there are forces at work that are interested in the general public thinking a certain way, when the truth is not necessarily what they think or have been told to think. I also think that those same forces put a good amount of effort into doing what is necessary to make those that seek out the truth or discover it, look foolish or crazy.

So, why all this when the title of this blog refers to The Da Vinci Code? Well, there is a lot of heat right now, especially in the Catholic and Christian communities about this movie. The book it is based off of supposedly takes shots at the Catholic Church, Opus Dei, and the traditional faith and belief-systems of Christianity. The book itself is based on the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail which assumes that Jesus had a child. This concept would shake the bedrock of Christianity and would likely turn a lot of Christians faith on its ear if it were true.

Because of all of this, many Christian groups are encouraging people to boycott the movie and are denouncing the concepts involved, which include the aforementioned "Jesus is a 'baby-Daddy,'" that the Mother was Mary Magdalene, that the same Mary is in Da Vinci's Last Supper painting and that Da Vinci knew this because he was a member of a secret order called the Priory of Scion (know that is not a fan club for the Toyota spin-off brand,) a protective order that is supposedly very knowledgable of all things dealing with the Merovingian blood-line, which is the bloodline of Jesus, according to the work.

Many critics are also panning the movie, but since Christianity is the predominant religion in this Country, it would seem safe to say that many critics are Christians. In as such, I'm guessing some of these critics know they have to go into Church and face their peers in religious fellowship on Sunday and my thinking is that many of them aren't strong enough to just give an honest review.

Here's my take on it: It's a movie. It's just a movie that is based on a book. A movie that is based on a book that is based on another book. A movie, based on a book, based on a book, based on theory and conjecture. Look, I saw Spider-Man in the theaters THREE times. That does not mean that I somehow believe that being bitten by a radioactive spider will allow you to don red and blue tights and fight goblins. It also doesn't mean that I think Kirsten Dunst is hot just because she plays a model (there's no chance of me ever thinking Kirsten Dunst is hot.)

While I understand and believe that your associations, and what you read/watch/listen to can shape your thoughts, I also believe that if you are sound in mind, you can separate entertainment from reality. If you can't walk into a movie understanding that it was made to be entertaining and even if it was made to make you try and think a certain way, you can watch it for it's entertainment value, then you definitely should not watch movies.

I know you may be tempted to believe in the realism of The Da Vinci Code because Tom Hanks is in it. I mean, the guy played Forest Gump and met JFK, as well as sparking the phrase "Have A Nice Day," and all of those Bubba Gump restaurants, so we know that if Tom is playing the character, there's fact to it. (*wink-wink*) So I do understand how you may be tempted to believe that this movie is based on real fact. Of course, if you believe that and live in San Francisco, you may want to leave because I'm pretty sure the Golden Gate bridge gets blown up in the new X-Men movie opening next weekend.