May 21, 2006

Dissecting Da Vinci

Everybody and their second cousins (including Muslims--how ironical) are jumping on the "Demonize Da Vinci" bandwagon.

Apparently some people think the sky is just going to fall in if you see it. That your faith will be wrecked, your worldview shattered, your entire life turned upside down.

Well, folks, if ONE movie--a movie which is, it must be noted, an adaptation of a novel (as in fiction, folks--or, WE MADE IT ALL UP)--does that to your faith, it wasn't much of a faith to begin with.

I have no plans to see "Da Vinci", and I haven't read the book. This wasn't due to any repulsion over the subject matter; rather, all the reviews I had seen suggested it was a poorly written, turgid mishmash, and I have no time to read junk. I have no time to watch it in the theater, either. But the supposed debunking of Christianity does not bother me; I see similar arguments on the secular blogs I visit, and all they inspire is a shrug, a rolling of the eyes, and a moving on.

My faith does not depend on any bad writer's twisting of history. Paul wrote about my faith, and expressed it very well.

"What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead." (Hebrews 11:1,2)

James also wrote about faith, and what we need to do to prove that it exists and has taken up residence in us.

"Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds." (James 2:26)

So my faith is certainly not troubled by some silly movie, and yours shouldn't be either. Let other people get on their high horse and waste their time protesting. I will try my best to do what God wants me to.

"The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord--not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world." (James 1:27)

That's what's important, not some celluloid fantasy.

No comments: