Chances are pretty good that you've heard of a new arrival at the box office called "The Da Vinci Code."
Based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown, the movie follows a cryptologist as he investigated a murder and discovers that the Church has suppressed the truth about Jesus (gasp!), including his marriage to Mary Magdalene and his descendants, who still live among us today. Not surprisingly, there are two loud voices from the church on this movie: one that screams "Blasphemy!" and the other that says, "My goodness, this is a God-sent opportunity to reach the lost!"
It's probably obvious that I wish the Easily Offended Minions of Orthodoxy would get a grip and be quiet for a change. But let me add that I find the second group fairly annoying too.
Why? Because I am so freaking tired of the church acting as though the latest trendy movie, book or other gimmick is the magic bullet that will bring everyone to Christ. This year it's the "Da Vinci Code." Last year it was "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Two years ago, it was "The Passion of the Christ." Now here we are, three movies, the Prayer of Jabez, WWJD bracelets and God Only Knows what else later, and the church is still missing the point and failing radically to engage the culture.
If we want to engage the culture and the people who live in it, we need to forget the Fad du Jour and start showing the gospel's relevance to things that actually matter to people, rather than to things that tickle their fancy for an hour or two.
To wit: What relevance does Christ have to a family with gainful employment and no drug addictions, but still has trouble putting food on the table and paying the rent? What matters the gospel to a nation with zero savings, skyrocketing fuel costs and an economic bubble sure to break in the next ten years? What point in believing in Jesus when people are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, when leaders jockey for power without regard for anything more than political convenience, and when all the major religious leaders can do is to moralize and blame homosexuals and abortionists for the state of the nation?
It's a sad day for us all if we're looking to "The Da Vinci Code" to give us opportunities to share the reasons for the hope that we have.
Based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown, the movie follows a cryptologist as he investigated a murder and discovers that the Church has suppressed the truth about Jesus (gasp!), including his marriage to Mary Magdalene and his descendants, who still live among us today. Not surprisingly, there are two loud voices from the church on this movie: one that screams "Blasphemy!" and the other that says, "My goodness, this is a God-sent opportunity to reach the lost!"
It's probably obvious that I wish the Easily Offended Minions of Orthodoxy would get a grip and be quiet for a change. But let me add that I find the second group fairly annoying too.
Why? Because I am so freaking tired of the church acting as though the latest trendy movie, book or other gimmick is the magic bullet that will bring everyone to Christ. This year it's the "Da Vinci Code." Last year it was "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Two years ago, it was "The Passion of the Christ." Now here we are, three movies, the Prayer of Jabez, WWJD bracelets and God Only Knows what else later, and the church is still missing the point and failing radically to engage the culture.
If we want to engage the culture and the people who live in it, we need to forget the Fad du Jour and start showing the gospel's relevance to things that actually matter to people, rather than to things that tickle their fancy for an hour or two.
To wit: What relevance does Christ have to a family with gainful employment and no drug addictions, but still has trouble putting food on the table and paying the rent? What matters the gospel to a nation with zero savings, skyrocketing fuel costs and an economic bubble sure to break in the next ten years? What point in believing in Jesus when people are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, when leaders jockey for power without regard for anything more than political convenience, and when all the major religious leaders can do is to moralize and blame homosexuals and abortionists for the state of the nation?
It's a sad day for us all if we're looking to "The Da Vinci Code" to give us opportunities to share the reasons for the hope that we have.
1 comment:
The davinci code, bah! Like we don't have better things to do that refute the claims of a fictional novel. I just wasted 90 seconds of my time saying even this.
This is most likely my prejudice speaking, but the church really needs to encourage the arts a lot more than we do. I am not saying that suporting missions isn't important, but a whole bottle of scented oil was poured over Christ's feet and he deemed this a worthy use of such a costly gift while people were struggling to survive in far worse conditions than 21st century man could know. Many people endow arts, few support christian artists. We have almost no voice. It is no wonder we don't engage the culture. When I try to imagine a place for my work, I struggle because most of the art world is run by people who have very negative attitudes about faith. We, as a group, need to create a more fertile ground for creative people to express what their faith looks and feels like. People are not interested in a political debate. Jesus didn't argue, he told stories. Besides I think he would find the treatment of our faith that you described demeaning.
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