The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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Holy trail, or Holy grail? Did Brown Get it Right?
By the time you get this magazine, the film about the Da Vinci Code will have been released based on Dan Brown’s book. Millions of books have been sold and read. Will the film prove as popular? The book, which I read a year ago, seemed to be full of the impossible. True, it is a work of fiction, but it is unbelievable fiction. When the hero (Robert Langdon) and heroine (Sophie Neveu) are hurtling across France in the middle of the night trying to escape from the police who think that he has committed murder and theft, the hero (an American) conveniently remembers he is getting near an English friend’s residence. They stop the armoured van, which they stole earlier and is now so severely dented that it is a wonder it is driveable, outside the gates of this residence. Although the hero is mentally exhausted from a series of other unbelievable problems and escapades earlier that evening, he has to answer cryptic questions correctly that are put to him by his supposed friend before the powered gates are unlocked to let the two of them in. And so the story goes on and on. The supposed friend turns out to be a double agent. But what of the key spiritual issues – namely that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that they had a baby girl? If this is also fiction, the Christian church marches on as before. Its doctrine that Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Son of God is uncompromised. The booksellers, film-makers and author get huge financial rewards, and we kick ourselves for wasting time reading such a book which attempts to discredit the Church and the way of the Cross. But what if you think that Dan Brown is right about Jesus and Mary? Then it is time to encourage you to do some other reading and thinking. There are books on the Da Vinci Hoax (Olson and Meisel) or just a simple 20-page pamphlet by Nicki Gumbrel. But one other way of solving the dilemma (if you have one) is to read the New Testament in order to meet the living Lord Jesus directly. If Jesus was an ordinary person in an ordinary marriage with an ordinary baby then it won't happen. But if Brown got it wrong, then Jesus can still come through closed doors and minds as long as there is just enough room to stay and talk to you. Where do you start? Luke chapter 24 is a good place. John Matthews (Reader) |
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