THE DA VINCI CODE: A REVIEW

Well, we did it!  On Monday night, my wife and I ventured through the doors of the Fairchild Cinemas, the smells of popcorn and the bad movie previews to see the screen adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.  After reading a number of reviews and watching a very well done rebuttal to his book, we were able to come to some of our own conclusions.

First, the good stuff.  I'm still thinking...!  Oh, I know, Paris is sure a beautiful city and the Louvre is a magnificent memorial to the creative touch of God upon the human spirit.  The art work depicted in the film made me yearn for an opportunity to visit Paris one day to experience the image of God shown forth through the great masters.  The acting was decent, though Tom Hanks has done much better.  Ian McKellen is truly an amazing actor, able to make himself believable in any part I have ever seen him portray.  Well, that's about all I consider praiseworthy.

Now, the meat and potatoes.  It is an act of self-torture to sit for 2 1/2 hours and hear the Savior you love and live for blasphemed and misrepresented.  If this picture had been a portrayal of Muhammad, we would have had large scale riots, bombings and worldwide bloodshed!  Thank God, the very Christ who was being lied about has taught us differently and is well able to defend Himself!  I now know that this book and picture are not merely an innocent piece of fiction, but a convoluted mixture of fiction, revisionist history, outright lies, reconstituted ancient Gnosticism and modern paganism.

I almost feel bad for having supported Hollywood with our 16 dollars, but I felt it was necessary to know what it is that people are discussing around the proverbial water cooler.  If believers are going to see this movie, I think it is important to go with an un-churched person so as to be able to answer the many questions that will inevitably flow forth from their confused mouths and minds.  I really do not know how any lover of Jesus Christ could find entertainment value in hearing and watching our Master and King be made out to be a fraud!

I know that many of the "cool" Christians out there who read this will feel that I am overreacting and going into "extremist" mode, but when I step back and really think about The Da Vinci Code, I cannot put a pretty face on blasphemy and deception.  There must be some kind of cultural lines drawn sooner or later, and there have got to be some hills we are ready to die on.  I cannot be silent about living in a time when it is becoming a regular occurrence to see and hear my God and His church mocked, ridiculed and marginalized in the popular media on a daily basis.

In the last several months, story upon story has emerged calling the historic faith of followers of Christ into question.  Please, understand, I am not insecure about God, Jesus, the Bible and the church being unable to undergo scrutiny and emerge stronger than ever, but I am concerned about being able to get a fair hearing in the marketplace of ideas.  Our Lord and His followers have been persecuted, defamed, rejected and killed since the beginning and yet the church and true biblical faith have thrived.  I just hope America has not come to the place where she is shutting her ears to the truth of Jesus and His Gospel.

In closing, you may be asking where the review of the movie was in all of this venting.  Well, in a nutshell, The Da Vinci Code is a bad movie with beautiful on-site cinematography, some pretty well portrayed bad guys and one of the most offensive story-lines in history.  Sentiments similar to mine were very passionately expressed in an interview with Author Eric Metaxas at RELEVANT MAGAZINE.  His article really provoked me and can be accessed HERE.

PS - A very dear friend of mine, Stan Fleming is an excellent apologist (one who defends the Christian Faith by reason, history and logic) and has just recently returned from Europe on a "Refuting the Da Vinci Code" tour.  He has made his notes available to us and I have included a summary of 16 points that refute the errors of Dan Brown.  They are in MS WORD format and can be accessed right here - Download refuting_the_davinci_code_fable_summary.doc 

Tags: Da Vinci Code, movie review, religion, Christianity, protest, Paganism, books