Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Da Vinci Code and Organized Religion

Ron Howard's new movie "The Da Vinci Code" has created a lot of controversy in many religious circles. Does it really question our faith in God or our faith in organized religion?   Read more...

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Categories: Da Vinci Code, Catholic Church, Original Sin

7 Comments:

At 1:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Right on, George.

It's nice to hear some rational, intelligent comments.

I'll be stopping by more often. Thanks.

 
At 2:51 PM, Blogger Michael K. Willis said...

Excellent, well-balanced, well-written piece.

 
At 2:35 AM, Blogger Ivy said...

Interesting article. Here's my interpretation of the movie, you'll ind some similarities and differences from yours.

People too often get caught up in the details of things that they forget what the big picture is. The point of the book and the movie "Da Vinci Code" isn't really about the falsehood of the Christian doctrine. It's about you and me. Does it really matter that what the Church preaches is a big lie? Or that Magdalene's existence is a conspiracy? I think not. What really matters is our faith in the God himself. Must faith transcend reason? Or is faith just n prisoner to ignorance? This, I think, are the big questions to the movie - not whether Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or Jesus' wife.

Now, about your faith. Before you read this part, please understand I'm a firm believer in God but a non-believer in any religion because I can't see it being anything more than a political organization that seeks to enslave mankind by playing on our weaknesses: fear and guilt. Anyways, my question to you is, must your faith in God rely on the doctrines written by man (i.e. organized religion)? If so, why?

You don't have to answer my question because I already know the answer appropriated to myself. I merely posed the question so you can understand religion from a different point of view. :)

One last thing, I have another way of seeing this: "If you begin to question your beliefs, maybe it's because they're not right for you in the first place." A famous French philosopher by the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said that the best citizen is one who questions his state as only with questions can you improve the well-being of your country. So can we infer from this idea of amelioration that the question of your faith as an improvement to your personal wellbeing then? :)

 
At 9:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Vatican Library exists to house material they don't want people to know about. If you study the early council meetings where things were included and/or rejected from the "bible" you will find what you are getting is not what is available.

 
At 7:54 PM, Blogger EuroYank - Virginia Hoge said...

Good points, BUT man is not to question the Will of God, so we are told, and your questions are rational BUT it is not the WILL of God that you question it. The entire Bible,or Bibles of Man, of which there are many versions outline what happens to those people and tribes that went their own way against his WILL. The entire religious history is based on this. Again your questions are rational BUT ...

 
At 2:15 AM, Blogger Mystikka said...

It's slightly humorous that people get themselves so whipped up in a fear-based frenzy that a fictional movie sends them into such a conniption.

Thank you for your thoughts... great blog. I saw The Divinci Code the other night and enjoyed it. I was raised Catholic and I never cared about the historical accuracy of religions and all the controversy around it because none of that changes the universal message of love that exsists as common ground for all religions and lies within each of us as our natural sense of spirituality that we discover in our own ways and time.

 
At 8:04 AM, Blogger Ben said...

Ammon Hennessey once said, "Loyalty to the country always--Loyalty to the government when they deserve it."

I think that's a great metaphor for spirituality. Just sub God for country, and religion for government. There's a couple eerie parallels there.

 

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