In the past few weeks I’ve talked to the L.A. Times, Fox News and Court TV’s Crier Live. It all started with The DaVinci Code.
I worked with a church on a DaVinci sermon, just as many churches across the nation are doing and have done. We converted the sanctuary into a movie theater, replacing offering plates with popcorn buckets, the pulpit with movie seats and opening the sermon with the DaVinci trailer. All so pastor James Damude could equip people to have conversations about the movie.
An interview with the L.A. Times about this strategy prompted the media coverage, and I think equipping people to talk about the movie is what grabbed the media’s attention. The presentation certainly was not as grand as Granger or many others, but a little sound bite stating that the church should have conversations with those who disagree struck a chord. I think this gained attention because the world is used to seeing the church act out of fear. We haven’t welcomed questions about the faith and the message of the church. As pastor Joel Stocker of Christian Celebration Center put it, “Fear exaggerates the enemy.”
Barna suggests that The DaVinci Code confirms rather than changes anyone’s mind about Christianity, with only 5% of DaVinci readers saying they changed their beliefs. Of course changing the beliefs of two million people is no small feat.
Barbara Nicolosi—founder and director of Act One, a group that trains Christians to work in the film industry, and editor of Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film and Culture—suggests that Christians “othercott” DaVinci.
But on the other end of the spectrum, those calling for a boycott of The DaVinci Code have allowed fear to inflate the enemy (in this case a fictional movie) into something much more than it was. It is time the church be bold in their faith, bold enough to stand up to the giants of the world.
What bold steps has your church taken lately and how are you, if at all, responding to The DaVinci Code?
Chris
May 18, 2006
I’m quite purposefully not seeing the movie. I read the book, which was “entertaining”. Looking back, however, I shouldn’t have given one dime to Dan Brown. It’s full of lies and deceptions and giving it a voice in the church now because of the movie is “conceding to a debate on Satan’s terms” (paraphrased loosely from Barbara Nicolosi’s blog).
The book/movie is also a much more sensitive issue for Catholics than evangelicals and the willingness of evangelicals to bring the discussion so far into the church definitely harkens back to past ugliness between Catholics and evangelicals. How would evangelicals react if a movie was made detailing how Billy Graham didn’t actually lead all those crusades and he only used his relationships with presidents for personal monetary gain? The de-centralized nature of evangelical Christianity makes it more difficult to directly attack, and we must be vigilent for indirect and mis-directed attacks. Letting the falsehoods of the book/movie into our churches as the impetus for messages strikes me as rather backward. Why not start with the truth of Christ?
As a side note, most of these churches are “Johnny-come-latelies” with regard to the book. McLean Bible Church in Reston VA did a series addresses the lies a couple of years ago. The series sprung from a buzz in the congregation, not the stilted reaction to movie studios trying to make even more money
Rich
May 18, 2006
Our church has completely ignored this film. I really do not think the average person cares about it much, anyway. This is to my delight.
Pastor B
May 18, 2006
The attention the movie is getting from the relevant Pastor type is amzing. It’s truly using sin as a post-modern evangelical tool. Davinci is the same age old heresy repackaged now for the goal of the almighty buck, believers need to be smarter then that.
C. Michael Pilato
May 18, 2006
I agree with the comments about fear inflating the enemy. Christiandom is just historically bad about this kind of thing. Is our message so unbelievable and flaky that the only way it can be defended is to beg folks not to attack it at all?
Yet Another Christian Boycott will serve no real purpose in the end. The media loves when the Church gets its collective undies in a twist. And what’s more, those strong in their faith should be exposing themselves to the misguided (or malicious) views of non-Christians — knowledge is power.
A.B. Dada
May 18, 2006
I’m not sure I agree with most church-goers on this issue. One of the worst ways to assist someone in sinning is to condemn the “forbidden fruit.” Many parents later in life realize how much damage they created for their children when they created the aura of forbidden fruit for their kids and then see their kids watch others taste that fruit with no initial harm.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I read the book. I think the book was incredibly strong in reiterating my faith in God and my disbelief in man. The same is true of some sermons I’ve been to in my life where the pastor was branding his own political and social beliefs on top of the Word. No different, not at all.
Church is starting to become more about social posturing and positioning than it is about love and truth. Churches will condemn this movie, and church-goers will flock to it. Churches will condemn the heresy, and people will go out and read the book and laugh at the badly written and obviously untruthful text.
The Body continues to fail the believers and the lost — over and over. Rather than teaching people love and truth, we teach them to condemn their enemies and distance themselves from the lost. And I can see that it is no different here — we want to criticize others withou realizing that it is our own personal sin that is the biggest problem in our lives.
Hold yourself to a higher standard, and love those who embrace sin. Don’t condemn, don’t criticize, set a positive example, and the Holy Ghost’s beacon inside you will do right for others.
The Church of Twenty
May 18, 2006
Burning bridges, putting up walls and condemning love and truth: The DaVinci Church
The hoopla over The DaVinci Code movie is getting ridiculous.
Michael Buckingham, guest blogger at Church Marketing Sucks offers a key line in his post that is easily ignored:
arna suggests that The DaVinci Code confirms rather than changes anyone̵…
Jonathan Lipps
May 18, 2006
The e-learning company I work for has actually partnered with Alpha UK to put forward a more electronic response to the Da Vinci Code. Some of you might find the framework itself interesting…and I think the content is valuable as well:
http://alpha.org/davinci/
I like what I’ve read of the previous comments. It highlights some key issues about the church’s response. I’ve written my thoughts (at length) elsewhere, so I won’t tire you with them here. (It’s a blog entry on some of the more cultural/philosophical/worldview aspects of the book), and my take on what a “response” should look like.
Jonathan Lipps
May 18, 2006
Oops–the blog link in my previous comment appears to be not working. Apologies. It is http://www.teleios.us/weblogs/jlipps/406
John
May 18, 2006
We are giving two weeks in June to address the two key issues I believe are central. Looks like the movie is getting horrible reviews, but we will use the apparent buzz to teach on critical doctrine.
We created a web site for this series http://www.mysteryofthecode.com
/Karen/
May 18, 2006
Here’s something the Sydney Anglican Diocese has been doing:
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/mission/resources/challengingdavincicom/
Josh
May 18, 2006
I’ve been lurking, reading, and learning for six months now and have loved the discussion and thought provoking posts, but this will be my first comment.
My church would fall on the side with the overly negative view of the movie. Our senior pastor said at on point in a sermon, that, “Opie was dead to him”. Now I love and respect my senior pastor, but comments like that don’t hold water. Ron Howard in comparison to the majority of people in Hollywood is a standup guy! Suddenly he directs a fictional movie that conflicts the perspective of the church and it’s like him and Satan had a big powwow on this one. The whole dead to him thing became the overwhelming view of the congregation, but it really bugged me. Instead of facing the questions this movie/book poses, we choose to lash out against it and once again hide away behind our big words and heavy books.
I plan on seeing the movie as a movie that is FICTION just like I have and will continue to watch movies, because I enjoy movies. Hollywood is far from “Christian” and no movie produced by Hollywood in my lifetime has ever really promoted a biblical worldview correctly. The fact that this challenges the church doesn’t strike me as any worse than a movie filled with profanity and pre-marital sex, or drugs or all that crap that’s out there. So yes, I will go see it, and I will prepare myself for discussions about it, and be more than willing to stand up and say that the message is one of fiction and have an intelligent discussion as a person that HAS seen the movie.
So label me a heretic or a sell out or whatever else, but I do see this as an opportunity that I’m not willing to pass up. I want to know what the people in the cubicle next to me are wondering about, and be able to say that as a Christian, saw the movie just the same as them, my thoughts are… People are going to go see this movie whether we want them to or not, and we can either attempt to know what they’re arguments are based upon, or we can lock ourselves away and tell them that they’re wrong for seeing the movie in the first place.
I think the arguments in the “Offcott” article are for the most part invalid. Rob Bell mentions in his book “Velvet Elvis” that all questions are rooted in humility, meaning they all center around an admission that, “I don’t have it all figured out”. I think that automatically assuming that every person that sees the movie is going to go into blitzkrieg conversation mode, and use this as an opportunity to run one past us, is plain ignorant. I believe the majority of people will gladly engage in an intelligent conversation about it, and being able to enter into that conversation and know what the heck I’m talking about is worth the $9 I’ll spend on a movie ticket.
Sorry for such a long post, but you guys hit a sore spot in me on this one…Oh and for the record, I wish that my church had done a series on the DaVinci Code, unfortunately the church only complained about the trailer coming out during the Easter season, said that Opie was dead to them, and that the movie wasn’t worth your time or money. If I weren’t so busy, I’d read the darn book too!
Becky
May 19, 2006
I would like to thank you for all your comments regarding The Da Vinci Code as I am planning to see the movie today with two non -christian friends who I know probably can’t wait to question the bible and my faith after seeing the movie. This is my first time ever visiting this site and I have found your comments strenghtening and encouraging. I for one am going to stand strong and use the release of the Da Vinci Code as the pefect oppertunity to witness for God. God bless you all.
Roby Davis
May 19, 2006
OK. I guess I’m the only one here that agrees with the other side. I haven’t read the book while the story line sounds awesome and intriguing I can’t pitch my tent towards that Sodom. I realize we each have our own idea of a “higher standard” so I won’t get into right or wrong.
From all the reviews of the book I’ve heard it’s funny to those Christians that are strong in their faith and who have read and know enough of the Bible to see that Brown mixes truth with lies. But lets be honest not all Christians have the Word in their heart like others.
This is not to say run from the movie and act like it doesn’t exist but seriously do you have to go to a strip joint so you can see how bad it is so you can relate to the lost there? No. Nor do you have to go to a bar or get drunk so you can know that that life doesn’t compare to one in Christ.
*Watch your toes* If you want to go to the movie because you want to be entertained and loved the book don’t cover it up by saying you are doing it so you can reach the lost. C’mon 2 million people have changed there faith because of this book, but many more are now questioning the authentic of the word of God. The numbers will only grow. What’s next?
Test User
May 19, 2006
A bit academic, but free.
http://www.teach12.com/ttc/davincicode.asp
Jeff Austin
May 20, 2006
I am so happy to have visited this site today and read the highly intelligent and holy Spirit lead comments of most of you all. I agree with the DaVinci code being entertainment. It is entertaining. It is entertaining the notion that Christ is not what He claims to be. To me the point about 2 miliion people changing their minds and joining the ranks of the disobedient…well I say this, they were never true believers in the first place. I believe that when you believe in Christ and you read the Word of God on a consistant basis that your Faith in Him will only grow stronger and the possibility of falling for the deceiver is a lot less. I agree totally that our pastor’s should not open the door for possible strongholds to take place in our young peoples minds about this work of fiction. I think we should spend more time on the truth than a lie. Who after all is the father of all lies? We overcome the evil one by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony not by the drawing of battle lines over a movie based on inaccurate assumptions and flat out lies. Let us examine what we present to the body. Make definitely sure that it will be encouraging and strengthening vs. adverserial and fear producing. This subject has already brought some division in our congregation and it saddens me to see that such a thing can happen at this stage of Christianity. My call would be to stick as close to the manual for living life as we can and do not compromise it by giving any time to the evil one….
Gene Mason
May 22, 2006
We’re doing a “Da Vinci Revealed” teaching time on Wednesday night this week, but here’s the weird thing…
This movie is getting really BAD reviews. I mean really bad, all around. Some folks I know saw it over the weekend and said it’s confusing, hard to follow, boring. Truthfully I think most folks I know are more excited about X-Men or Break Up.
Soooo… do I get happy because it might not be the over-the-top blockbuster of pop-culture heresy everyone thinks it is, or do I get sad because here we are spending a great deal of energy responding to a mediocre film that might have more people questioning why they spent $7 to see it versus the authenticity of the Bible and the divinity of Christ?
You see my dilemma?
Planning on seeing it tomorrow night anyway, so I can discuss it with some degree of confidence…
kevin
May 22, 2006
Gene, considering the millions the movie made worldwide (second largest worldwide opening in history, if I remember correctly), I don’t think bad reviews are going to be a problem.
Of course this is the problem of playing off pop culture, especially before you know what you’re getting. Sometimes it sucks.
Joe
May 23, 2006
I had been ignoring the book for the past three years because, after all, it is just a novel. But many people see it as more than that, so I decided to preach a four week series themed around the DVC. I had a few detractors but the majority of the people loved it. I even had people coming up to me thanking me for doing it and sharing their stories of how they talked to classmates and co-workers about the DVC when the topic came up. I’m glad I did it. Now I am DVC’d out.