debunking the code
Post on May.18, 2006
UPDATED: regarding the talk i mentioned, for information, please visit the penang diocese website.
if you read the star paper of 17 may (wed.), there is a column by one rufus bruno pereira on ‘the da vinci code debunked‘. he is from our catholic church. our office will be inviting him to give a talk on the same topic in penang at one of the church. for those who are interested to attend the talk, please contact me personally.
btw, i have not read the book and i will not bother to see the movie too. no, not because i don’t like it or believe it is blashphameous. it is just that i am not interested and also that i hardly get out to watch movies (prefer watching it on CD at home. maybe i’ll get one of da vinci code). in fact i am very happy that this movie was allowed to be shown, and i wished and wished that no church bodies or organisations would come out to say this movie should be banned. i want the movie to be shown and i want the world to see the reaction of christians.
any of you remember reading what marina mahathir wrote in her coumn on 3 may regarding this movie? to quote her:
A FRIEND was relating how after her daughter had read the Da Vinci Code, she had wanted to read the Bible. Which is not in itself a bad thing except that she was concerned that an impressionable young mind would not be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Also it seemed that perhaps what was needed is a Da Vinci Code-type book for Muslims to spark off the same level of interest in young people in their own religion.
Except that if anyone tried to write a similar thriller based around Islam, they'd be hounded and pilloried and threatened with death, thousands would riot in protest and people who would never have been able to read the book either because they are illiterate or can't afford it would have died.
Such is the difference between our religions. While there are many Christians who are upset about the book and movie, they are countering it with seminars and other educational events to balance what is being said in the book, even if the book is only fiction. There have not been Da Vinci Code-related riots or deaths thus far. Which speaks volumes for the adherents of the faith.
yep, that’s what we are doing – organsiing seminars and talks. of course to those who are strong in their faith, they don’t need these seminars or talks, but these seminars and talks had been/will be organised for those who seems a bit shaky… OR for those who are already strong but need to pick points from the seminar on how to counter-attack the points in the moive, so that they can answer their friends. like for me, i am very firm in my faith and this movie/book will certainly not rock my faith or put me in doubts, but the thing is i don’t know how to ‘debunk’ the points/facts? in the movie, so need to either read here and there or listen to talks. doing this is more for other people, not for myself. i mean for me to read or listen more so that i am more able to convince my friends, especially the non christians.
(note: this article of marina appears in the coming week’s herald, a local catholic weekly).
so remember, anyone of you in penang, if you are interested in a 2 hours talk on ‘debunking the code’, by bruno, do contact me personally, ok?. the talk will cover the following areas – the history of the book, history as a concept and the controversial issues in the book.
related posts:
to debunk the code
lies and deception
May 18th, 2006 on 8:59 PM
The bit on Jesus and Mary’s liason is actually not new claims. It’s been around for decades. The rest seem to be gap fillers to make the case for Dan Brown. The hints are also observed from the fact that Brown was sued unsuccessfully for plagiarising the story line. They all got the ideas and suggestions from other old document sources.
The whole affair becomes an American business opportunity but I tend to distrust its timing – that it has to be touted at a time when raving and railing against the American Judeo Christian roots is just about the loudest by the left…..as if there should be shame attached to it for being Christians there.
lucia:Â yes i believe i do remember reading somewhere earlier about jesus and mary magadalene.
er… as for the timing part to do with american business opportunity, me dunno lah. no comments.Â
May 18th, 2006 on 9:08 PM
I loved the story. It gives a whole other reason why the Church acts the way it does and how incredibly (too) powerful it has become.
I’m catholic but i no longer follow what the church says letter for letter. It’s proven itself out of touch with wha’ts happening in the world.
The book vgives everyone the oppurtunity to see how a person like Jesus could be more human rather then ending up as a person who’s ‘mythical’. The good book was written by humans – all with their own biases.
lucia: hi chez, first time seeing you here. always see you in jeff’s blog only.
i have not read the book and i think i would have love the story too… but people need to know this is purely fiction.Â
May 18th, 2006 on 9:21 PM
oh yeah.. why is there a need to convince other people that the book is wrong? Is there really a need to convince people to think the same way we do?
Everyone’s entitled to their own conclusion on the book.
lucia: the faith of a religion is at stake. there is a need to convince gullible people that what the movie said of jesus and the church is not right.
May 18th, 2006 on 11:05 PM
How dare they question the authenticity of God’s Son…
I will burn all the books….All the believers will go to HELL!!!
Die Da Vinci Code!!!
Zwang! Zwang!
*cuts the book in to half*
p.s – Just kidding! but if the book were about some other specific religion i think the scenario above just might happen… Don’t ya think so??
lucia: aiya morpheus, what lah you… always showing of your sword skill.
Â
May 18th, 2006 on 11:11 PM
So many distortions. I’m going to watch the movie. My women folk want to see so we’ll go see it. I look at it as a modern fantasy. I know God will punish Dan Brown in his own time. So I leave it to him.
lucia: yeah me too will want to watch the movie… purely for entertainment… also to see how good ron howard (the director – one of my fav. director) is.
god punish dan brown? well, that’s not for us to say. i wouldn’t say that because if i say that it would be like i am crying dan brown is being blasphameous but since i take the book as nothing but fiction/novel i hope god does not punish him. anyway it is between him and god. actually i admire him in a way that he is so creative and imaginative.Â
May 19th, 2006 on 7:31 PM
The thing about writing about a theme which is invariably presenting another Comspiracy Theory is that it’s also about pointing fingers, One points at another with one’s and it’s only natural and possible to have other peoples’ fingers pointed back at oneself. Add to this a period of time when Conspiracy Theory has been overused is like the making of Jaws 2 after the original Jaws – but with diminishing returns and success.
“Everyone loves a conspiracy?.”
Only initially exciting and when it’s still fashionable but fashion is also whim driven and naturally transient.
Daniel Henninger wrote a nice piece in Oponion Journal here:
q/
“Here’s my theory of “The Da Vinci Code.” Dan Brown was sitting one night at the monthly meeting of his local secret society, listening to a lecture on the 65th gospel, and he got to thinking: “I wonder if there’s any limit to what people are willing to believe these days about a conspiracy theory. Let’s say I wrote a book that said Jesus was married. To Mary Magdalene. Who was pregnant at the Crucifixion. And she is the Holy Grail. Jesus wanted her to run the church as a global sex society called Heiros Gamos, but Peter elbowed her out of the job. Her daughter was the beginning of the Merovingian dynasty of France. Jesus’ family is still alive. There were 80 gospels, not four. Leonardo DiCaprio, I mean da Vinci, knew all this. The ‘Mona Lisa’ is Leonardo’s painting of himself in drag. Da Vinci’s secret was kept alive by future members of ‘the brotherhood,’ including Isaac Newton, Claude Debussy and Victor Hugo. The Catholic Church is covering all this up.”
Then Dan Brown said softly, “Would anyone buy into a plot so preposterous and fantastic?” Then he started writing.
The real accomplishment of “The Da Vinci Code” is that Dan Brown has proven that the theory of conspiracy theories is totally elastic, it has no limits. The genre’s future is limitless, with the following obvious plots:
Bill Clinton is directly descended from Henry VIII; Hillary is his third cousin. Jack Ruby was Ronald Reagan’s half-brother. Dick Cheney has been dead for five years; the vice president is a clone created by Halliburton in 1998. The Laffer Curve is the secret sign of the Carlyle Group. Michael Moore is the founder of the Carlyle Group, which started World War I. The New York Times is secretly run by the Rosicrucians (this is revealed on the first page of Chapter 47 of “The Da Vinci Code” if you look at the 23rd line through a kaleidoscope). Jacques Chirac is descended from Judas.
None of this strikes me as the least bit implausible, especially the latter. I’d better get started.”
u/q
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110008395
—–
Heheheh, good repartee – regardless of what I believe.
May 22nd, 2006 on 1:52 AM
Lucia, dat was an interesting write. i know dis sounds childish, a close friend read d book n she was very convinced by d facts put up. d thing about smart ppl, they try 2 rationalize everything. faith comes from believing, not seeing. but i’m glad i read dis post as well as d comments. i myself am still halfway thru d book, but now dat this point has been put forth, i am surprised many are not able 2 distinguish between fact n fiction. well, dis really sparked my interest 2 find out more bout d facts. wat a pity d talk’s being held at dis time; i will b back in penang for d summer holidays dis year end.
well, i just think dat it was a mere man who produce the drawings. and a mere man who wrote dis book. clever nutz these~
May 22nd, 2006 on 10:51 AM
It is good to know that the Catholic Church in Penang is engaging the movie instead of protesting in the streets. Here in Singapore, the National Council of Churches of Singapore, a grouping of Protestants Churches is also doing the same thing. This should be the way as l mentioned in my blog.
I think the movie has done more good to the Christian faith than bad. Firstly it shows how followers of great religion should behave in the face of blesphamy. Secondly, because of the controversy, there is a growing awareness among the people to the religion resulting in more ‘research’ into the religion. I think overall it is a win-win situation. Dan Brown got his money, and Christianity its moral high ground.
May 22nd, 2006 on 11:19 AM
The book was better than the movie. It’s interesting and raises a few questions.
Anyway, the Church should be happy.The book and the movie has created a lot of interest in Christianity and if news reports are to be believed, now more people are reading the Gospels.
May 22nd, 2006 on 6:12 PM
Among the question that is being raised would be the meaning and measure of what is Blasphemy?
The dictionary puts it as :Blasphemy: the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.
But how does that apply to those who can’t share any standard God Concept? Or those who don’t have or use any God Concept?
What’s blasphemy to one group cannot be deemed automatically blasphemous to another. With this fact in mind there will be more awareness over the certain disservice of making any new anti-blaphemy law in favor of any one group which is in fact what some ppl are agitating for in advance countries. Don’t return to old vomit.
May 24th, 2006 on 2:25 AM
thanks ennee, for the kind words about my ‘interesting’ post. well, do you know that this post of mine was picked by global voices online? (http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/05/21/the-movie-da-vinci-code-in-south-east-asia/)
it’s true those stuffs were all man created so what do we care.
wormie, yes there’ s no point to protest or crying for a ban.
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