Da Vinci's Done

I finished The Da Vinci Code last night. It started with a factually incorrect "fact page," runs Christianity through the mud for 454 pages, and ends with the main character kneeling in prayer to the goddess. I didn't really enjoy it so much.

Here's some thoughts:

• If organized religion is such a scam, what makes ancient goddess worship so great?
• Christianity is not actually chauvinist (Gal. 3:28), but goddess worship is distinctly feminist. Why is that prejudice ok?
• The plot was interesting (especially if you like scavenger hunts and riddles and such) but I'd only rate it at the same level as a decent TV show. It's no classic; it's a little predictable and very self-indulgent. But most people think it's a good airplane or beach book. So if you're stuck with nothing else to do with your time, then it can pass the time in an exciting and clever way. I personally felt that the positives were offset by my frustration.
  
• Let's say the Catholic Church wanted to suppress some damaging secret, how would they actually pull that off? I don't think they're capable! Otherwise they could have stopped Luther, Wycliffe, the Anabaptists, and Dan Brown.
• It's going to be hard to to discuss this material in a "family safe" way. The book has multiple adult themes like pagan sex rites, phallic symbols, and sexual innuendo.
  
• Are we forgetting the Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox Church? Why would they buy into the cover up that Rome was inventing and promoting? How does that make sense?
• It seems that the typical conspiracy theorist has never known a coincidence. But as Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
• How cynical do you have to be to assume that every minister, priest, elder, and bishop that ever lived was either foolishly uninformed or criminally manipulative?

I'll be at Centropolis Christian Church to present a seminar on the Da Vinci Code at 6pm Sunday, May 14. I'll also be preaching on the topic at Wyandotte County Christian Church on June 4 and teaching a class at Mission Lake Christian Camp on the subject later this summer.