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The DaVinci Code Debunked

McLean Bible Church is a church in Washington DC that Kim used to attend while she lived there.  Every week they post the new sermon on their website so that anyone who wants to can listen to it, and Kim and I do that pretty often.  The senior pastor Lon Solomon is one of the best preachers I’ve heard.

Today we listened to his sermon The DaVinci Code Debunked and it was really interesting.  I haven’t read the book nor seen the movie, but I certainly haven’t escaped the constant hype surrounding them.  On The Factor the other night, Bill O’Reilly grilled the author, Dan Brown, and it’s clear that Brown has no evidence to back up his outrageous claims about Jesus and the Bible.  Pastor Lon’s sermon made that abundantly more clear.

Update: And language-nazi that I am, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to stand too much of the book after having read The Dan Brown Code.

Posted by Anthony on Apr 30, 2006 | 3 replies
Filed under: Faith

Comments:

01. Apr 30, 2006 at 04:24pm by andy:

Pretty amazing how one guy trying to make money doing what he likes doing has turned religion upside-down for so many people.  If they didn’t know what they believed before Dan Brown sure didn’t help anything.

I read the book, it was a good mystery thriller to be honest, and that is all it is, a piece of fiction.  A lot of people seem to say (as in your post link) that it’s poorly written as well, meh.  That may be the case but I wanted to read it to formulate my own opinion, and I only really feel like it’s another story I’ve read through, not much else. 

So, a decently written mystery story + heavy use of religion as a plot device = Dan Brown stays on the bestseller list and can buy a house in Malibu and a few new Ferraris.  Does he care in the least that he can back up nothing of his ridiculous claims about Christianity?  No.

And why the guy in that post even bothers to question another writer’s praise of Dan Brown as a good writer blows my mind, has he never heard of endorsements and marketing?  Sure man, Dan Brown’s book is utterly fantastic, now put my name on the jacket.

02. May 1, 2006 at 09:53am by Anthony:

That’s true about the other writer’s endorsement; it’s a great way for the endorser to hitch his name onto the cover of a book that tons of people will see.

At the same time, there is definitely a strong and growing anti-Christian sentiment in this country (and an anti-religion sentiment too, though usually if the religion is something other than Christianity it’s viewed as more "cool" or generally OK).

I think that helps to explain the book’s popularity: there are a lot of people who want to hear (and believe) that Jesus wasn’t real, or that the Bible is a fraud, and if a book presents that point of view then it’s OK if the book is poorly written.

That brings us to your first point though: if Dan Brown really doesn’t believe there’s any truth to what he’s written, and he’s just using it as a means to make money, then he’s sure done a good job of it.  But if he actually is trying to present the story as plausibly true then I think it’s perfectly valid to reveal the falsehoods on which the story is based.

03. May 5, 2006 at 08:17am by Patrick Copland:

Thanks for the link.  My wife was looking for good info to debunk TDC before she starts work again.  She works in Hollyweird on the sets of TV shows.  The people she works with are well meaning, but mostly misguided (perfect opportunity to evangelize if you have answers to their questions about Jesus).

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