A recent British survey has found that The DaVinci Code undermines faith. According to the survey, people who have read The DaVinci Code “are twice as likely to believe Jesus Christ fathered children and four times as likely to think the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei is a murderous sect†(source).The tragic thing about this survey is not the troubling reality that people clearly don’t know how to distinguish fictional genres from historical ones. The tragic thing is that an error in this particular case is damning. The single biggest question that any person will every have to come to grips with is “Who is Jesus?†Dan Brown’s manifestly fictional portrayal, unfortunately, does not even come close to helping people in this regard.
The soon to be released movie version of the book has been highly anticipated, and not a few Christians have been concerned that the book’s spurious portrayal of Jesus will become even more embedded in the popular culture. The fact that the critics at the Cannes Film festival have panned the film (source) is unlikely to mitigate the widespread effect that this film will have on our culture.
As Christians, we all have a responsibilty to respond credibly to this challenge. Let’s take the opportunity afforded us by this movie to tell people about Jesus. The best way to be prepared is to know what the Bible teaches about the person of Christ. In addition to that, there are numerous resources available to anyone who wants to know the truth. Here are some that I think you may find helpful.
Breaking The DaVinci Code: Answers To The Questions Everyone’s Asking – by Darrell Bock
“5 Big Questions from The Da Vinci Code†– Christianity Today
The Truth about DaVinci – Westminster Theological Seminary
The DaVinci Dialogue – Website
