Can I see it?

I love it when people feel comfortable around a pastor to ask the questions that are actually on their mind. Someone asked me the other day if I thought it would be ok if they went to see The Da Vinci Code when it comes to theaters May 19th. The person wasn't asking my blessing and she was going to see it no matter what I said, she just wanted to know where I stood on the issue.

My answer, "of course it is ok." The movie, as is the book, is a work of fiction, an attempt to entertain. I am rarely in favor of suggesting one boycott things meant as entertainment. (Except in the event of children who may not always be ready to separate fact from fiction.)

As a pastor, I might go so far as to even suggest seeing this movie. If it is anything like the book, it will contain some things that we Christians consider heretical. There are some assertions made in the book that are contrary to the doctrinal beliefs of the church. However, I don't find that to be harmful to Christian readers or viewers. The wonderful thing about heresy is that in order to know what we don't believe, we have to know what we do believe.

The book, and I hope the movie, address, in a somewhat overdramatic fashion, the formation of the central beliefs of the Christian church. The subject matter is actually stuff that most pastors would love to talk more about, but people tell us it is boring. The book touches on topics of the history of the Christian Church, the formation of the canon (which books ended up in the Bible) and the development of the ancient creeds.

With a little study of the topics of The Da Vinci Code it quickly become apparent that the controversy it raises is over some seemingly terribly boring stuff. I think if there is truly any conspiracy going on, it is a conspiracy of boredom. So much of the history and "hidden" documents are available to us, it is just that nobody really wants to spend any time studying them.

If the movie ends up a box office success and it raises lots of questions about faith and religion for people, that will be wonderful. Christianity is a continuing conversation and we all need more conversation partners.

If you are interested in reading more about this topic, The United Methodist Reporter had a great article a couple weeks back.

peace,

will