I don’t like writing about Hollywood, because, generally, it bores me to tears.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve said everything there is to say about the entertainment industry during a period 20-some years ago when I wrote about it full-time.
But then comes “The Da Vinci Code.”
Should I ignore it?
I had hoped I could get away with that approach. A national boycott of the film had been organized by several Christian groups. Maybe, I thought, Americans were too smart to fall for this insult to Jesus, His Apostles, His Word, His church and the Truth.
The first question some will ask me is: “Did you see the film?”
No, I wouldn’t torture myself so. Nor would I do anything that could potentially line the pockets of those involved with this lie from the pit of hell.
“But how do you know, Farah? If you don’t see the film, how can you criticize it?”
I know because it is a film based on a best-selling work of fiction – one that has been the subject of much scrutiny and discussion.
All you really need to know about Dan Brown’s fanciful novel and the movie upon which it is based is that the Bible is a great deception, rather than the inspired Word of God. There are some things we just didn’t know about the most well-chronicled life lived 2,000 years ago – like that he married Mary Magdalene and wanted to leave her in charge of the church rather than the Apostles he trained for more than three years before His crucifixion.
(If you want to know the specifics of the fraud of “The Da Vinci Code,” I would recommend a book, “Breaking the Da Vinci Code,” and a documentary of the same name.)
Unfortunately, after last weekend’s opening in theaters across the country and the resultant box-office success of the movie, it appears I cannot continue just to ignore it.
The film grossed $77 million its first weekend. While that’s no record, and may have even been disappointing to those who made it, it suggests there are plenty of lost Americans out there – lots and lots of people who are probably being led astray by this movie.
I remember back in the old days when Oliver Stone made “JFK,” a fictionalized movie about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, that many saw it and believed they were watching history. I have no doubt many believe they are viewing truth when they watch “The Da Vinci Code.”
“But it’s just entertainment, Farah. Why are you getting so upset?”
I’m upset because so many Americans supported it. It reminds me of the Romans going to the Coliseum to watch Christians torn apart by wild animals. That’s what you are doing when you pay to buy the book or see the movie. You might as well be hammering nails into Jesus’ hands and feet all over again. That Americans would do this in such numbers in 2006 is disturbing.
This is, after all, the country birthed by freedom fighters declaring their independence from tyranny and marching into battle chanting “No king but Jesus!”
Years ago, when I was covering Hollywood, a movie called “The Last Temptation of Christ” was released. It, too, was based on a work of fiction. It, too, was blasphemous and offensive to all sincere followers of Jesus. But it died a quick death at the box office. There were mass marches in the street by Christians and Jews to protest its opening.
It suggests Christianity has lost ground in the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans in the last two decades. It suggests Christian clergy are not providing the salt and the light needed to keep this culture from rotting in darkness. It suggests biblical illiteracy is on the rise. It suggests moral relativism is the dogma of our day. It suggests our nation is in desperate need of a moral and spiritual revival if it is to avoid judgment.
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