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User: crossman
Name: Father Christopher J. Rossman
A Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS currently assigned as the Associate Pastor of Prince of Peace parish in Olathe, KS.

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Thursday, May 18, 2006

Da Vinci Code movie: fable and flop

DaVinciThe Da Vinci Code movie is due to be released tomorrow and already it has caused quite a stir. Even those who have not read the book are aware of the anti-Catholic and anti-Christian nature of the content. While the assertations made in the book/movie are completely ficticious, the way in which these elements are presented tries to allude to their being deeply rooted in historic truth. Many will recognize the outlandish claims for what they are and yet there are those who will be convinced that Dan Brown has uncovered the evil truth of the Church. The movie challenges, among other things, the celibacy of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus, the role of Mary Magdalene and the validity of the bible. I want to briefly explore each of these so as to arm my readers with a little ammo against those who will challenge the Church and us, the members of its Body.

MISNOMERS:

· Jesus is not God; he was only a man but was deified by the emperor Constantine.

Christ's divinity is emphasized numerous times in the New Testament. Jesus, himself, when asked about Abraham says, ""Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). Referring to himself as I AM invokes the personal name of God found in the Old Testament (Ex. 3:14). Paul tells us that Jesus chose to be born in humble, human form even though he could have remained in equal glory with the Father, for he was "in the form of God" (Phil. 2:6).

· Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, he got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter whose family line that is still present in Europe today. Furthermore, she is to be worshiped as a goddess.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the New Testament that states or implies that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. According to the New Testament, Mary of Magdala was a devout follower of Christ and one of the first witnesses of his Resurrection (cf. Matt. 28:1), but not his wife. There is no evidence in the New Testament or the writings of the Church Fathers that she was married to Jesus.

Jesus also said things that indicated that he wasn't married to anyone. He explained that some voluntarily refrain from marrying in order to be fully consecrated to God. He says that they "have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" (Matt. 19:12). He portrays voluntary abstention from marriage as the highest form of consecration, and as the spiritual leader of the Christian movement, it would be strange for him to hold up such a standard if he himself did not meet it.

· The Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor.

The process by which the canon of Scripture was formed was largely complete by the time of Constantine and he made no contribution to it. No Bible scholar holds that Constantine played such a role in the development of Scripture.

· There is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive.

The Priory of Sion was a club founded in 1956 by four young Frenchmen. There's no evidence for a Priory of Sion until the 1950s. In fact, the club is named not for Mt. Zoin in Jerusalem but a local mountain in France near where it was founded.

The pre-screenings of the movie by critics have been less than generous. Most of the critics called the movie boring, under-dramatic or simply poorly done. (see MSNBC or CNN) Nevertheless, there will be those who seeks to parade the 'facts' within the movie as Gospel truth, pardon the pun. With just a minimal amount of effort, however, the fiction or even science-fiction nature of the movie can be revealed. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 18:51 | link | comments |
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