The Da Va Vinci Code

Yeah.... I read it. FINALLY - it's only been out for what, 2 years?

Oh, and lemme answer the next question;
Yes, I am a Christian, and no, I'm not offended by the book -

IT'S A WORK OF

HISTORICAL FICTION!

I thought it was really cool, the twists and turns it took, a great thriller with a multitude of bits of historical fact woven wildly about with much creative license. It's not meant to make the Bible null and void, or to outrightly say the Catholic church and other Christian groups are really the bad guys. The story may hint at this, but that's just it, it's a STORY, not a proven article in a research magazine. To me, I appreciate the thought that it provokes re: early Christianity, paganism, and the effects both still have in our society today. As a critical thinker, I think it's great that there's a book that might make someone question their faith - perhaps they will do the digging to make their faith their own instead of blindly following religious tradition of their families?

I guess I just don't get all the hullabaloo that some religious organizations have with this book. Other than the one part of the plot that states Jesus was in fact NOT divine, I don't know that anything else written in the book would change my spiritual beliefs if they were true.

No where in the Bible does it say that Jesus was unmarried - it's always inferred. And, given that Jewish men were married off fairly young by our modern standards, wouldn't it have made sense that Jesus would have been identified as single, since it would have been an oddity for a man of 30-some years to not have a wife? Perhaps he was married, does that make Him any less Divine to me?

No.

In fact, if it happened that way, his statements about looking at a woman lustfully = adultery have even more significance to me, because he was able to intimately know a wife's perspective on that issue. It's an insignificant matter of dispute for me - to me what made Jesus Divine was His Parentage, His Birth, The Miracles, His Death, Burial, and Resurrection. His teachings of Love, Compassion, and Service are what make me a better person to those around me, and I believe my acceptance of His Boundless Grace is the recquisite for me to enter Heaven someday....If I'm wrong about eligibilty for Heaven, at least I've lived a life of Love in my attempt to be Christ-like, and who can begrudge that?

The beauty of His incarnation, is that as a human, He experienced being hungry, having to pee, and sexual urges. He understands what it is to be on this earth, and knows the hardships of humanity. The Bible says Jesus ate, drank, slept, wept, and was cold at times, and rather than denying His Divinity, these facts reinforce the Humanity of His time on earth. Would it change anything if He had loved a woman romantically and had a pure marriage involving sexuality as God the Father intended?

Not for this believer. There's no sin in this theory, as far as I can see - doesn't change my Deity.

Also...I forgot to mention the whole thematic of the Sacred Feminine. I actually don't disagree. The Bible says man and woman were made in God's image - something that has always made me picture a duality of gender when I think of God - though I call Him He.

As for the book, again, it's FICTION. We can read fictional books about mice who talk without feeling reality as we know it is threatened, so why is this so hard for people to accept?