Robert Langdon...you suck.
Religious 'Scholars' Decry Authenticity of The Da Vinci Code
Kat Starwolf
Methinks the Catholic Church and the other self-proclaimed religious scholars protest too much.
I am a former Christian turned pagan. I am also an astrologer. I am far more Spiritual now than I could ever claim to be as a Christian. Not because I'm an astrologer, but because I am OPEN MINDED. As a former Episcopalian/Presbyterian/Jehovah's Witness, for many years I researched and studied the Bible and various denominational beliefs and so-called 'spurious' texts and letters which were excluded from the Bible. I've extensively studied other source material regarding various issues surrounding the origin of not only the Bible, but Christianity itself. I've read many of the books Dan Brown cited as sources, long before I read the Da Vinci Code. All of these sources gel with each other and with other information I've read regarding this issue.
Who's to say that what these books say or the premise of his book is incorrect or not? Conversely, who's to say, beyond a shadow of doubt, whether the BIBLE is true?
Personally, I believe that Jesus DID exist. But even so, he was a man, not the Son of God, as the Catholic Church would have us believe. He was very likely a prophet (which I believe) just like Mohammed.
Regardless, the point is, the Church and its panel of 'experts' can certainly claim anything they wish to claim. This does not mean, however, that what they're claiming is the truth. In fact, it doesn't coincide with all the evidence to the contrary. Anyone can claim to be a scholar. Claiming to be so doesn't mean that they are the only ones with access to the truth.
Think about it: regardless of whether Jesus was Divine or human, if Brown's postulations have any merit whatsoever, the Church and its authority would crumble. Of course they don't want that, so they've nay-sayed the book AND the movie.
And, btw, I saw the movie. I think Ron Howard did a great job with it; it was probably one of the few movies I've seen that was recognizable after being taken from a book. Of course, if he'd taken too much out, the premise wouldn't have made sense. And it WAS an excellent movie. Additionally, it was sold out at all the theaters at which it played on opening night, here in this Bible-belt southern town where I live. We ended up having to go to a later showing on the next night because of that.
I think that what they're afraid of is that people WILL see the truth -- WILL see through their lies, so they're trying to convince the masses that it's not worth seeing. I'm afraid that they'll find that people WANT to know the truth and will disregard their propaganda.
As for it being too long...well, again, in order to do justice to the book and in order for it to be understandable, it had to be at least as long as it was. Was I complaining? No. I went to a 10:45 pm showing and couldn't have fallen asleep if I'd wanted to, it was that engrossing AND thrilling. And, it DID make sense. The only way it WOULDN'T have made sense is 1) if one is just plain too STUPID to comprehend its meaning, and 2) if the Church forbade its followers to read the book or see the movie and, consequently, they just didn't know what the hell they were talking about when they denied its authenticity.
Religion -- especially religions springing from the BIBLE -- have been perfect vehicles for... someone (or several someones) to control HUmans. If we were ignorant and uneducated enough to believe that there is a god up there ready to smite us dead if we didn't obey him, or that we would go to hell... well, it's been so much easier to control the masses via religion.
It always bothered me that this so-called 'god' of the Old Testament - Yahweh - could simultaneously be a loving father AND an outright murderer. Who of us, as parents, would kill our children just to teach them a lesson? What if they didn't know we existed and chose to follow a path contrary to our beliefs? Would we still kill them? Even if they KNEW we existed and chose to follow their own path, would we kill them? I would think that if someone killed their child based on those grounds, there is not a court in the world who WOULD'T put that parent to death for murdering their own child. So why is god exempt? He sounds more like the kind of parent who says 'Do as I say, not as I do.' How can one have ANY respect for a god like that?!
I'm sorry, I refuse to believe that a god such as that exists. Or, at least, not a LOVING god. The religion that mankind has practiced for the last thousand years has been based on fear, not love. Is that really the earmark of a ‘loving’ god?
I'd like to leave you with one thought: This is all a set-up. The Bible was written by beings who are NOT GOD or even gods, and who have manipulated mankind for thousands of years. Of course they were capable of 'prophesying,' they have all the tools (time-travel, seeing into the future via rising above the time-line, etc.). It was quite easy for them to prophesy that Babylon the Great, or Religion would be turned on by earth's inhabitants in the 'end.' They're the one's who wrote the Bible, who've set this up. They created religion to manipulate and control us, and now they're in the process of having us turn on religion in order to destroy it so that they can put the next phase of their plan into motion: the imprisonment of mankind. IF we allow that.
And before you accuse me of propagating another conspiracy theory, research the Bible and the various source materials. I think you'll be surprised at what you find.
Kat Starwolf
Methinks the Catholic Church and the other self-proclaimed religious scholars protest too much.
I am a former Christian turned pagan. I am also an astrologer. I am far more Spiritual now than I could ever claim to be as a Christian. Not because I'm an astrologer, but because I am OPEN MINDED. As a former Episcopalian/Presbyterian/Jehovah's Witness, for many years I researched and studied the Bible and various denominational beliefs and so-called 'spurious' texts and letters which were excluded from the Bible. I've extensively studied other source material regarding various issues surrounding the origin of not only the Bible, but Christianity itself. I've read many of the books Dan Brown cited as sources, long before I read the Da Vinci Code. All of these sources gel with each other and with other information I've read regarding this issue.
Who's to say that what these books say or the premise of his book is incorrect or not? Conversely, who's to say, beyond a shadow of doubt, whether the BIBLE is true?
Personally, I believe that Jesus DID exist. But even so, he was a man, not the Son of God, as the Catholic Church would have us believe. He was very likely a prophet (which I believe) just like Mohammed.
Regardless, the point is, the Church and its panel of 'experts' can certainly claim anything they wish to claim. This does not mean, however, that what they're claiming is the truth. In fact, it doesn't coincide with all the evidence to the contrary. Anyone can claim to be a scholar. Claiming to be so doesn't mean that they are the only ones with access to the truth.
Think about it: regardless of whether Jesus was Divine or human, if Brown's postulations have any merit whatsoever, the Church and its authority would crumble. Of course they don't want that, so they've nay-sayed the book AND the movie.
And, btw, I saw the movie. I think Ron Howard did a great job with it; it was probably one of the few movies I've seen that was recognizable after being taken from a book. Of course, if he'd taken too much out, the premise wouldn't have made sense. And it WAS an excellent movie. Additionally, it was sold out at all the theaters at which it played on opening night, here in this Bible-belt southern town where I live. We ended up having to go to a later showing on the next night because of that.
I think that what they're afraid of is that people WILL see the truth -- WILL see through their lies, so they're trying to convince the masses that it's not worth seeing. I'm afraid that they'll find that people WANT to know the truth and will disregard their propaganda.
As for it being too long...well, again, in order to do justice to the book and in order for it to be understandable, it had to be at least as long as it was. Was I complaining? No. I went to a 10:45 pm showing and couldn't have fallen asleep if I'd wanted to, it was that engrossing AND thrilling. And, it DID make sense. The only way it WOULDN'T have made sense is 1) if one is just plain too STUPID to comprehend its meaning, and 2) if the Church forbade its followers to read the book or see the movie and, consequently, they just didn't know what the hell they were talking about when they denied its authenticity.
Religion -- especially religions springing from the BIBLE -- have been perfect vehicles for... someone (or several someones) to control HUmans. If we were ignorant and uneducated enough to believe that there is a god up there ready to smite us dead if we didn't obey him, or that we would go to hell... well, it's been so much easier to control the masses via religion.
It always bothered me that this so-called 'god' of the Old Testament - Yahweh - could simultaneously be a loving father AND an outright murderer. Who of us, as parents, would kill our children just to teach them a lesson? What if they didn't know we existed and chose to follow a path contrary to our beliefs? Would we still kill them? Even if they KNEW we existed and chose to follow their own path, would we kill them? I would think that if someone killed their child based on those grounds, there is not a court in the world who WOULD'T put that parent to death for murdering their own child. So why is god exempt? He sounds more like the kind of parent who says 'Do as I say, not as I do.' How can one have ANY respect for a god like that?!
I'm sorry, I refuse to believe that a god such as that exists. Or, at least, not a LOVING god. The religion that mankind has practiced for the last thousand years has been based on fear, not love. Is that really the earmark of a ‘loving’ god?
I'd like to leave you with one thought: This is all a set-up. The Bible was written by beings who are NOT GOD or even gods, and who have manipulated mankind for thousands of years. Of course they were capable of 'prophesying,' they have all the tools (time-travel, seeing into the future via rising above the time-line, etc.). It was quite easy for them to prophesy that Babylon the Great, or Religion would be turned on by earth's inhabitants in the 'end.' They're the one's who wrote the Bible, who've set this up. They created religion to manipulate and control us, and now they're in the process of having us turn on religion in order to destroy it so that they can put the next phase of their plan into motion: the imprisonment of mankind. IF we allow that.
And before you accuse me of propagating another conspiracy theory, research the Bible and the various source materials. I think you'll be surprised at what you find.