Duh Vinci Code (Page 2)

kmann21 - Hmmm...that's an interesting point.  I never thought of them that way.  I'm still only on book 2, so I'm gonna read them with an open mind.  I'm in NO way a conservative Christian.  I mean, uhhh...read my OTHER thread in here.  LOL  But I am a Christian nonetheless.  I think the Left Behind books are quite fanatical at times.  But again, I will lead myself not to believe everything I read, even if its based on Biblical history...because I have my own relationship with God and I don't need a fictional book to tell me how to manage that.

dontracy - The "Left Behind" series is a group of 8 books chronicling (sp?) a possible timeline of the end days.  Book one starts out with an apparent rapture and slowly but surely, the events in the book of Revelation start to unfold.  Antichrist, one world currency, one world church, etc.  I won't give away the meat of the book, but it's pretty interesting at times.  Other times it's like reading an ultra-right-wing life-manual.  Either way it was an interesting read.  I just finished book one yesterday and started book two last night.  If anything, they're a scary, yet interesting view of how the apocalypse might occur.  Worth a skim at least.  Like I said, they read like Harry Potter...constant reminders of who the characters are and the previous events.  Book one opens up with an entire chapter summary of book one.  Makes me wonder if I even needed to read book one at all! LOL

Oh yeah, and there's a movie of book one.  With the AWESOME (hehehe) acting abilities of the legendary Kirk Cameron.  Sheesh.

It's a long series of books that chronicles the lives of several characters as they experience life in the "end times."  The first book begins with the rapture and it is where the main protagonists are introduced.  The protagonists are "left behind," but fairly quickly figure out what has happened and become believers.  I haven't read all of the books, but it basically follows them as they learn to survive, try to bring others to Christ, and battle against the anti-Christ and the forces of evil during the end times.  It is basically an interpretation of the Book of Revelations using fictional characters.  My parents love them, expecially my dad.

 They are an interesting read.  I guess your right, the key to both the Davinci Code and Left Behind is reading with an open mind and then deciding for yourself.  I guess what scares me is that lots of people can't seem to do that!

Ah! Therein lies the rub!!

I have to wonder if the same people who believe this work of Fiction are the same folks who believe the National Enquirer and stuff.  

ranks up with there like "I read it on the internet!  It must be true!!"

"It's based on a true story!!  It must be, like, totally true!" 

argh.......

Right, I think that's a big part of it.

I know that the book is a work of fiction, and being an artist myself I believe in freedom of expression and defend Dan Brown's right to write this book and have it published.

However, being a member of the organization that is the villain in the book causes it to take on a different level of importance.

I've had numerous conversations with folks about the historical accuracy of this book. Several of my friends and family are deep into New Ageism. Also have a couple of Wiccan friends. Also many who have left the Catholic Church for one reason or another.

They all tend to believe the claim in the book that the Church manipulated things so as to, suppress women at the least, if not in fact the "sacred feminine". They held beliefs like this before the book, so it is a great reenforcer of these misconceptions and prejudices.

People hate the Catholic Church for all sorts of reasons. I think it's at least worthwhile to parse out the fact from the fiction. GK Chesterton said something like, "there are one hundred people in the world who hate the Catholic Church, the rest hate what they think is the Catholic Church.

As Marina pointed out, even the writing on art is infuriating. Simple facts are changed for apparently no reason. For example, The Last Supper is not a fresco. A fresco is a work in which pigment is applied within a wet plaster surface. The Last Supper was painted with egg tempera on top of a dry plaster surface. Big difference, and that is why the painting has been in such bad shape for so long.

If you're going to write a novel claiming historical accuracy, and one of the main "characters" in the book is a world famous painting, why would you get such a basic fact wrong? It's just so sloppy. And it isn't even close to how sloppy his "theological" musings are.

I would certainly agree with that. I'm not the Church's biggest fan (thus the reason I'm not practicing), but soooo many people have the zaniest reasons for hating the church. It all ends up boiling down to "I just hate religion, man. They're all sheep." Zzzzzzz.

I know this has nothing to to do with the book, but like I said, never read it.