I’ve been thinking about this over the past week or so. Many Christians are either calling for a boycott of this movie or refusing to see it because of the subject matter it addresses. The Catholic church has said they want a disclaimer put at the beginning of the movie to tell people that it is a work of fiction. (Sir Ian McKellen, an actor who I greatly enjoy, has his own take on this) I don’t agree with that, and this is why.
It’s not the responsibility of Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou, or Sir Ian McKellen to tell the world the truth about Jesus.
It’s ours.
If someone is duped into believing that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene because of this movie, then the responsibility for bringing them back from that belief falls on Christianity. If they don’t know anything about Jesus and the Gospel before seeing this movie, the failure of that is specifically on Christianity.
We aren’t talking about people in third world countries where it is difficult to get to. Most of those people aren’t going to be running out to the Cineplex to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster. I’m talking about people on Main Street America, people in Paris and London, people who are easy to reach, but aren’t being reached.
I’m not saying that I’m doing such a great job myself. I’m merely pointing out what I see as the problem. How do we solve it? One answer is to stop making Christianity such a social club. God doesn’t care who we hang out with, he cares what we believe. If we confine ourselves to just being around Christian people, we lose the edge of dealing with non-Christians. We also tend to artificially lift ourselves up so that we think we have some kind of moral high ground. Again, point all fingers directly at me. Most of the people that I’m around are people from church and my kids go to a private Christian school. In fact the only two places that I ever go where I’m not around members of my own church is the city tech commission that I’m on and my job. I’m hoping to change that this fall, but that’s another post entirely.
Wrapping up, I’ll go see The DaVinci Code. I’ve read the book and I know what I’m getting into. I’ll leave the decision to others whether they want to see it or not. (This all depends on the amount of sex in the movie. I don’t remember any from the book, but it’s been two years. Sex + nudity = me staying home)
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