Discussing the Da Vinci Code

While at the office today (Panera Bread) I ran across a sermon concerning the Da Vinci Code, written by Lee Strobel. The title of the "article" or "sermon" was Leveraging the Da Vinci Code. To check it out, click on the link: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=90684&ContributorID=11637

Concerning the book and the movie, Lee gives a four-fold agenda for Christians:

1. Pray

2. Prepare.

3. Participate.

4. Partner.

He used the example of Paul in Athens. Lee said, "And we have the same choice Paul faced in the first century: we can lash out or we can reach out – and based on the Paul’s approach, I think our decision is clear. Let’s build bridges like Paul did by celebrating that many people are becoming spiritually curious because of the book and movie – and seize this opportunity to engage them in conversations that could change their lives and eternities."

To be honest with all of my blog readers (all three of you) I was really hesitant about preaching a message about debunking the Da Vinci Code.

1. I've not done my homework. I.E. I have not read the book. Hopefully, I will get to see the movie to at least say, "I have seen the movie."

2. I'm a little frightened. Not frightened that the Da Vinci Code will affect my theology of God, but that I will not be as educated as I should be, because I haven't read the book.

3. I think with the left part of my brain. I am more of a logical thinker than a philosopher. To state it in a more simplier way, "I believe the Bible." The Bible says nothing of Jesus having kids, marrying Mary Magdelene or any other FICTICIOUS stories that Dan Brown writes about. Mark Gudgel said, "The first thing that I think of when I think of Da Vinci is that the book is, in fact, fiction."

My advice for all of us is to take Jesus to the Marketplace. Acts 17:16-18, "16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection."

So, to close out this blog, let's use this as a way to share Jesus with a spiritually curious group of people, and engage them in conversation about the Way, the Truth and the Life.