The content of this post actually came up around 2 weeks ago at the dining table with Vivian…
First we have the Dan Brown‘s Da Vinci Code, where Jesus married to Mary Magdalene the “Holy Grail”, had kids before he was crucified on the cross, and Jesus’ descendants moved to France to form their own cult. Then we have the Tomb of Jesus, featuring block buster movie director James Cameron, where the bones of Jesus were uncovered back in Jerusalem with other two Mary’s. Presumable Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene — get this — the wife of Jesus.
We will not get into discussion of how utterly non-sense these “discoveries” were. After all, the entertainment sectors know these best –
- Create false controversies around popular religions.
- …
- Profit!
However they are too chicken to mock other religions like Islam and Buddhism. Or maybe there is just not enough profit in it. Either way, the Da Vinci Code and the Tomb of Jesus share some similarities, i.e. Jesus is a mere mortal (debated ever since the resurrection of Christ) and Jesus married Mary Magdalene (only came out over the last decade or two).
You can almost hear Mary Magdalene yelling out from heaven
Aarghh! Aarghh! Aarghh!!! Why oh why!!! Why do all these 20th/21st story tellers have to cook up romantic love non-sense between me and our Lord Jesus Christ?!! I am just a follower — a believe in his death and resurrection! I SWEAR!! Got nothing better to do, huh?! I thought I could have some rest after that stupid Da Vinci Code thingy died down a bit, but then what the #$%^!@ a new one just came out from the Follywood!!!
Oh yeah. That is Mary, poor Mary…
Disclaimer: I’m not a religious man.
I guess it is no easier target than a Christian proclaiming that Jesus lived and died for everyones sins. Until someone can scientifically prove either way, you and the typical Christian opposer have equivalent rights to your respective points of view.
That being said, I totally agree about picking a controversial topic and exploiting it. I can’t even begin to imagine how much money The Da Vinci Code must have turned over for everyone involved.
Al.
Al…I’ll agree with you on one point. People believe what they choose to believe and you’ve obviously chosen not to believe. Everyone has a free will and that’s your prerogative.
scott…you have an interesting site. This is the second or third time I’ve been here and I find it a good read.
I’m a curious sort of a person and a Christian and I decided to read the Da Vinci Code out of curiosity. I have to say it shook me a bit but I did the sensible thing and prayed and immediately I was reminded back in my uni days in the 90′s when one of our ancient history lecturers, a really solid Christian, was telling us that a certain Barbara Thiesson had written a book called ‘Jesus, The Wicked High Priest’…apparently she had made it sound really convincing and many people believed it, however, the true scholars found it ridiculous and had poked a million holes in it. It was very poorly argued and wouldn’t stand up to any sort of real scrutiny. As soon as I remembered this, I knew that it was the same thing but on a far grander scale for Da Vinci Code…You’re right. There are plenty of atheists and others out there prepared to lie to make a buck or two (or perhaps further other darker agendas) I learned a valuable lesson that day and it’s a variation on the ‘Don’t believe everything you read’ but more so today. Lots of stuff sounds really convincing so you have to know exactly what you believe or you can go under. People lie! Big, fat lies! Lies convince and lies sell and that’s the sad truth of it.
Al, I guess that goes back to what I said to you. It’s all a matter of faith after all!
p.s. it would be great if you could check out my site and if you like it, we could exchange links on our blogrolls :)