Doctrine is Important

Our church Life Groups are discussing the Da Vinci Code. Our reason for the discussion groups could best be summed up the an article entitled "Dan Brown's Gift to the Church". I'm still processing a lot after reading the book and seeing the movie:

• Is anybody really going to base their theology on this far-out, obviously fictional book?
  
• How can I use this to share with my unsaved friends?
• Oh my goodness...do Christians I know really not know the answers to the questions they have asked me after reading the book?
• Is this book changing the way our society thinks about Christianity, is it merely amplifying some of what our culture believes or just a good conspiracy theory?

Our Life Groups are using small group curriculum by Lee Strobel, and we spent some time talking about the question "Does it matter if Dan Brown flat out lies about the Bible, Christianity and history if he is writing a fictional novel. Some people feel is a HUGE deal, others don't feel it matters much.

I don't know if this really answers any of the questions I asked above, but the one thing that stuck with me from this first session was something a history professor said on the DVD. He said {not a verbatim quote} "If Dan Brown were writing a history of WWII, Hitler would be the victor, Churchill would be on trial in London and Roosevelt in Washington."

I guess that does summarize my feeling about the book to a point. Yes, it's a novel, but historically it just NEVER HAPPENED THAT WAY. And the subject Dan Brown lies about is one that I have based my life around. If someone wrote a novel that said Hitler won WWII, I would want to make sure that person knew it just wasn't true. The same is true about the incredible story Dan Brown has made up about Christ. I want to make sure my unsaved friends know fact from fiction in the hope that they can come to know Christ. I want to make sure my Christian friends know the difference because I hope they are also talking to their unsaved friends about the claims of this book/movie. And this is why I'm glad my church is hosting these discussion groups...if we were to announce an apologetics class, I don't think many people would sign up. But talk about a movie and people will get into the discussion. And doctrine, what we believe about God, is important.

- Rob