Apologetics, Da Vinci, and Rules Revisited

Still thinking about Wesleyan’s rule on movie theatres, when mom first showed me the passage I asked the same question as Ryan “when was this published?” But there was no date. I decided to seek out the answer by asking my pastor. He’s not sure of the publishing date, but believes no theaters is still a rule…but it’s just not followed. (I can’t state either way cause I didn’t take His and Diss). He thinks Peoples' anit-theater thoughts changed when it became possible to watch the VHS at home (or Bata does anyone remember Bata). So if Wesleyans break this rule why is it still in the books?

On a more personal note: I’ve been helping with my church’s youth group. It’s been wonderful; a great group of kids…full of hard questions. Some have been “where did God come from” and “what happens to babies when they die”. It’s caused me to refresh my apologetics knowledge. This Sunday’s topic is “Can we trust the Bible?”.

In the same vein as apologetics, over this past week I’ve had different people ask me about my thoughts on the Da Vinci Code. At the time I really didn’t have any comments because I had too little information. Wasn’t even 100% sure what the book was about. So I stopped by the library and began reading, I’m about 100 pages in. It’s still too early in the book to have a comment, but that’s what’s going on in my world.

Comments

Xaven said…
Yeah, that whole discipline thing can be a bit fuzzy. Why some of those things are in there still I will never understand. However, I think that the reason thye are there is so that people will frequent the cinema responsibly. You're right about the loophole thing. That is a little retarded... it is under "special directions" which is like, "these things aren't mandated, but this is a prefered stand on this issue." But hey - if I wrote the discipline... I'd have to put that a good, Godly Wesleyan does not subject themselves to the unholy malace of Country music...
Anonymous said…
I thought Da Vinci's Code is what Indiana Jones uses to find the Holy Grail before the Nazi's.
matthew said…
Liz, here is a quick response to the book I did one sunday night:

THE PRIORY OF SION
FICTION: Secret society founded in 1099 to preserve ‘secrets about Jesus’ and watch over ‘his descendants’ until the time is right to tell the world

FACT: A group formed in 1956 based on fraudulent documents made by Pierre Plantard in France

CONSTANTINE
FICTION: He led the early church to deify Christ, change the day of worship, and eliminate parts of the Bible

FACT: The deity of Christ, a new day of worship, and the canon were already well established

MARY MAGDELINE
FICTION: Jesus was married to her and intended the church to be in her hands after his death

FACT: There are two very late references to Jesus’ friendship with Mary and neither says anything about a marriage

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
FICTION: Created by the Priory of Sion to protect the true reality of the Holy Grail, but burned by Pope Clement V to keep them quiet

FACT: Created during the Crusades to protect pilgrims going to and from the Holy Land, burned by King Philip IV for their wealth

THE SACRED FEMININE
FICTION: The earliest church worshiped goddesses, but this was later suppressed and sex was demonized

FACT: Early Christianity held goddess worship as heretical, sex as a gift, and women on a higher plane than any other mainstream religion

ART AND MUSIC
FICTION: Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ shouts the idea that Jesus and Mary were a pair

FACT: Da Vinci had a habit of painting younger men with a feminine look. It was clearly John. If not, where was he?

ARCHITECTURE
FICTION: The Priory of Sion attached female sexual symbolism to the design of cathedrals to preserve the idea of goddess worship

FACT: The Priory had nothing to do with the building process. The style comes from the earlier Greco-Roman world

HISTORY
FICTION: Shekinah was a goddess, the Dead Sea Scrolls prove the Bible has evolved, and the church burned 5 million women as witches

FACT: Shekinah means glory, the Dead Sea Scrolls showed the Bible’s reliability, the state/church burned less than 50,000 people