"A Segment of Society"

When Tom Hanks remarked that he realized a "segment of society" would be offended by the controversial The DaVinci Code -- was he speaking only of American society or the world as a whole? This morning as I was scanning my favorite news sites, and besides the 72-point font headline that related how Zarqwahi had been killed in an air raid and it was a great blow to terrorism, (I have some comments for that one, too) the other really big story to me (besides the World Cup starts tomorrow in Germany!) was that China has now completely banned The DaVinci Code from its national theatres. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5059658.stm


Well, Tom, add China to India, Pakistan, and the Fuji Islands, who have already banned the movie in their countries, and that is a substantial amount of "society" that is doing more than just being offended. And these are not even Christian countries! While some religious groups in America are making a loud, gritty to-do about the movie, there are others (including pastors and churches) that are sitting back and watching to see what will happen (or choosing not to address it because it doesn't deserved to be addressed?). Do we not consider that there may be baby Christians in our midst that are struggling with Truth and may need some mature spiritual guidance through this phenomenon?

In our summer Bible study with college students, we will address this controversy to the extent of projecting Truth in the dark face of heresy and depravity. If we don't, who will? Their professors certainly will, their friends and classmates will -- and what kind of "truth" will they hear from those? It is not our intention to give full face to this movie, but to simply give some guidelines of Truth to help these students (most who titter-totter from one extreme to another) handle properly the things of God and know how to discern and "garbage" the things that are not from God. What another great opportunity to train young Christians in apologetics - defending their faith in a very dark, debased world!

Back to Tom Hanks. It makes me wonder what Tom Hank's agenda about acting in this movie when I read his reaction to critics of the movie. He, himself, in an article written a few days ago, said there was a lot of "hooey" in the story, but that religious dialogue is always good to open up. What is he saying? What is his intentions in getting involved in this? And Ron Howard? Opie of Mayberry never would have dreamed of this! Read the rest for yourself if you are so inclined. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4764407.stm

Have I seen the movie? Probably won't. But I do have a friend who owns the book, and without having to contribute a dime to author Brown, I probably will read the book.