From "mad-as-hell crusaders" to "debunking missionaries"?

The OpinionJournal has a piece by John Miller about how some Christians--most of them Evangelical Protestants--are actually encouraging people to see "The Da Vinci Code" movie as a way of trying to use it as a "teachable moment":

The movie's tagline happens to be "seek the truth"--a phrase that feels like an invitation to explore and think rather than a demand to watch and submit. It distantly echoes Acts 17:11, which urges people to read Scripture so that they may determine its validity. Sony Pictures, the studio behind the film, obviously hopes that millions of Christian truth-seekers will feel inspired to buy tickets. There's no guarantee that they will: In 1988, when Christians protested "The Last Temptation of Christ" for its depictions of Jesus as lustful and confused, Mr. McDowell's organization tried to buy the film prints so that they could be destroyed.

That controversy actually helped "The Last Temptation" to achieve not just notoriety but also commercial success--what was once seen as an art-house film with small-time appeal suddenly became the must-see movie of the season. Having bet more than a few Sunday collection baskets on "The Da Vinci Code," Sony isn't looking for a fluke hit but a blockbuster. ...

The amazing thing is that church leaders, like those at Campus Crusade, have been among the most aggressive contributors to this enterprise. Instead of acting like the mad-as-hell crusaders of the recent past--a strategy that probably has backfired more often than it has succeeded--they are now assuming the role of debunking missionaries.

One huge difference, of course, is that The Da Vinci Code has sold a few more copies than the book-version of The Last Temptation of Christ. In other words, the upcoming movie already has a huge built-in audience. Not to mention a more mainstream director and lead actor.

There's also little doubt that times have changed. I don't think that people look as kindly upon boycotts as they once did. Boycotts (especially of movies or books) are often considered to be too confrontational, negative, and even judgmental. "Hey, if someone wants to watch a movie, who are you to say they shouldn't?" Such seems to be the common mentality. So Christians have had to adjust. But is encouraging people to see this movie too much of an adjustment? I think so. Put another way, I think it's possible to be rightly upset by The Da Vinci Code (novel and movie) without needing to come off as "mad-as-hell" and attempt protests and/or boycotts. And I think it's both possible and vital that Christians be "debunking missionaries" without pushing people to see a movie that will, it is fair to say, attack Christianity using error and twisted "history" and more than a bit of bigotry. After all, would anyone suggest that Jews see a movie based on the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" if such a movie was ever made (and shouldn't the fact that such a movie could not be made cause us to wonder that The Da Vinci Code has been made into a major motion picture?).

If people want to see the movie, that's their right. But if they want to use the movie as a means to question or even attack beliefs and facts held by Christians, we have every right to respond with polite but deliberate firmness. Missionaries don't encourage people to wallow in error even further before they present the Gospel to them. On the contrary, they try to explain why falsehood is dangerous and why flirting with error can lead to even deeper problems. That approach, I think, is not a sign of anger, but of commonsense and true charity.

Comments

[talpianna]

You wrote "One huge difference, of course, is that The Da Vinci Code has sold a few more copies than the book-version of The Last Temptation of Christ."

Another difference is that Nikos Kazantzakis, author of THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, lost out on the Nobel Prize for Literature by one vote. (Albert Camus, who won it, said Kazantzakis deserved it much more than he did.)

I don't think Dan Brown will ever come that close.

Did you see 60 MINUTES yesterday? They debunked the Priory of Sion and Rennes-le-Château.

[Carl Olson]

I didn't see the "60 Minutes" edition debunking the Priory of Sion, but did read a piece at cbsnews.com about it. Of course, the BBC and some French journalists scooped the story back in the 1990s. But it's nice to see the American MSM finally catching up on some of this stuff...

[Lada]

John Miller is mistaken. "The Last Temptation of Christ" was not a commercial hit. Its US box office totaled 8 million dollars, which is respectable for "an art-house film with small-time appeal," but it certainly isn't the sort of box office that a "must-see movie of the season" would have. Just for the sake of perspective, the top-grossing movie of 1988 was "Rain Man," which raked in $173 million.

[PhilVaz]

Transcript of 60 Minutes debunking Priory of Sion now available online

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/27/60minutes/main1552009.shtml

Also here is the 1956 Priory of Sion founding papers, as a PDF

http://www.bringyou.to/PrioryOfSionHoax.PDF

Phil P