Guidance for Christians viewing the forthcoming movie: “THE DA VINCI CODE”

The fictional novel by Dan Brown, “The Da Vinci Code”, has been read by millions around the world. Based on the success of the book, a movie has been made to cash-in on the profits to be made by the popular novel.

The contents of the book have given rise to controversy and speculation especially in regard to the traditional teachings of the church concerning Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. As a mystery thriller the book takes the reader through a suspenseful plot twists and turns – full of lies, deceit, conspiracy and murder – combined with an overall treasure hunt-like journey for the legendary “Holy Grail”, which is the central focus of the story. The Holy Grail is revealed to be Mary Magdalene, whose true identity was suppressed by Christianity; she is also said to represent the lost “sacred feminine”, which, if rediscovered, would supposedly bring balance to the world once again; the Bible is reported to be nothing more than a collection of allegorical stories; and – the most devastating assertion is that Jesus Christ is alleged to have been married to Mary Magdalene and had children.

All these mysterious speculations are in complete variance to the claims of the New Testament and the teachings of the church down through the centuries. Therefore, Christians reject any truth claims that the author tries to put forward in his novel. In fact, the churches assert that propositions made with regard to Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene are historically incorrect and belongs to the realm that the book asserts to be; “fiction”.

Therefore, the Council of Churches offers the following advice to Christians who read the book or see the forthcoming movie.

1. The book is a fictional novel and has to be treated as such.
2. The book and movie taps into growing public fascination with distorted claims and hypotheses of Jesus Christ and the church, which have been rejected by the teachings of the official church since the early centuries of Christianity.
3. The Bible provides no basis for the fantasy claims of the book. To further assert that the writing of the Bible was tampered by disciples with vested interests is to question the very basis of the Bible for Christians, as a divinely inspired book which contains the Word of God.
4. Our congregations are called to use the occasion of the screening of the movie, to offer special forums in the church and in sermons too, to educate Christians on the fallacy of claims arising from the plot of the story.
5. There are already invaluable books in Christian bookshops that refute many of the fantasy claims of the Da Vinci Code. Such books should be purchased for the church library for use by members of the congregation.
6. There are also helpful websites that provide sound teaching to counter the inaccurate information of the book.

Bishop Tan Sri Dr. Lim Cheng Ean
Council of Churches of Malaysia
20th March 2006

Related links

Read "Jesus De-Coded vs Da Vinci Code" by Joseph Masilamany in theSun http:/www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=13452

Talks on the Fallacy of the Claims in Da Vinci Code by Rev Dr Gordon Wong