Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Book for Spare Time, By Ziqiu Yang

The Da Vinci Code
I went to Boston to see my friends this past weekends. I brought a book The Da Vinci Code to kill some time during the travel. It is a book that had been recommended by many of my friends. However, I have not find a spare time to read until now. 

The Da Vinci Code gives a glimpse of the American religious life through the eyes of a nonbeliever. Contrary to what the one is taught in church, The Da Vinci Code paints a different picture. The author gives a seductive version of spirituality contrary to that which is given by the church on biblical faith and consequently revelation of God. Da Vinci Code, the novel, is a blow to Americans religious life and what Christians believers believe in. The novel is a controversy of the New Testament. In the novel the church is portrayed through the eyes of the nonbelievers. Further according to the novel, the church is portrayed as corrupt and so power hungry that they would do anything to hide the ‘real truth’. This real truth according to the Dan Brown the author is that Jesus was an ordinary man and that he was married to Mary Magdalene and that they even had a daughter. This is quite a controversy as compared to what the American Christian believes. The Christians, on the other hand, teaches that Jesus is divine and that He came from God. They further believe that there are heaven and hell.
More importantly, the author suggests that through the sexual union between a man and a woman, then one can achieve what he calls gnosis knowledge of the divine(The Da Vinci Code travel journal 2006). On the other hand, the church portrays the sexual act as something shameful and evil. In doing so according to the author of The Da Vinci Code the church tries to protect its base of power since if the truth comes out believers will start doubting Christianity. Thus, given the two scenarios, it is clear that while the church portrays Christianity and specifically Jesus Christ as pure, the novel, on the other hand, gives a different view on this. In the eyes of the church, God created sex only for procreations. However, Dan Brown is convinced otherwise. To him, sex is not early for procreations, but it is also for pleasure. The believers are of the opinion that sex is sacred and that it should only happen between a married man and a married woman.
According to the novel religion and specifically Christianity is all a lie. The narrative is more on sexuality as the two that is Christianity and the novel; The Da Vinci Code tends to differ a lot concerning matter sexuality. According to the author Christianity is a conspiracy that only seek to control the people on the facts concerning Jesus Christ. In fact, according to the author, the New Testament is used to hide the truth about Jesus Christ. These agents of Christianity will stop at nothing including murder to prevent the truth according to Dan Brown from coming out. The book has its impact on both the Christian and non-Christian given the fact that it has sold millions of copies all over the world. Christians not only in America but all over the world want to know the truth about Christianity. In fact, the book has a page that according to the author is based on nothing but the facts.
The story although seems to be a harmless work of fiction, it questions many of the Christian historical facts in the eyes of the reader. Consequently, most of the question that comes to mind after reading the novel are inclusive of firstly, is it possible that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married? Did the early Christian church also believe that Jesus was divine? Did Mary Magdalene and Jesus have a daughter? According to the novel, these are some of the secrets that have been so guarded to the extent that the Catholic Church would kill to prevent the truth from being told.
In according to The Da Vinci Code travel journal 2006, Constantine and his male successor were the ones who converted the world from its previous known form of being matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity.However, this is what history shows. By all historical sources both secular as well as biblical, there is no trace that there has been any form of matriarchal society as Dan Brown wants us to believe. In fact, research for the past 50 years or so has failed to prove this. In fact, according to history, women were always treated worse and with lesser respect as compared to their male counterparts. This is further duplicated by almost all the different cultures of the world. A good example of this is that of China, Greece, Africa and India where the society had far less respect for women as compared to their male counterparts.
The novel is quite interesting as it makes one continue reading to be able to get the author side of the seductive version of spirituality. However, it is not well written since although it is harmless work of fiction, it is a recount of the purported historical facts.






References
The Da Vinci Code travel journal: Based on the novel by Dan Brown. (2006). New York: Potter Style.


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