Written by Dan Brown in the year 2003, a novel that shook the world and made the church rattled with fear and controversy. But, what really is in the book? The intention of this article is not to provide a detailed and formal review of the book, but rather, to explain the book for the understanding of both believers and non-believers of Christ.
Church Believes That This Is An Anti-Christ
The church states that this book intends to divert the beliefs of humanity that Jesus Christ is not God, but rather a human like anybody else on earth. Maybe, their basis for stating so is the part on the book wherein the controversial painting of Da Vinci of The Last Supper was described in details and bravely stating that the said meal was attended by His wife, Mary Magdalene, and the whole book was dedicated to find the relic of Mary Magdalene, which was believed to be hidden and taken cared of at France, where the majority of believers of Christ, having a wife, was known to be rampant.
Why did the church thought of it? They denied the fact that the country of France is one of the largest countries with the most number of believers of Christ. They were rattled due to hundreds of so-called proofs that Mary Magdalene indeed lived in France to hide from those that condemns Christ. The questions remain to be: What do the church knows that made them tremble of fear if they said that what those written and said to be "proofs" are but fallacies and are just products of creative minds? What do they fear about that made them think of stopping the publishing of this book, and hold the showing of the movie that was made afterwards?
What The Book Really Is All About
If one person is a real book lover, he or she would not read this book merely because he or she simply wants to know why the church condemns the book, or is merely seeking the truth about the Da Vinci codes hidden on all his works. A real book lover will read because of the satisfaction and relaxation that reading gives them, hence, if you do so, you will begin to understand that the book was written to feed the creative side of the mind. There are people who are not aware how to properly appreciate works of art. Some take them as merely "paintings". In this book, Dan Brown was able to divert the attention of people and made them appreciate art, and be aware of the possibility that there are stories behind each stroke, not just a mixture of colors. Brown is one great disciple of arts, that he made use of his talent to make other people appreciate art the same way he appreciates art.
The real reason behind the book is to catch every man's attention and make everyone see arts in a different view, not just merely mixture of colors or an epitome of the bigger picture. Some people are just narrow-minded that they jumped into conclusion that the book was meant to divert the faith of people, away from the one they believe at, away from Jesus Christ. But the book is just a product of the mind, a book that if one would only start to read between the lines, one would see the beauty of the book, the truth that he wants to convey, not to be tagged as an anti-Christ, but to be known as a true disciple of arts and humanities.
Lessons Learned
One cannot really blame the church for condemning the book, for the book is a very brave approach of introducing arts and humanities to lay people. But there are lessons learned, despite the denunciation of the church. In the book, love of a family was one of the things highlighted. That even if there were unacceptable circumstances that happened long ago, still a family will be there to help you out, and will defend you when all the cards are laid down. Another thing that one needs to learn from here was mentioned in the movie by the main character, Robert Langdon, and rewriting it, it states that, the faith of one person is based on herself. One's faith won't be altered by anyone or anything, if what he believes in is deeply rooted in his heart and not just passed on to him by generations or by the culture that governs his life. This lesson was clearly depicted in the movie; Sophie grew up with Jacques without any idea of what her grandfather believes at. Her grandfather let her grow and let her believe on things according to what her heart wants to believe at, not because it was what the family is holding on or what made their family known. In the same way, the church should not be afraid letting people read the book, let them explore the beauty of arts and humanities, and if one turns his back from Christianity, maybe there is a problem with the way the Words of God was conveyed, that made his choice of religion not deeply rooted in his heart.
Personally speaking, I have read the book, and watched the movie, I did it twice, first was merely to relax and satisfy my creative mind, and the second time was to search the truth, and the reason why the church trembled upon the release of the book and the movie. I did the second one during the time when I was deeply down, and unaware that demon might work its craft on me and make me turn my back from Christianity. But it did not, no matter what I feed my mind, I did not changed my beliefs, for me, Jesus Christ is still our God, the One who gave up His life for our sins. It does not matter to me if they say that He married Mary Magdalene, one of known sinners in the Bible, just treat it this way:
"Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the same way that He took us as His spouse, for Mary Magdalene symbolizes our way of life, and Jesus did not looked down on us as sinners, but rather, took us near His heart and died for us. He did not just marry Mary Magdalene; He is married to each one of us."
