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Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16, ESV)

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Confronting The Da Vinci Code

Only One Year Later

            In 1925, there was a rising groundswell of support among liberals for the so-called science of evolution.  In the state of Tennessee, the lower house of legislature passed the Butler Bill which declared that science shall not be taught in the public classroom in such a way as to deny the biblical account of Divine creation.

            The ACLU jumped on this law and found a willing group of townspeople in Dayton, TN, to stage a trial in court to test the legislation.  There was no actual breaking of the law, no actual teaching of evolution in any classroom.  The willing substitute teacher had never been in any danger at all of sentence or jail time.  It was all staged and it turned into a media circus which publicly mocked Christianity in the media - especially through the biting and abusive commentary of H.L. Menken – while holding up the liberating truth of advancing science.  In the trial, the focus on the law itself was minimized.  Evidences were put forth arguing for the legitimacy of evolution and Clarence Darrow was allowed full reign to take the trial anywhere he wanted.  In the end, however, he threw in the towel early and had his client plead guilty so as to move the venue to a higher court which overthrew the Dayton judgment.  Evolution had lost the battle but won the war.

            In 1960, the movie version of the play “Inherit the Wind” was released, employing major Hollywood stars for the central roles.  In the time between 1925 and 1960, most of the evidence offered to support evolution in the actual trial had been proven false or worse, intentionally faked.  And nothing had come along in the meantime to replace that evidence.  But Hollywood was out for blood.  The movie deliberately distorted the trial, depicting Christians as backwoods, ignorant bullies who wanted only to shout down sincere, honest teachers and scientists who were supported by lawyers of integrity and fairness.  The movie was well received and completely believed.  In an incredibly profound thought, Philip Johnson said,

“The play has had so much impact that its story is more important than what really happened.  The play is not primarily about a single event; it is about the modernist understanding of freedom.”

To date, the movie has been remade 3 times and the videos are still being shown to classrooms as “history”.  The modernist’s understanding of freedom has been deeply drummed into the brains of an entire generation.  What have been the effects?

            In the release of The Da Vinci Code there are many parallels to the Scopes trial and “Inherit the Wind”.  The historical event here is the life of Jesus Christ, and the revisionist manipulation put forward for all to see is Dan Brown’s book and the movie upon which it is based.  As then, there is currently a rise in competing worldviews – not over science this time, but history.  And, like the original authors of “Inherit the Wind”, Dan Brown, has re-written and redefined actual events for his own political, social and financial purposes and with the deliberate effect of falsifying the truth and replacing it with lies and myths.  And he has couched his story in the same prejudicial way – the representation of the gospel is that it is foolish, naïve, revised, and prejudicially pushed forward and the church of Christ is depicted as chauvinistic, sinister, self-serving, even murderous.  Meanwhile, those seeking after the “truth” are sincere, bold, self-denying, even self-sacrificial and heroic.

            The movie, like the book, is often dismissed by Christian fans and opponents both as being of poor literary or cinematic style.  Neither of those are of any consequence.  According to Wikipedia, the book has sold over 60 million copies, been translated into 44 different languages and is surmised to be the 8^th best-selling book of all time.  As of September of 2006, the movie has earned $753,683,645 U.S.  It not only satisfies the curiosity, the mystery-lover, and the skeptic in all of us, but it also feeds the desire in the heart of sinful man to despise and reject Jesus Christ as God and dismiss the gospel as anything but a hoax.  What has been the effects?  What effects will it continue to have in the future?

David G. Barker, 2006