Truth in The Da Vinci Code: The Villain’s View

April 12, 2006 Posted by Amy HallcloseAuthor: Amy Hall Name: Amy Hall
Email: galatians611@aol.com
Site: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=664873664
About: See Authors Posts (240)

(Spoilers below.)  Yesterday, I spoke of the view of religious truth celebrated by the heroes of The Da Vinci Code.  Their goal in the novel was to conceal truth that would upset people’s false beliefs.  For them, religious claims are “true” in a different sense than we would normally use the word, so that even when they’re false, they’re “true.”

The villain, on the other hand, is one who would bring the truth to light at all cost, destroying the faith of millions.  Since it’s all metaphor (the heroes would insist), what does it matter if the facts are false?  Those false beliefs uplift, and that’s what religion is for!  “Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality.  And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people” (p. 342).  Only an evil person would try to show the world the truth that Christianity (or any other religious belief) is false and another is true.

For Dan Brown, there are two kinds of truths.  Spiritual claims are “true” in the sense that they inspire, but not in the normal sense of the word (i.e., that they reflect reality).  As he says in TDC, “Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical” (p. 341-342).

Paul disagrees:  “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

There is only one kind of truth.  Either Christianity is true (and its claims match reality) or it’s false.  Either the object of its faith (Jesus) can save, or he can’t.  Either we should place our trust in Him, or we shouldn’t.  Paul understood this quite well.  Christianity declares itself to be true.  The goal of religion is not to nurture an uplifting, inspiring faith inside ourselves.  The goal is to worship the true and living God who exists outside ourselves.  This is why Paul insists that our faith is worthless if it’s placed in something false.

I respect people who esteem truth enough and take the claims of Christianity seriously enough to reject them outright as false, but I’ve never been one to respect the patronizing idea that not only does the truth not matter (because, technically, all religions are false), but people ought to be protected from real truth in order to enjoy their little fantasies.

So I guess, in this case, that puts me on the side of the villain.   Viva truth!  Viva the living God!

Related posts:

1. Truth in The Da Vinci Code: The Heroes’ View
2. Book Review: The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code
3. The Core of The Da Vinci Code
4. Book Review: Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Bart Ehrman
5. Book Review: The Da Vinci Code, Fact or Fiction?
6. Book Review: Da Vinci Myth Versus the Gospel Truth

Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Culture, Main Page, Religion (General), The Da Vinci Code