Decoding the Code...

May 28, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11.

The desire to impress others is a scar that is deeply engrained in our culture. We worry constantly about what others think and what we look like and that leads us in one inevitable direction: we do what is popular.

In our society we thrive on television. I am not going to lie and say that I sit around with my kids all the time reading to them and that they do not watch television. They do watch television, but lately I have felt the need to make sure that what my children are watching is more uplifting than depressing. To illustrate this I could tell the story of the commercials showing previews of the new movie “Drag Me to Hell” that are being shown on children’s cartoon networks and scaring my six-year-old son to the point where he is staying up at night scared to death, but I won’t bother. For now, I will just say that he is reassured in our faith and feels fine.

Still somehow I cannot escape what all is being shown and what all people decide to flock to. I choose to watch what I consider educated channels only to find never ending specials called “The Da Vinci Code Decoded” or “Angels and Demons Decoded”. At first I avoided finding out what all the fuss was about, but quickly gave in order to understand all the hype.

I like to live in the “unseen” as I have had to learn to do. Nevertheless, the never ending barrage of information makes living in the “unseen” hard in our culture. So I watch trying to make sense of it only to arrive at the conclusion that you cannot make sense out of nonsense.

“The Da Vinci Code”, one of the bestselling books that people are grabbing like crazy off the shelves is just that: nonsense. As someone who has studied extensively how not to argue a point until there is evidence to back it up, I am completely confused as to why others allow their own arguments to come forward with little to absolutely no evidence to prove their truth. Put simply, why bother?

Unfortunately, my curiously was peaked and I decided to research the issue only to discover that the main sources of information to which the book relied on have claimed that they themselves are fiction and there is no evidence to support their conclusion. As an attorney, I can work all day long to sway a jury to believe in the DNA evidence supporting my side, but if they go home and find out the guy who discovered DNA was a nutcase who made it all up they will not buy my argument. Why build a house made of cards? Put your money where your mouth is.

People want to know so much. I prefer the logic that humans are humans and prone to mistake. I do not consider myself to be God and to understand everything about everything. I never will. That doesn’t stop the rush through our society of wanting to come up with some new bizarre theory. What is ironic though is the fact that those challenging the basic foundations of Christianity never bothered to learn the basic foundations before they looked to attack them. Always learn both sides to prepare for an argument, and a good rule of thumb is to start with your own. In other words, if you are a Christian do not read “The Da Vinci Code” before you bother to read the Bible.

When you read the Bible you become amazed at how much information is discussed. I can hardly think of a single subject that is not addressed. Still, there is an impression that God did not intend for us to know everything. Save some “Ah Ha” moments for when you meet Him one day. That does not in any way prove the false allegations in “The Da Vinci Code”, but it shows how some with jump through the hoops of what is not discussed in order to make themselves fabulously wealthy.

More ironic is the argument that “The Da Vinci Code” is contrary to Christian beliefs. Yes, the arguments the book presents are contrary to the belief system of Christians absolutely, but the books existence is hardly contrary to what Christians know to be true. If you need further explanation read the Bible. God has predicted books such as this and false premises that would attack Christianity for thousands of years. It is all in there, trust me. God knew what was coming and warned us accordingly. Moreover, He warned us not to pay attention and become swayed by it.

However, today we can look at television and see what people think is important. Clearly, few people, aside from the religious stations, are talking about what God predicted or wants. The focus is on what is popular. If the book is popular and wonderful to people, that is fine. I have read both the Bible and that book. As hard as it was to digest the idea of the book at all, and no I did not pay money for the book, I knew that what God warned us of was present in the writing, a false premise, and I prepared myself to debate the arguments it presents all day long.

History is fraught with atrocities committed in the name of religion and science. No one has to look further than the Salem Witch Trials or Hitler’s scientific experiments on Jewish people in concentration camps to figure that out.

Because of the horrible nature those atrocities pose, we align ourselves with the extreme. I refuse to. I do not want to be swayed by people; I want to be swayed by knowledge and research. Otherwise what will you do when a smooth talking serial killer like Ted Bundy manages to convince the jury that he did not kill your daughter even though the fingerprints say it was him?

People are constantly trying to add to what they consider the gaps of knowledge in the Bible. There are several problems with this. First, why are we concentrating on the gaps in the Bible and not the gaps in the books being written about the problems with the Bible? Second, unless your book tells me how you created the universe, how I should live, how I should handle problems, where to go when I need help, and what is to come, then I am not interested. At least God took the time to make sure we were told all of that. I can’t learn to live my life by a book written by a man about a supposed Holy bloodline that exists, sorry.

Put simply, it is hard enough to be me. I do not need to hear suspected theories or drama especially when I am aware that God told us thousands of years ago that many people would concentrate on matters such as these.

Why can’t people just watch soap operas anymore?