""The DaVinci Code calls into question whether Jesus was of divine origin""
Is that something new? Hasn't there been people that questioned that in the past? It's not a new "question".
Are JWs Discouraged From Seeing The Da Vinci Code?
by Seeker4 38 Replies latest jw friends
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Scully
Is that something new? Hasn't there been people that questioned that in the past? It's not a new "question".
Ah, but I didn't say it was "new", did I?
My question was
That's not blasphemous to a JW?
If those concepts are blasphemous, then why would a JW want to pollute their mind with such blasphemy? Fiction or not? Isn't blasphemy as bad as apostasy? Isn't that kind of subject matter as bad as "inviting the demons in" if one was to watch a film like Harry Potter? As bad as smoking? or fornication?
Like I said, if a JW wants to go see it, I'm all for it. I'm not the one with all the restrictions on my conscience. Just don't come crying when some JWs who went to see it because their Conscience™ allowed it, and then for some reason got them to do some Deep Research™ that starts rumblings in the foundation of their Faith™....
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Beep,Beep
""That's not blasphemous to a JW?""
I don't see why. Again attacks on the Bible are not new. Questions about which writings should be included have been around for a long time.
If individuals feel that it IS blasphemous then they can chose not to see it. I have not heard any of the witnesses I know say anything about not being "allowed" to see this movie.
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Joe Grundy
On the subject of the bible canon and the excluded writings (and I suspect that more previously unknown texts will come to light in the future) - one issue that intrigues me is why WTBTS is happy to accept the canon as established by RC authorities. How do they get round this?
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zagor
Dan Brown is an excellent storyteller, but what he produced in this book is pure fiction. Most people get confused because he skillfully intermingles his story with real events, people and places that existed but then connect them in a 'sexy' way often completely out of historical context. What people naturally conclude is something like that
If A and B are true, and possibly B and C are connected, while C and D have something in common and D can lead to F therefore we conclude that A and F are one and the same thing.
His almost entire case can be boiled down to one sentence from second century Gnostic Gospel of Philip in which we read"
"And the companion of the [gap] Mary Magdalene. [Gap] her more than [gap] the disciples [gap] kiss her [gap] on her [gap]."
In other words papyrus on which it was written was damaged and hence context left for interpretation.
What Brown fails to see (conveniently or because of lack of real historic knowledge) is that even if he put word 'lips' in the [gap] it doesn't mean anything, in the Gnostic tradition, kiss on the lips were not an erotic act but a chaste gesture which meant to symbolize the passage of knowledge and spiritual truth. And surprise, surprise elsewhere in the Gospel of Philip, Jesus also kisses his male disciples on the mouth. Of course, putting that into Da Vinci Code book would turn Jesus into a bisexual and even further complicate matter.
Considering that WTBS does not even accept Gospel of Philip as inspired anyway one would think that there's hardly anything in there for them to be fussed about.
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mkr32208
I remember being told from the platform during an assembly in the 80's that the "worldly rating system" should be R- rubbish Pg- pure garbage G- garbage (that was before pg-13) that seems to me to be discouraging people from seeing anything!
I KNOW that they aren't suppose to be watching R rated movies!!
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MidwichCuckoo
SCULLY -
''One thing about the DVC that I found interesting was the notion that there are other "gospels" that were purposely excluded from the Biblical canon...''
But we've ALWAYS known that. As a child I remember seeing a Bible complete with Apocrypha (Greek - hidden things). -
Scully
Midwich Cuckoo
But we've ALWAYS known that. As a child I remember seeing a Bible complete with Apocrypha (Greek - hidden things).
Agreed. I have an RSV + Apocrypha that I've owned for many years. But the "gospels" that The DaVinci Code describes are not part of the Apocrypha either, as they are supposed to cover the same time period as the Old Testament (and are accepted as part of Jewish tradition - for instance the Maccabees describe the events that lead up to the first observance of Chanukah). The DVC mentions the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdelene, which do not appear in the Apocrypha, and were written after Jesus was supposed to have lived. They are part of what are sometimes referred to as the "gnostic gospels".
The books of the Apocrypha include:
- The First Book of Esdras
- The Second Book of Esdras
- Tobit
- Judith
- The Additions to the Book of Esther
- The Wisdom of Solomon
- Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach
- Baruch
- The Letter of Jeremiah
- The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men
- Susanna
- Bel and the Dragon
- The Prayer of Manasseh
- The First Book of Maccabees
- The Second Book of Maccabees
- The Third Book of Maccabees
- The Fourth Book of Maccabees
- Psalm 151
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Dismembered
Beep,Beep
:Never heard anything about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Perhaps you were dozing when Watchtower made a BIG deal about that movie. I was a dyed-in-the wool dubass when that movie 1st hit the big screen, and, like well trained dubbies, my wife & I walked out of that movie. As a matter of fact the only one I've ever walked out on.
Dismembered
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MidwichCuckoo
Scully - thanks for the clarification. As I said, I remember seeing one as a child, and I was intrigued - but I was told that it wasn't a 'real' Bible. It worried me that some books were chosen and some dismissed to make an ''acceptable'' Bible.