Thank you for praying for me and the Da Vinci Code Conference. As was expected, the event was filled to capacity. I met pastors from all over the country who had heard a lot about the Da Vinci Code but new little or nothing about why there was so much hubbub. In fact, before I shared my part I asked how many people had read the book. Any guesses? Four out of some four hundred people!
Knowing what I know now I would have changed my talk completely, for several reasons. First, I had based my whole argument on being able to provide lots of visual aids via the Power Point presentation I had prepared. When the Power Point capabilities failed in the first thirty seconds of the talk, I had to move to plan B, which until that moment did not exist. Nevertheless, in whirlwind fashion I was able to present the overall plot of the book, including its message. I think people were shocked to simply learn what the book was about. I have found that most people think the Da Vinci Code has something to do with a book that came out some years ago called The Bible Code. They are shocked when they learn they aren't even related. I was also able to point out what I saw as the fundamental challenges of the book, namely that Constantine choose the four canonical gospels, that the Gnostic gospels give us a more historically reliable picture of Jesus, and the Christ's deity was invented for the first time at the Council of Nicea by a close vote. In thirty minutes I tried to touch on each of these points, almost an impossible task, especially without Power Point aids!
I had a chance to talk with lots of different people after the presentation, and upon talking to them I realized that there was a bigger issue lurking behind the whole Da Vinci Code phenomenon, at least here in Costa Rica. Without wanting to stereotype too much, the reaction I got from most (but not all) of the pastors from say forty-years old and up was pretty much the same: "Son, why are you wasting your time with this stuff. Just call it heresy; tell the church they shouldn't see the movie since it is sinful; and tell them to believe in the Bible." There was no sense that this movie could be a wonderful opportunity to dialogue with people about the life and message of Jesus and the veracity of the New Testament. There was no pastoral sense that perhaps Christians might struggle with the message so let's help them come to the right conclusions. (Much hunch is that most pastors don't know how to deal with these questions and therefore find them very threatening.) This is typical old school Evangelicalism where you are simply told to believe what is proclaimed as truth without questioning anything. So much for ‘faith seeking understanding’. Curiously, the younger pastors, mostly those who work with youth, flocked to me afterwards, got my email, asked for the Power Point, and appreciated the resources that would allow the to dialogue with their youth. I was encouraged by this.
So, what I would have done differently is explain the plot and message of the book (like I did), and then dedicate the rest of the talk to discuss why we need to respond to these points in open dialogue, why we need to take seriously the issues Brown raises, and then present a strategy for doing so. Then, I would simply have a disc to hand out with all the resources I have written in Spanish, instead of trying to unload it all on them in 45 minutes. Incidentally, two days later I was asked to give a similar talk to college students and I tried out my new approach and it worked much better.
From the time of the conference I have received emails every day requesting my Power Point presentation and the 22-page document I wrote up as a response the challenges of the book. This has confirmed to me what I have sense since I arrived to Costa Rica, namely that one of the most strategic and productive ministries I can have in Latin America is in writing. People are starving for resources and the constant emails from both the attendees of the conference and from students at the seminary confirm that there is still lacking in Latin America written resources that respond to the questions they are asking.
In the coming weeks I have two radio interviews and what is called a cineforo (we watch the movie then have a panel discussion) scheduled. Please continue to pray that God would grant me wisdom to learn from my past experiences so that I may clearly and effectively prepare the church for this amazing opportunity. Pray also that God would use the Power Point and the written materials for His glory in building confidence in the deity of Christ and the reliability of the New Testament.
No comments:
Post a Comment