For years the biggest cornerstone for my faith in Jesus was the evidence for His resurrection and the historicity of the New Testament documents. And these classic apologetic arguments are rock solid and a fantastic place to start when discussing the claims of The Da Vinci Code. However, in recent years my faith in Christianity has been even more strengthened by a mere 3 words that Jesus taught: love your enemies. This is why...
God, whoever He is, will possess the highest expression of all moral qualities. This is called "The Greatest Conceivable Being" argument. J.P. Moreland, one of my favorite theologians, expressed this concept excellently in his book, Love Your God With All Your Mind.
Dr. Moreland says on pages 158-159, "Theologians describe God as a maximally perfect being. This means that God is not merely the greatest, most perfect being who happens to exist. He is the greatest being that could possibly exist. If God were merely the greatest being who happens to exist, it would be possible to conceive of a case where a god could come along [who was greater] or where the real God grew in His excellence...Fortunately, the God of the Bible is maximally perfect being; that is, He is the greatest being that could possibly exist." (emphasis added)
In other words, the true God will be more just than any other god; the true God will be more loving than any other God; the true God will be more powerful than any other god. There can be no way to improve the virtues and morals of the true God!
It is this idea that makes my faith strong and gives me an additional weapon in defending my faith when "ancient documents" suddenly arise that communicate a different gospel or a different Jesus than the one of the New Testament. (I say "additional weapon" because the New Testament can stand on its own when compared to these "other gospels" of Jesus)
Make sense? Then consider the radicalness of the teaching of Jesus.
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies..." (Luke 6:27-28, 32-35)
Other religions, Islam being foremost, teach just the opposite of love your enemies. And Mohammad's teaching is morally inferior to Jesus' teaching. Mohammad taught, claiming it was from God, that we should kill our enemies. In the Koran it says, "Then fight and slay the pagans {unbelievers} wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every stratagem {of war}." Surah 9:5. Teaching and actions of influential Muslims today do not rebuff that Koranic verse.
I had coffee once with a man who fled the Islamic revolution of Iran during the late 1970s. He fled to the West and there converted to Christianity. He has since written several books against Islam and must use a pseudo name so that other Muslims, who are living according to the teaching of the Koran, will not kill him. I asked him, "What convinced you to convert from Islam to Christianity?" He said very succinctly that it was this teaching of Jesus and how it contrasted to the teachings of Islam and other religions.
This same contrast in moral aptitude can be found in today's headlines. When cartoons appeared in a Danish newspaper depicting Mohammad in a less than superlative light, there were riots, burnings, killings and demands. Yet when The Da Vinci Code hits the theaters, Christians, who will have their God lied about and belittled, will not be calling for the death of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard (I still have got to ask, "What got into those guys anyway?"). Rather Christians are using peaceful boycotts, discussions and debate to shed light on the truth. Imagine the Islamic response to a movie where Mohammad is discredited in a similar way!
Unfortunately church history is filled with examples of Christians who killed their enemies. Yet here is the difference between Christians killing in the name of God and Muslims killing in the name of Allah. Christians who kill are acting contrary to the teachings of Jesus while Muslims who kill are acting consistent with the teachings of their religion.
Jim Elliot and his missionary friends had access to guns when they willingly gave their lives as martyrs for the Auca Indians 50 years ago. Yet they chose not to use those guns. They reasoned that if they kill the Auca Indians, then those unbelieving Aucans would go straight to hell. If the Aucas kill them, then the missionaries go to heaven and their deaths would be a witness to their unsaved murderers. No other religion, not even Darwin, can account for that kind of reasoning!
I am hopeful that the Christian community's response to The Da Vinci Code will illustrate the moral superiority of Christ's teaching. And I believe that Christians can use this opportunity not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.
Here in Budapest we are handing out thousands of magazines that tell the truth behind the deceiving claims of Dan Brown's novel. It is material that is written by Josh McDowell. Last week we had a lecture/discussion in a coffee house in downtown Budapest about The Da Vinci Code. The coffee house was packed; there was not an empty seat, as seekers came to hear the truth about the claims of The Da Vinci Code. They also heard a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One young man rode 3 hours by train from another part of the country in order to be hear the discussion! More magazines will be passed out in other cities across Hungary.
{ Seekers in a Budapest coffee house seeking answers about The Da Vinci Code and its claims.}Just the other day I passed a bookstore along the streets of downtown Budapest when out walked a woman with the hardback Hungarian translation of The Da Vinci Code in her hand. I asked her if she speaks English. Heavily accented, she said that she does. I then told her that the book in her hand was full of lies and offered her the Josh McDowell magazine in Hungarian. She took it, smiled, said "thank you"and disappeared into the crowded street.
I believe The Da Vinci Code is a gift from God. While Satan means it for evil, God means it for good. While remaining officially neutral on recommending either the movie or the book, I do believe that The Da Vinci Code is an opportunity for us as Christians to show the world the contrast between how Muslims handle adversity and how Christians handle it. I also believe it forces Bible-believing Christians to not only know what we believe but why we believe it.
Additionally, The Da Vinci Code will force us to engage our neighbors, co-workers and friends over the truth of the God who not only created them but loved them and laid down His life to pay the death penalty for their sins. Sin was not merely brushed aside or covered up with good deeds. The full brunt of the wrath of God because of sin was poured out on Jesus on the cross. And three days later, He proved His divinity by rising from the dead! No other god comes even close to that kind of love, justice and power! One cannot even conceive of a morally greater, more powerful God than our Lord Jesus Christ!
