So... catching up a bit...

I went & saw the da Vinci Code on Saturday. Though I hadn't read the book I had no problems following the plot & found it well paced & an interesting movie. After reading lots of comments about both book & movie I was expecting something much worse, but I guess others don't have my background knowledge.

I am a long-term agnostic, having rejected the religion of my parents starting aged 10 when the pastor failed to give me a reasonable answer to 'what is belief?' & then 'what is faith?' (he'd answered the first one by saying 'belief is when you have faith something is true' then followed up with 'faith is when you believe something is true without evidence' even at 10 I knew a circular argument when I saw one)

I have learned over the years of the synods where they decided the contents of the bible & the earlier council of Nicea where they made the decisions as to what books would be excluded from it. Also I've had a long term interest in things like the sphinx, the pyramids & other monuments that seem to defy orthodox history - that interest has led in some interesting pathways, including into the ideas that the Hebrews were actually Akhenaten's bunch, fresh from losing out to the pan-theistic bunch & leaving Egypt with their mono-theistic beliefs. It certainly made more sense than a mass migration of slaves never mentioned in Egypt's history.

And following on, there's the interesting bit about the Ages. We are currently entering the Age of Aquarius. We are leaving the Age of Pisces (fish) & before that was the Age of Aries (sheep)
Christ was born in the Age of Aries & the Age of Pisces came along while he was alive - making sense of him being the shepherd who became a fisher of men - unfortunately in the Hebrew it doesn't work out - we get our zodiac & dating of the changes from the egyptians.

There are also the Essenes; no mention is made of them in the bible yet they were the group who had members such as Elijah & Elisha, Mary & Joseph & they are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Strange they didn't get a mention when they were so involved. Their presence in reality and non-inclusion in the bible bring an easy thought of conspiracy or hidden purposes, so the da Vinci Code isn't such a big leap.

But I can understand how those with preconceived fixed ideas or without knowledge of the facts behind christianity could be a little lost by the movie. But I enjoyed it.