The Code

It's been called the greatest threat to face the church since the split between Rome and Constantinople in 1054ce, and conversely, the greatest outreach opportunity the church has had since Peter and the other disciples received the Holy Spirit and preached the Good News in the streets of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Hyperbole? Reality? Either way, pretty big words for a fictional novel written to make a buck.

And make a buck, it has done. Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code is the number one all-time best selling adult fictional novel. After a few years, it continues to reside at, or near the top of every best-seller list. Numerous editions, including paperback and illustrated versions, sell like hot cakes. The Code has even spawned its own cottage industry with hundreds of books trying to prove, disbunk, or rehash the theories played out in the pages of Brown's thriller. Christians and non-Christians are making a fortune alongside of, and off of Dan Brown. Every mega-church in the country is offering a program for sale to counter the claims of The Code. And now, with the release of the big screen adaptation just days away, Code fever seems hotter than ever.

And I can't help but wonder if all the hubbub is an indictment of the state of the church in today's western society. If The Code is really that much of a threat to the church, then what does that say about the state of our convictions and beliefs, as the church, and as individuals? Is our faith really that fragile? And more importantly (in my estimation), if this is really that much of an opportunity for the church, then what does that say about how irrelevant we have made Christ in our words and deeds, for those who do not yet know him, or worse, oppose him?

Does it really take a fictional novel, whether it claims "truth" or not within its pages, to spur us on to action, to fire us up? Have we become the church of Laodicea in Revelations 3? If so, shame on us for lacking the passion to worship and serve and spread the Good News, simply out of joy for who God is, and what he has done for us in Jesus Christ.

The real mystery has nothing to do with Dan Brown or the theories of his fictional novel. The real mystery is why the church seems to need it as a wake up call.