the corner office

Apparently 60% of the British population now believe that Jesus did NOT die on the cross, married Mary Magdalene and had kids.

Without ever having read any Barbara Thiering.

People are right to be upset about TDC because it is not based on any real evidence and yet is about a real person. If you respected your uncle and someone wrote what they admitted was fiction about him, and that fiction was about him being a liar and a fraud, you'd also be upset. How about someone writing a "fiction" about you being a prostitute?

Also, despite society's feelings about the bible, it cannot even exist without at least prophecy existing, which is something many people do not know. Psa 22, which was found with the Dead Sea scrolls, gives quite some detail on a method of execution hundreds of years before it was invented. But there is far more evidence for the truth of the bible than that... how did a bunch of Hebrews know all hygiene when their counterparts were trepanning skulls?

Rational people believe things because of evidence, not feelings and that goes for everyone.

I don't think the premise of the Da Vinci Code and the background research says that Jesus was a liar, just that he wasn't who the bible says he was.

I can understand that Christians are unhappy about this portrayal of Christ but this goes to what I was saying. There are a few billion non-Christians on this planet, who by definition of not being Christians, have different interpretations of who Christ was, or possibly even question whether he existed at all.

We could argue in circles about the truth of the bible, providing proof and refutation over and again, but I don't think either of us is realistically going to persuade the other to change their views because of it. That's fine by me - I like the idea of a world where people are free to believe whatever they like - it beats throwing people to lions and burning them at stakes for believing different things - but support for freedom of belief has to cut both ways, including respecting others' rights to believe and speculate about things which seem heretical or insulting to one's own beliefs.

My biggest problem with The DaVinci Code is the protesters themselves. Understand of course, that I'm a believer and follower of Christ. I just get so frustrated at the Christian "masses" who seem incapable of blending faith and thought. I'm often embarrased by them, in that as a Christian I am automatically associated with these folks. Grrr. Drives me nuts.

I wrote a fairly long post covering this on my blog. URL is:
http://www.devinolson.net/spanky762/spankysplace.nsf/d6plinks/DOLN-6Q2LX6

-Devin.