Be ready to give an answer

Peter Jones, an expert on Gnosticism and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in California, has posted a review of "The DaVinci Code" movie. He has some good insights. It's definitely worth a read.

Believe me, the buzz and stir Brown created isn't anywhere near being over. I naively hoped it would quickly blow over, but it isn't and it won't anytime soon. That hit me hard this morning as I taught a class of fifth and sixth-graders in Vacation Bible School (the first day of five!). As we got into the lesson, I began to get questions about some of the claims that were made in the book and in the movie. They quoted most of them (Brown's claims) almost verbatim (which really surprised me). Many of them had seen the movie and none of them had read the book. I thank God that I'd done my homework and was able to answer the questions they raised. They need to know that Christianity offers answers to life's most basic questions and can be defended against skeptics and scoffers. Something else was confirmed to me this morning - movies have an influence we can't even begin to understand in today's culture. It could be said that movies are the most effective preachers and teachers of the day.

Culture counts, and before the face of God we need to figure that out.