Minor Thoughts from me to you

I received another e-mail from Dr. Rick Scarborough today. Once again, I find myself wanting to challenge something he said. He started out today's e-mail by talking about the heretical "Da Vinci Code" movie:

After a brief run of celebrated films portraying the truth about Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Passion, Satan has raised is impish head and initiated the production of a movie that is blasphemous.

Full disclosure here: last week, I read the entire novel. Frankly, it's highly overrated. The writing is pedestrian, the plot is predictable, the ending is childish, etc. Secondly, I wasn't surprised by anything in the novel. Anyone who is familiar with the Gnostic heresies (info from Wikipedia, info from the Catholic church) will be familiar with most of the "revelations" in the book. Given that Gnosticism has been around almost as long as the Church itself, every Christian should be familiar with these heresies. Every Christian should be; unfortunately, most are not.

How does Dr. Scarborough recommend that Christians prepare for this movie?

It is absolutely essential that every Pastor who reads this email alert get familiar with this blasphemous film and prepare your people to refute it while exhorting them not to see it.

How can anyone properly refute something that they are not familiar with? I had read about the heresies in the book before reading the movie, but I wasn't really ready to refute it until I had actually finished reading the book. If no Christian reads the book or sees the movie, how can anyone be prepared to refute it? Obviously some Christian, at some point, had to read the book or else the Christian community wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Is Dr. Scarborough suggesting that Pastors read / watch the story, but that their congregations refrain from doing so? If that's the case, I find it highly ironic. (The central theme of gnosticism is that some people know special, "hidden" knowledge that redeems them. Those that are inducted into the "club" receive salvation, everyone else is left behind.)

Ultimately the message that Dr. Scarborough communicates is that ordinary Christians are not strong enough to face heresy and need to be protected from it. I strongly disagree. The army trains soldiers by exposing them to every hazard they'll face in battle. Soldiers study the combat doctrines of their enemy, study the enemy commanders, and practice fighting every day. What kind of "Christian soldiers" are we preparing if they must be constantly sheltered from the enemy? What kind of "Christian soldiers" do we have if one 2 hour engagement with the enemy will overwhelm their defenses? Finally, what kind of "Christian soldiers" do we have if they're not even familiar with the enemy's oldest stratagems and doctrines?

Hiding from the enemy won't help the Church and it certainly won't help those that we are supposed to be reaching. Read the book. Read The Da Vinci Opportunity (part 1, part 2, part 3). Watch the movie and be ready for the enemy.