True enough

I've heard that banks don't teach tellers how to spot counterfeit bills by showing them counterfeits. Instead they show them real money. Tellers handle real money over and over and over again. They become so familiar with what's genuine that when they encounter a fake it's immediately obvious. The key here is that the tellers handle the money. They experience it on a daily basis.

Along comes The DaVinci Code. Pastors and church leaders all around the world seemed to go into anaphylactic shock over this movie. The danger has passed now that the movie is out and people haven't abandoned church in droves...at least there's been no perceptible quickening of the already steady decline most churches are experiencing anyway. Many churches in my town have offered sermons on the movie. In some cases these are multiple week series. There's nothing wrong with confronting a counterfeit. When a bank teller finds one they report it immediately and point out the person who handed it to them to the authorities. We should identify untruth but, more importantly, people who claim to be Christ followers should be so intimately familiar with the truth that they reject counterfeits without needing a three-part sermon series to explain why.

I am concerned about those who don't know Christ, or have thus far rejected him, having one more excuse for avoiding the Christian church. But I wonder if the histrionics of church leaders over this movie don't reveal something deeper. Could it be that some are concerned their core constituency might be deceived? Is there a nagging suspicion that those who come to church week in and week out aren't really equipped to spot the blatant stupidity The DaVinci Code peddles? I'm wondering if the reaction to this movie is a tacit admission by church leaders that they haven't adequately done the job of leading people into a deep and intimate experience of what is true. Maybe it reveals that church leaders doubt the capacity of faithful people to think for themselves.

Whatever the reason for such a vitriolic response, it's curious. I hope the church will examine how it exposes people to truth. I hope we can find new ways to draw people into a personal experience of faith that penetrates their hearts. I look forward to the day when untruth in rejected by all who follow Christ without anyone launching a sermon series to tell them why.