As the world awaits the release of The Da Vinci Code next week, Christians at this week's National Christian Resources Exhibition have been debating the issues raised by the massive success of Dan Brown's novel.
Christian Today spoke with Focus Radio's David Couchman to find out his view on how the Church should respond.
CT: Do you think the whole phenomenon surrounding The Da Vinci Code is a vice for the Church or a huge opportunity?
DC: I think it’s a huge opportunity, because people out there who would have never come to church and would have never probably thought about the story of Christianity are talking about it, debating about it, discussing it.
CT: Do you think it has wakened up the Church and made it really realise just how much of an interest there is in spirituality and how much they really need to capture it?
CD: I think it’s wakened up some segments of the Church but some people really are using it. I have been invited to take dozens of meetings and speak about it. I think there is an opportunity there and some people are latching onto it. My theory is that there are lots of Christians where yet again it is an opportunity that is going straight past us.
CT: Tom Hanks said if you advertise a discussion on the Gospel 12 people show up but if you advertise The Da Vinci Code 800 people show up. Do you think this is leaving the Church in danger of always having to make itself entertaining some how?
CD: On one level I don’t think it is a problem if the Church has to make itself entertaining. Jesus used stories and parables. Paul used the kinds of communication techniques that were appropriate in his day. So there is nothing wrong in using these opportunities. If that’s all that we did then yes I think that could be the case.
CT: You talk a lot about having to know the facts and making sure that people do know the facts. Do you think this is a challenge for Christians, that this is one of the things that people can really pick at and be tested by and shaken by?
CD: I think the danger is that as Christians we haven’t thought hard enough about why we believe what we believe. And when something like this comes along it rocks us. And we don’t have the answers in our own hearts or the answers to give to somebody else and I think it is one of Peter’s letters that says always be ready to give people a reason and the trouble is that sometimes we are not ready.
What do you suggest the Church does about that?
CD: Learn the facts, buy our DVD! But just generally people need to equip themselves so that they can answer the questions that folk will ask coming out of the cinema or having read the book or getting off the plane or whatever it is.
David Couchman is director of Focus Radio which has its own website with resources and information about claims in The Da Vinci Code.
Couchman was at the CRE to dispel some of the myths generated by Dan Brown's novel in a sermon that followed a debate on the book hosted by Times religious correspondent Ruth Gledhill.
To visit the website or buy the special DVD from Focus Radio, 'Jesus and The Da Vinci Code', CLICK HERE
