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Why do people get angry over films like Passion of the Christ and The DaVinci Code? One school of thought may be that films like these and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) force Christians to rethink everything they've ever learned and / or regarding Jesus Christ and the idea of His divinity. To look at Christ as a "mere man" puts into chaos the idea of the Holy Trinity (that God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit are one in the same), the basis upon which most Christian teachings are based.

In both Temptation and DaVinci, Christ is depicted as a man with human urges and needs. Specifically that He engages in sexual intimacy. Because of this "frailty", for lack of a better term, it forces followers to wonder how a "man" could, indeed, be the son of God? How could this "man" be borne of a virgin? How could this "man" have died and risen days later? To take it a step further, DaVinci discusses the aspect of not only Christ having lay with Mary Magdalene, but to have fathered a child with her.

To have the aspect of divinity taken from Christ would render centuries of actions taken based on the idea of Christianity into turmoil. In actions ranging from the Crusades to the Inquisition to even the use of missionary work in the conquest of indigenous peoples would be seen as done my misguided fanatics (some already see these actions as such). Furthermore, the notion of a mortal Christ would create modern day ripples for years to come. There is one other aspect of DaVinci that also tends to anger people; the fact that Mary Magdalene, who according to the New Testament was a prostitute, held a closer place among the disciples than any other.

In 1947, several bedouin sheep herders stumbled along several long undisturbed cave. Within these caves were found jars filled with seven ancient scrolls. Through the use of Carbon-14 dating, experts were able to determine that these, among several found in many caves of that area over the next forty years, dated back to the 3rd century. Among the scroll were several writings that came to be know as "The Gnostic Bible". Within this scrolls were "The Apocalypse of Peter", "The Apocalypse of Paul"and "The Essene Book of Revelation". Most interesting, however, is one book in particular: "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene". It is in this book that, according to experts, Mary Magdalene is shown as being highly favored by Christ. Whether that relationship was an physically intimate one or not, however, is still subject to debate.

It is safe to say that if it were ever shown that the books and movies are, indeed, true, not only would the faith of millions of believers be totally shaken, they would probably seriously be forced to rethink every aspect of their lives.

Learn more about this author, Dwayne Innis.
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