There are no movie spoilers here, just cautioning those who are thinking of watching the movie.
What was the serpent referring to? Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were already able to know the difference between good and evil as it
had been exemplified by fact that they knew that eating the forbidden fruit will violate God's will. Did the tempter deceivingly offer something that is more attractive than their natural abilities? Or was the tempter deceiving them into obtaining something that is not really obtainable?
Imagination is one of the primary tools for us to see what can possibly happen based on the circumstances that we are in and with the introduction of some more imaginary elements. They can also be tools to create something that can fascinate and entertain us as what literary writers do when they write fictional stories. Imagination can also create illusions that may, in different degree, detach many people from facts and reality. A good fiction seeks to entertain people and cause them to temporarily detach himself from reality just for them to appreciate and have a deeper understanding of the story. Don't we get carried away when Santino talks to 'Bro' about his problems in the soap "May Bukas Pa"? Or do we feel grabbing Agot's by the hair everytime she succeeds in her evil plan in "Tayong Dalawa"? On the other hand, a fictional story can bring danger if it is able to detach a person from reality to the extent of making him reject facts in exchange for the imaginary things that the story has told. A lot of contemporary movies have done this. These types of movies contain illusions that we can create our own world wherein we can separate actions or objects from what they are related to in the real world.
Dan Brown has been successful in using fiction in this wrong way. Sadly, many people who have watched and will be watching the movies "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" will have the inclination of believing the lies in it, or let themselves be led in creating questions and doubts of similar bogus nature.
Dan Brown' story incorporates historical facts but intentionally twists them leaving people to question if his claims really happened. There is an intentional twisting of reality by distorting other people's reputation and relations just to make his story interesting. What makes matter worse was Dan's own confirmation of his message when asked whether things implied by his book really happened even if he had ealier said that they were only fiction.
Why shouldn't we have the same contempt for "Forrest Gump" which also uses and modifies bits of history ? "Da Vinci Code" implies that the fabricated story has always been covered by the realilty that we know. The movie's suggestions are backed up by using other unrelated historical facts which confirms that the author's intention is to make people believe the movies fallacious claims. To clarify the point that Dan Brown's style of fiction should be categorized differently from the others, we will compare Forrest Gump and "Da Vinci Code". In Forrest Gump, the movie had made it obvious that the movie just playfully weaved historical events to tell a fictional story. Forrest Gump's comedic genre is also a big hint for the movie watchers. If the movie ever portrayed something different from what had historically happened, there'll be enough hints to remind people not to question facts. If there are caricature changes made, it was careful enough to preserve the image and reputation of the people involved and not to overly portray something different to the point of imposing itself as the truth. "Da Vinci Code" had used real people's and organizations' names and had given them characterization that is unrelated, and worse, opposite to the real identity of those people who are commonly associated with names used.
If Dan Brown sprinkles bits of history connected by greatly untruthful storylines, Harry creates a dangerous illusion in a different way.
In a world of imagination, Harry involves magic, spells, and witchcraft and unconnects them from its source and its ends in our real world. We can read more of this in (http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/harry_potter.htm) . In the movie, it uses a craft that truly exist in reality, but separates it from the strong relations it has with evil powers.
In his book "An exorcist tells his story", Fr Amorth, Chief Exorcist of Rome, testifies that these crafts have diabolocal influence and source that has led to multiple cases of evil effects for those have practiced it. The strongest confirmation that we have about the dangers of witchcraft can be read in the bible wherein the Lord has forbidden such ways to be used. "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead" Lev 18:10. These warnings are repeated in different parts of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, to protect us from saying that this can no longer be true for our times.
With Harry Potter's box office success, it has created a danger of attracting people into the craft that can hardly be, if not impossible, isolated from evil consequences and sources. This has manifested with the proliferation of books related to Witchcrafts.
This makes clear why Christian groups are against games like Magic card game and Dungeons and Dragon where people can playfully involve themselves in this dark art. And these influences can be confirmed by news saying that there are people who have played this game who experienced demonic possesions. People have believed that these games are harmless for there is an unseen connection to evil. What it really does is it has desensitized us to accept the craft without fear. By forgetting what the witchcrafts really entail, we are easy lured to it by the supernatural ability that a practioner can muster, like a mouse fixing its eyes on a cheese set in a trap. In this case, we are seduced into the ultimate enemies trap.
In our everyday life, people also try to create their own reality by choosing sinful acts and at the same time rejecting and ignoring the effects of their acts.
There is a rejection of reality and the of the Lord who made our reality. Can we live independent of God and his laws? We have our natural ways of foreseeing the long ranging consequences of our actions and with the help of Christian revelation, we are made aware of the immediate spiritual effects of our actions. To attempt to force ourselves in believing that we can create our own laws is to reject the reality that it is in God that we find the purpose and meaning of our life. All goodness, including our existence, come from Him. To imagine that we can come up with a better world that is not subject to God's law and will is to deceive oneself to believe that, as the serpent's temptation was, we can redefine what is good and what is evil.
May we always remind ourselves that everything that is good must have the Lord as its source.
Your groupmate,
Eric
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