Tuesday; January 28

          In 2003 Dan Brown published a book entitled The Da Vinci Code that hit the best sellers lists.  Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I haven’t read the book but I do know that it became so popular that there could have been some challenges in the Christian community with the book.  While the book is described as fictional mystery thriller I would imagine that, for at least some people, the book embedded some ideas that might have made it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. 
          I hadn’t thought much about the work until I was watching a program that mentioned the influence of the book.  As I reflected on this novel I got to pondering all the other “Christian-type” books that might blur the lines between entertainment and reality.  Please do not misunderstand me, I am not advocating that we should not read fictional books, what I am saying is that would should be discerning when we read anything.  Are the books we read fiction ... opinion ... fact ... philosophy ... commentary ... non-biblical history or science?  There may not be any harm in reading as long as we understand that unless it is the Bible, it can be fallible.
          When we accept the authority of the Bible, we must assess all other books in light of the pure and perfect Word of God.  When we believe in the truth of the Bible we affirm the message of the Apostle Paul, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8-9).  It is okay to enjoy some good books, but let’s never let them override the Good Book!
         Think About It!

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