Decoding Beliefs
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Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Marcus Engel
Why do you believe the things you do? Why do any of us think things should be a certain way? Simple: experience and a knowledge base. This article will take the best-selling novel, "The DaVinci Code" and show how we all need to be open to beliefs that maybe, just maybe, might be different than we've ever considered.
Every once in a great while, the cosmos align, the gods smile down and I end up seated next to someone on a plane who is NOT a certified lunatic. Rarer still are the times when this individual ends up being way cool to chat with. Considering I spend a good portion of my life at 30,000 feet, when this happens, I’m one happy camper. And it happened last week.
Somewhere between Dallas and my home, I struck up a conversation with my seatmate, a wonderful young lady named Amanda. After batting Monty Python movie quotes back and forth, we started talking about what books we’re currently reading. English comedy and literature – you can probably see the pocket protector and horn-rimmed nerdy glasses on me already!
Amanda was working her way through the soon-to-be classic, “The DaVinci Code.” Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware the book has sold some 40 million copies and the movie has just hit the big screen. I’ll spare you any details since you’re probably one of the 40 million anyway, but suffice it to say there is a lot of questionable “facts” about church history, the supposed life of Jesus and ties to certain factions of the church today. Frankly, I’m just plain sick of all the hullabaloo, but I’m always happy to know people who read the book before seeing the movie. Hence, why I’m excited about the conversation on Southwest Airlines.
As we chatted over fact and fiction in Dan Brown’s novel, Amanda shared some of the feedback she received from friends when they found out what she is reading. “They told me I shouldn’t read it,” she said. “One of them even said that this book would completely destroy my faith.” Know what I say to that? “Then that’s precisely why you SHOULD read it!”
Let’s look at what we call “belief.” We all have our own beliefs: politically, religiously, socially, personally, interpersonally, etc. etc. etc. Have you ever had one of your beliefs change? Probably so. I mean, who gets to age, oh, 10, and believes that a generous pixie with a dental fascination will swoop in under the cover of darkness and trade out a shiny nickel for something that was knocked out of your mouth during a softball game? And, why do we no longer believe this little tale? Because it’s utterly ridiculous? Maybe… but realizing it’s ridiculous comes from one thing – experience.
All experiences add to your base of knowledge. Those who told my new friend not to read this book are telling her that she should, in essence, stay ignorant to anything she doesn’t already know. Again folks, not that everything (or maybe anything) in this book is factual, but to not even be willing to explore a possibility? When one will not explore any ideas outside his/her own, what does that make a person? Stubborn? Single focused? Insecure? Yes, yes and yes.
Think of it this way. Columbus was pretty darned sure he could sail from Portugal and reach the other side of the world. Yet, most of the world’s population believed the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria would get out to the horizon and do a nosedive to certain death. Columbus basically figured, “Hey, if I fall off the edge of the earth, at least I’ll know the truth!” And, he set sail. The rest, as they say, is history. But what if ol’ Chris hadn’t been willing to explore any ideas other than the popular notion of the day? Where would we be now? Portugal, probably!
Code stuff aside, don’t be afraid to branch out and educate yourself further, no matter the topic. More knowledge isn’t going to hurt anyone! And, if your beliefs remain intact after a bit more research, excellent! You’ll now be more informed to explain fully why you believe what you believe!
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