Napier Baptist

Why are fire engines red?
A fire Engine has four wheels and eight people on it.
Four and eight are twelve.
Twelve inches are a foot.
A foot is a ruler.
Queen Elizabeth is a ruler.
The "Queen Elizabeth" is the largest ship
to sail the seven seas.
The seas have fish.
The fish have fins.
The Finns fought the Russians.
The Russains are red.
Fire engines are always rushin' around.
And that's why fire engines are red!

This seems to be the sort of logic that allows Dan Brown to make some of the connections he makes in the Da Vinci Code. As Conrad Gempf, New Testament lecturer at London School of Theology, said when asked to comment on The Da Vinci Code 'asking a New Testament lecturer to comment on The Da Vinci Code is like asking a Marine Biologist to comment on Finding Nemo!' However, the flimsiness of Dan Brown's research doesn't seem to stop its popularity and when the church points these things out it only adds fuel to the fire - 'of course you'd say that, you're in on this conspiracy!' Steve Hollinghurst asks what would happen if Dan Brown were to admit that The Da Vinci Code was a joke? Would convinced readers simply drop the book's theories? Or might they wonder what Brown was trying to hide or which organisation forced him to say that? How does the church engage with The Da Vinci Code? We need to be careful that we don't use a sledgehammer to tap in a carpet tack! I think rather than point out the flaws in The Da Vinci Code we need to understand the fertile soil that allows The Da Vinci Code to grow. Why is The Da Vinci Code so popular? Our culture today loves secret knowledge and scandals. It does not like authorities or authority figures e.g. Police, politicians, lawyers or churches. In a world of truthiness it all comes down to opinions and my opinion is the only one I can trust! People today trust their own feelings over against the views of authority figures. We mistrust all claims to truth as a will to power and search for 'the real truth' behind the supposed truth and it leads to all sorts of conspiracy theories and thristings for secret knowledge. The church shouldn't laugh too hard at Why Fire Engines are Red - this sort of thinking isn't limited to The Da Vinci Code. Many interpretations of the Bible resemble this sort of logic (or lack of), especially The Book of Revelation! Perhaps the popularity of Left Behind and The Bible Codes is linked to the popularity of The Da Vinci Code - access to secret knowledge and how no one else has seen this before. It's exciting and entertaining but often the logic is the same as Why Fire Engines are Red. But when people challenge it it only reinforces the scandal that the mainstream church is trying to suppress information or is purposely leading people down the wrong path! The Da Vinci Code has met fertile soil indeed!