There’s a sucker born every minute. Bob Ross thinks I’m one of them. Last week I posted an article defending the need for Christians to prepare themselves for the Da Vinci Code movie, but for their own sake and for the sake of their neighbors. Bob responded to this:
There is some dispute about whether P. T. Barnum or someone else said “There’s a sucker born every minute,” but there seems to be little doubt as to the validity of the remark.
And those men and women out there who refer to themselves as “Apologists” are glad to have the suckers keep coming, for they “make a good living” off of them. I like to refer to the “apologists” as the “APPALLINGISTS,” for most of them are godawful appalling and need to make some apologies.
He goes on to draw a rather ridiculous parallel between Da Vinci Code and Y2K before turning to the “Bible Code.”
Awhile back it was the hidden, secret “Bible Code.” Now it is the “Da Vinci Code” that the Appallingists are using to take advantage of the naive suckers.
These entrepreneurs thrive off of selling products to those whom they persuade need to be “equipped” and “prepared.” Or, if they themselves don’t need to be “equipped” and “prepared,” surely they know some needy believer who is apt to be terribly deceived — so they can be a Good Samaritan and order the cassettes, videos, booklets, books, and other useful “tools” to help arm the weaker brethren to offset and overcome the horrible Da Vinci Code — especially the movie.
Yesterday I was referred to the CHILLIES.COM blogstie by one of my readers where they were trying to “fry” me over what I had said about the item on James White’s website pertaining to being “prepared” for the Da Vincd Code movie — a piece of fiction based on a piece of fiction based on a Roman Catholic fictional painting of a few hundred years ago.
The email goes on for a while. The one thing Ross forgets to do is to interact with what I wrote. His thesis (and I use that term loosely, as most rants are devoid of any clear thesis) seems to be that preparing for Da Vinci will only put money in the hands of Christian hucksters and send even more Christians to the cinemas to watch the film.
“Now, if you want to join the suckers and “spend your money for that which is not bread,” you are free to do so. It’s still a free country. Otherwise, I suggest you keep your hand on your billfold when you hear some of the Appallingists palabberating about all the evils, dangers, and other devilish attributes of which you are in danger if you don’t get ‘eqipped’ and ‘prepared’ by sending for whatever the Appallingist has to sell you for a ‘gift donation.’”
It seems to me that this is a terribly naive attitude. I wonder if Ross would also object to Scripture’s admonition to “be prepared (uh oh, there’s that word) to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” One does not have to look far within Scripture to find great emphasis on both equipping and preparation.
You will note that my article said nothing about supporting Purpose Driven or any of the other ministries that are releasing books and DVDs and other material dealing with the film. Nor did I suggest that we go and view the movie in order to be able to dialogue with our friends about it. I merely suggested that we be able to have an answer to the lies that this movie puts forth as truth. Doing this will guard our hearts but may also make us more effective witnesses to those who have serious questions about the Bible’s claims. Bob’s rant has failed to convince me that this is a bad thing.
