Quote) The Jehovah’s Witness, at my door recently, seemed convinced the Gospel writers are well known and were all disciples of Jesus. When asked to demonstrate this, using biblical reference, he quickly changed the subject to assure me that a full one third of Uniting Church ministers were homosexual (Quote

Jehovah's Witnesses are trained to bait & switch and flip flop.

The core dogma of the Watchtower organization is that Jesus had his second coming (invisibly) in the year 1914.Their entire doctrinal superstructure is built on this falsehood.

Jehovah's Witnesses door to door recruitment is by their own admission an ineffective tactic. They have lost membership in all countries with major internet access because their false doctrines and harmful practices are exposed on the modern information superhighway.

There is good and valid reasons why there is such an outrage against the Watchtower for misleading millions of followers.Many have invested everything in the imminen apocalyptic promises of the Jehovah's Witnesses and have died broken and beaten.
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Respectfully,Danny Haszard http://www.dannyhaszard.com

One of the great privileges that curiosity and doubt bestow upon people is the ability to strengthen their beliefs.

Those who never doubt or consider the true meaning of their faith (be it in religion, science, democracy, or any one of a number of deeply held beliefs) surely miss an opportunity to re-invigorate their faith. The Bible and Christian history are full of stories of the repentant martyr, whose faith burns stronger for their past doubt. For those less religiously inclined, I offer you the "reformed smoker" who can't stand the smell of the smoke and happily offers all his smoking friends a lecture on the evils of tobacco.

As a believer in Jesus as a historical figure, I can't help but ponder the questions as to Jesus' social setting. It doesn't seem unreasonable (or a challenge to the central doctrines of the Bible) that he would have been, as other men of his station, a married man, potentially with children.

Anyone who has studied Renaissance Italian politics knows that the various Popes of that era were admitted fathers of illegitimate children. This, Church history would argue, made those Popes a product of their time. Why then, is it inconceivable that Jesus was also a man of his (Jewish) religion and his time?

To me, Jesus' marriage (or not), fathering of children (or not) does not have a real impact on his historical legacy. But then I prefer my Biblical characters with a healthy dash of doubt: give me the Garden of Gethsemane any day...this to me is what makes the stories more real.

>>Brown … probably had no inkling that his “reworked” ideas would spark such indignation and fear.<<

Indignation – Yes; Fear – No. I think he knew exactly what he was writing and its effect on real truth. You don’t put your paw in God’s waters without causing ripples.

Christianity has nothing to hide – if that’s what is implied by the quote: >>Brown has managed to blunder into controversy that has led to embarrassing enquiry into generally accepted and previously unquestioned religious “facts”.<<

Deliberate attempts to change history is not a novelty. Secularism and postmodernism are good at de-constructing and demolishing “truths” to their own detriment.

To question facts is healthy; doubt is the companion of faith.

But to distort historical events simply because they don’t gel well with the rest of the other de-constructed hypotheses; or in the case of Dan Brown "sells well", is ludicrous.

At least DB the "midget theologian" has never refuted Christ' life, death, burial, and resurrection. So in this respect he has done a better job than many theological sceptic “giants”.

What he conveniently disregarded – as other successful works like for example Mel Gibson’s “the passion of the Christ” – is they both don't clearly mention the significance of the Jesus “event” : God becoming human flesh to save His created humans.

Any invented superfluous “facts” is guess work and good for fiction novels – it should not be introduced as evidence into the Jesus’ trial. The verdict has already been pronounced 2000 years ago on Calvary

Dan Brown wrote a piece of fiction that anyone with a remaining brain cell couldn't be bothered to read.

Maybe this article should be placed under "movie reviews"

The comments on faith and doubt remind me of a verse of Tennyson that we found our grandfather, whom we all loved, had marked in his copy of "In Memoriam."

You tell me, doubt is Devil-born.

I know not: one indeed I knew
In many a subtle question versed,
Who touched a jarring lyre at first,
But ever strove to make it true:

Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,
At last he beat his music out.
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.

A very interesting article. Only I now feel cheated, knowing that The Da Vinci Code is such an unoriginal concept. Sure, there have always been whisperings and conspiracy theories, but I thought such a far-fetched story could only make it to publication once?!!