The DaVinci Deception by Mark Shea and Edward Sri, STD, (2006) is a short book that mom bought when Marcellino D'Ambrosio came to town. Its associated website is The DaVinci Outreach. Early in the book, the topic of the RCC stifling science and reason is covered because The Code, as we'll call it, claims that many facts were hidden and people were oppressed. "...from early days, the church fathers taught that reason was the supreme gift from God and the means to progressively increase understanding of Scripture and revelation." It then talks about how Western civilization got so great and wonderful because of the church and its pursuit of science." That disturbs me because history shows that people have become more corrupt, and logic tells us that it will only get worse. Not only that, but these Catholic writers must have been reading from different history books. I went to Catholic school, and even there I learned that scientists were not welcomed by the Church. Hmmm. Anyway, the book obviously attempts to defend the Catholic Church from the attack of The Code. I wanted to see the movie just for the amusement value and to be caught up with the rest of society, but I don't know if it's such a great idea. Galations 1:8 - "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" Isn't it kinda like preaching to yourself if you knowingly pick up a book or go to a movie that attacks the One that you live for? I dunno. That would be...not...good. Eternally condemned. Anyways. I still don't know if I'll watch it. The most interesting part of the book for me was about Paganism - the mistake of worshiping creatures instead of the Creator. The Code says that the Church is ignoring the sacred feminine. This book on the deception says, "The masculine initiates, the feminine responds. As the sky pours in light and seen and energy, so the earth responds with fruitfulness and life." Oh. So that's what gender is all about. Or something. I went to mass yesterday. Afterwards I was thinking about the mass in light of the whole Pagan order of things as put in this book. The mass is in two parts - the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. Liturgy (leitourgia) is a Greek composite word meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen. Now, according to the masculine/feminine, the Word is the feminine. It goes out and creates or commands. The Eucharist, becoming Jesus' body in the forms of bread and wine, respond to the words of the priest to become substantially bread and wine no more. Bread and wine, both of which are grown by the sun, are feminine elements. And so you have the perfect balance of the masculine first, and the feminine second. Ok, so that's interesting, but what about the command in Luke to "do this in remembrance of Me?" Do what? Have a masculine/feminine assembly strangely resembling one that a well-balanced pagan might have? I think that's gonna have to wait for the next book. Is this little book on The Code worth reading? Well, I couldn't say that it did much for me. I haven't read The Code, so I'm just not sure what the bid deal is. Plus, the history of Jesus has been ingrained in my brain fairly deeply. It's tough to put doubts in there about whether He actually died or actually rose or actually can forgive sins. Plus, this book is kinda sarcastic which is kinda annoying to me. Wow, I almost feel like I'm part of all the hype about this stupid work of fiction. Isn't it great to fit in.