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democracyinlebanon
16 Posts |
 Posted - 05/13/2005 : 8:51:19 PM
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For the freedom of speech and expression...
This forum is NOT an endorsement by this site of the content of the book “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. As a book of fiction that became a best seller and in the interest of enlightenment, we invite our members to discuss its content. |
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Stew
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 3:41:09 PM
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Since many in Lebanon were denied access to the book, I chose to share with them this excerpt:
"One hour, he told himself, grateful that the Teacher had given him time to carry out the necessary penance before entering a house of God. I must purge my soul of today's sins. The sins committed today had been Holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured.
Even so, Silas knew, absolution required sacrifice.
Pulling his shades, he stripped naked and knelt in the center of his room. Looking down, he examined the spiked cilice belt clamped around his thigh. All true followers of The Way wore this device—a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ's suffering. The pain caused by the device also helped counteract the desires of the flesh."
...my question to you is: Are there Holy sins? Is an act of war against the "enemies of God" a holy act and therefore forgivable? This applies to what the church practiced centuries ago and to what Islam practices today under the flags of "Jihad". |
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jackobeid
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 7:29:56 PM
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I do not believe in sin.However,I believe in ignorance.If you commit an irrational or wrong act it is because you lack the understanding or the knowledge to do the opposite.The irony here is the combination of the two words "war" and "holy".This is the tradgedy that fell on the catholic church in the middle ages and has fallen on Islam since the 20th century.
quote:
Originally posted by Stew
Since many in Lebanon were denied access to the book, I chose to share with them this excerpt:
"One hour, he told himself, grateful that the Teacher had given him time to carry out the necessary penance before entering a house of God. I must purge my soul of today's sins. The sins committed today had been Holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured.
Even so, Silas knew, absolution required sacrifice.
Pulling his shades, he stripped naked and knelt in the center of his room. Looking down, he examined the spiked cilice belt clamped around his thigh. All true followers of The Way wore this device—a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ's suffering. The pain caused by the device also helped counteract the desires of the flesh."
...my question to you is: Are there Holy sins? Is an act of war against the "enemies of God" a holy act and therefore forgivable? This applies to what the church practiced centuries ago and to what Islam practices today under the flags of "Jihad".
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Talal
Syria
21 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2005 : 11:22:08 PM
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My answer to you is:
Yes there are Holy sins. If you are a believer of any faith, then blasphemy is a holy sin. Almost all monotheistic religions teach that blasphemy is a sin and many actually impose punishment for it?
In the philosophical sense, I do not know. If you ask me to put my faith aside and answer your question, I would have to agree with jack. |
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Eyad
Lebanon
24 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2005 : 11:12:55 AM
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| I will focus on the book itself. It is a nice story. A work of fiction that enriches your imagination, beautifully written. If for nothing else, I think people should read it to improve their English language skills. |
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Jean
Lebanon
50 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2005 : 8:47:58 PM
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Excerpt:
BEGIN --
FACT:
The Priory of Sion—a European secret society founded in 1099—is a real organization. In 1975, Paris's Bibliothèque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci.
The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic group that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brain-washing, coercion, and a practice known as "corporal mortification." Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City.
All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.
--END. |
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PaxLibano
France
39 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2005 : 9:06:27 PM
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A response to The Da Vinci Code from the Prelature of Opus Dei in the United States.
Many readers are intrigued by the claims about Christian history and theology presented in The Da Vinci Code. We would like to remind them that The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, and it is not a reliable source of information on these matters.
The book has raised public interest in the origins of the Bible and of central Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus Christ. These topics are important and valuable to study, and we hope that interested readers will be motivated to study some of the abundant scholarship on them that is available in the non-fiction section of the library.
Readers who do further research and exercise critical judgment will discover that assertions made in The Da Vinci Code about Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and Church history lack support among reputable scholars. By way of example, the book popularizes the idea that the fourth century Roman emperor Constantine invented the doctrine of the divinity of Christ for political reasons. The historical evidence, however, clearly shows that the New Testament and the very earliest Christian writings manifest Christian belief in the divinity of Christ.
We also want to point out that The Da Vinci Code’s depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate, both in the overall impression and in many details, and it would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on reading The Da Vinci Code. For those interested in further information about the various false impressions the book gives of Opus Dei, please continue reading.
1. Opus Dei and monks
Throughout The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei members are presented as monks (or, rather, caricatures of monks). Like all Catholics, Opus Dei members have great appreciation for monks, but in fact there are no monks in Opus Dei. Opus Dei is a Catholic institution for lay people and diocesan priests, not a monastic order.
Opus Dei’s approach to living the faith does not involve withdrawing from the world like those called to the monastic life. Rather, Opus Dei helps people grow closer to God in and through their ordinary secular activities.
“Numerary” members of Opus Dei – a minority – choose a vocation of celibacy in order to be available to organize the activities of Opus Dei. They do not, however, take vows, wear robes, sleep on straw mats, spend all their time in prayer and corporal mortification, or in any other way live like The Da Vinci Code’s depiction of its monk character. In contrast to those called to the monastic life, numeraries have regular secular professional work.
In fact, The Da Vinci Code gets Opus Dei’s nature 180 degrees backwards. Monastic orders are for people who have a vocation to seek holiness by withdrawing from the secular world; Opus Dei is for people who have a vocation to live their Christian faith in the middle of secular society.
2. Opus Dei and crime
In The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei members are falsely depicted murdering, lying, drugging people, and otherwise acting unethically, thinking that it is justified for the sake of God, the Church, or Opus Dei (p. 13, 29, 58-9, etc.).
Opus Dei is a Catholic institution and adheres to Catholic doctrine, which clearly condemns immoral behavior, including murder, lying, stealing, and generally injuring people. The Catholic Church teaches that one should never do evil, even for a good purpose.
Opus Dei’s mission is to help people integrate their faith and the activities of their daily life, and so its spiritual education and counseling help members to be more ethical rather than less so. Opus Dei members, like everyone else, sometimes do things wrong, but this is an aberration from what Opus Dei is promoting rather than a manifestation of it.
Besides attributing criminal activity to Opus Dei, The Da Vinci Code also falsely depicts Opus Dei as being focused on gaining wealth and power. Additional comment from leading Catholic sources on Opus Dei’s alleged wealth and power.
3. Opus Dei and corporal mortification
The Da Vinci Code makes it appear that Opus Dei members practice bloody mortifications (e.g., pp. 12, 14, 29, 31, 73, 89, 127-28, 195, 276-79, 293). In fact, though history indicates that some Catholic saints have done so, Opus Dei members do not do this.
The Catholic Church advises people to practice mortification. The mystery of Jesus Christ’s Passion shows that voluntary sacrifice has a transcendent value and can bring spiritual benefits to others. Voluntary sacrifice also brings personal spiritual benefits, enabling one to resist the inclination to sin. For these reasons, the Church prescribes fasting on certain days and recommends that the faithful practice other sorts of mortification as well. Mortification is by no means the centerpiece of the Christian life, but nobody can grow closer to God without it: “There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2015).
In the area of mortification, Opus Dei emphasizes small sacrifices rather than extraordinary ones, in keeping with its spirit of integrating faith with secular life. For example, Opus Dei members try to make small sacrifices such as persevering at their work when tired, occasionally passing up some small pleasure, or giving help to those in need.
Some Opus Dei members also make limited use of the cilice and discipline, types of mortification that have always had a place in the Catholic tradition because of their symbolic reference to Christ’s Passion. The Church teaches that people should take reasonable care of their physical health, and anyone with experience in this matter knows that these practices do not injure one’s health in any way. The Da Vinci Code’s description of the cilice and discipline is greatly exaggerated: it is simply not possible to injure oneself with them as it depicts.
4. Opus Dei and cult allegations
In various places, The Da Vinci Code describes Opus Dei as a “sect” or a “cult” (e.g., pp. 1, 29, 30, 40, and 279). The fact is that Opus Dei is a fully integrated part of the Catholic Church and has no doctrines or practices except those of the Church. There is no definition or theory – whether academic or popular – that provides a basis for applying the pejorative terms “sect” or “cult” to Opus Dei.
Opus Dei is a Catholic institution that seeks to help people integrate their faith and the activities of their daily life. As a personal prelature (an organizational structure of the Catholic Church), it complements the work of local Catholic parishes by providing people with additional spiritual education and guidance.
Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928 by a Catholic priest, St. Josemaría Escrivá, and began to grow with the support of the local bishops there. It received final approval from the Vatican in 1950 and began growing in many countries around the world. Today Opus Dei has roughly 83,000 lay members (3,000 in the United States) and 2,000 priests. Several million people around the world participate in its programs and activities, which are conducted in more than 60 countries.
The Da Vinci Code also makes melodramatic assertions that Opus Dei engages in “brainwashing,” “coercion,” and “aggressive recruiting” (pp. 1, 29, 325, 415), unfairly trying to tar Opus Dei with the same brush used against groups more deserving of such epithets.
Opus Dei proposes to people to give their lives to God, following a special path of service within the Catholic Church. One’s life can only be given freely, through a decision coming from the heart, not from external pressure: pressure is both wrong and ineffective. Opus Dei always respects the freedom of conscience of its members, prospective members, and everyone else it deals with.
As a manifestation of its beliefs about the importance of freedom, Opus Dei has specific safeguards to ensure that decisions to join are free and fully informed. For example, nobody can make a permanent membership commitment in Opus Dei without first having completed more than 6 years of systematic and comprehensive instruction as to what membership entails. Additionally, no one can make a temporary commitment before age 18, nor a commitment to permanent membership before age 23.
5. Opus Dei and women
The Da Vinci Code says about Opus Dei’s U.S. headquarters: “Men enter the building through the main doors on Lexington Avenue. Women enter through a side street” (p. 28). This is inaccurate. People, whether male or female, use the doors leading to whichever section of the building they are visiting. The building is divided into separate sections, for the straightforward reason that one section includes a residence for celibate women and another for celibate men. But these sections are not sex-restricted, and it is the women’s not the men’s section that fronts on Lexington Avenue, the opposite of what is said in the book. (Note: The book sometimes also inaccurately calls the building Opus Dei’s “world headquarters”).
The Da Vinci Code also suggests that women Opus Dei members are “forced to clean the men’s residence halls for no pay” and are otherwise accorded lower status than men (pp. 41, 415-16).
This is not true. Opus Dei, like the Church in general, teaches that women and men are of equal dignity and value, and all of its practices are in accord with that belief. Women members of Opus Dei can be found in all sorts of professions, those which society views as prestigious and those which society today tends to undervalue, such as homemaking or domestic work. Opus Dei teaches that any kind of honest work done with love of God is of equal value.
Some women numerary members of Opus Dei have freely chosen to make a profession of taking care of Opus Dei’s centers, both women’s and men’s. They also run conference centers where activities of cultural and spiritual formation are held. These women are professionally trained and are paid for their services, which include interior decorating, catering and other highly skilled work. The millions of people who attend retreats or other spiritual formation activities at Opus Dei centers can attest to their professionalism. The Da Vinci Code’s insinuation that their work lacks dignity and value is demeaning to these women.
6. Opus Dei and the Vatican Bank
The Da Vinci Code says that Opus Dei was made a personal prelature as a reward for “bailing out” the Vatican bank (pp. 40-41, 415-416).
Neither Opus Dei nor any of its members helped “bail out” the Vatican bank. The Church’s authorities made Opus Dei a personal prelature in 1982 because they recognized that this new canonical category was a good fit for Opus Dei’s mission and structure.
In any event, the personal prelature status is nothing special: it is simply one of several canonical categories the Church has for designating an institution that carries out special pastoral activities. In contrast to the implication given by the book, personal prelature status in no way implies some special favor of the Pope or that Opus Dei members are not under the authority of their local bishops.
7. The canonization of Opus Dei’s founder
The Da Vinci Code suggests that the Church bent its canonization rules to put Opus Dei’s founder on the “fast track” to being named a saint (pp. 40-41).
The canonization of St. Josemaría Escrivá in 2002 came 27 years after his death (not 20, as the book says). It was one of the first to be processed after the 1983 Code of Canon Law streamlined the procedures for canonization, and so it moved more quickly than was typical before. Mother Teresa is on pace to be canonized even more quickly, having been beatified just 6 years after her death (Escrivá was beatified in 17 years). Even under the old procedures, the canonization of St. Therése of Lisieux made it through the process in 27 years, roughly the same as Escrivá’s.
For more information on Opus Dei, go to: http://www.opusdei.org/ (by permission of DEMLEB Forums). |
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dana
Canada
27 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2005 : 2:05:06 PM
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My personal feedback on the book & all the hype:
I was deeply engrossed in this book and could not put it down. You definitely pick up a lot of facts, and it's much more interesting if you have recently visited Paris & checked out the references in person.
Brown was very good at twisting and turning things and keeping u yearning for more. I have to admit though, it got a bit "cheesy" in some areas, and the last few pages got a tad...well..."blah". Almost expected from an American work of fiction (I'd like to stress - fiction).
Apparently a movie of the book is currently in the works & Langdon will be played by Tom Hanks…hmmm…I just don’t see him as Langdon (how disappointing). I do foresee, however, that this will be another Hollywood splash with not much pizzazz - a great tactic to leverage on all the hype & controversy of the hardcover, by introducing a Hollywood blockbuster. Let’s not forget the recently published “illustrated version”. What a PR/marketing team!
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PaxLibano
France
39 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2005 : 10:01:06 AM
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The Young Man Suspended Between Two Lines
Ghassan Charbel Al-Hayat 2005/06/4
It's time for your article, so don't be late. It's not your style to claim you have an appointment. It's not in your nature to make excuses. You're not the kind of person who fails to keep appointments. You're simply not the kind of person who fails. You don't make a mistake of these proportions. You don't commit the crime of being absent. Gebran would scold you and the "Ustaz" would scold you; the readers would become consumed by anxiety.
It's time for your article, so don't be late. Warriors don't take holidays. A boxer doesn't retire in the prime of his life. Don't apologize. Page One would be sad. It might be taken by the desire to apologize, or disavow. The city's day is lacking. The "day" of An-Nahar is lacking. If you aren't around, sadness will spread to the ink at the printer's. The headlines will once again open the closet containing our mourning clothes.
The rooster will crow blood.
They killed you.
Samir Kassir
We are weary of the scarves of farewell; the gravediggers have yet to become weary. We are weary of burying martyrs; the criminal geniuses have yet to become weary. We are weary of the caskets bearing our brightest; the hands of killers have yet to become weary. As if Beirut is still hungry for martyrs, as if it hasn't had its fill. It flirts with them, lures them, then steals them to bury them in her bosom, turning them into shimmering screams. It steals them, so they become roots, and bridges.
It was no secret that you committed many offenses. A lover of ink, a lover of freedom. It was no secret that you didn't know how to dissemble; you didn't like to be half-brave, or love something with only half your heart. It was no secret that you resorted to ink, illuminating it, and you were burned. You resorted to freedom, until the banks of the grave. Isn't the grave the latest battlement of a journalist who doesn't capitulate, a seeker of knowledge who doesn't surrender, a fighter for a cause who doesn't stop at the red light and the promise of safety?
In bidding you farewell, in the name of Al-Hayat newspaper we voice our horror, our revulsion, our condemnation. We voice our rejection of the policy of breaking pens, of muffling voices, regardless of what they support. In bidding you farewell, your colleagues, from various affiliations, are losing your coming articles and books, your fiery eyes, your learning and audacity.
This is a lot for one city. Rafiq Hariri, Bassel Fleihan, and Samir Kassir. This is a lot for one city, for one nation.
It's time for your article, so don't be late.
They say that they caught you committing dreams, with your eyes closed.
They say that they caught you, suspended between two lines. |
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Por libertà di parola ed espressione
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