Podcast features Strobel on ‘Code’
The media is buzzing. Pastors are preaching. Books are being written. Curiosities are piqued.
The May 19 release of the movie “The Da Vinci Code” has Christians looking for resources that separate fact from fiction. LifeWay Christian Stores will release a podcast May 16 featuring author Lee Strobel on his new book Exploring the Da Vinci Code: Investigating the Issues Raised by the Book and Movie, written with Garry Poole. The podcast is free at www.lifewaystores.com/podcast.
Claiming “The Da Vinci Code” is “5 percent true and 95 percent false,” Strobel talks about the falsehoods represented as truths in the book.
“Large numbers of people are believing that the historical assertions in the book are true,” said Strobel in the 30-minute LifeWay Christian Stores author/artist podcast. “In fact, Dan Brown, in the beginning of the book on a page that says ‘Fact,’ lists things he claims are fact which are not historical fact and can mislead a lot of people.”
Strobel encourages listeners to be ready for the potential impact the movie will have that will provoke spiritual discussions and increase evangelistic opportunities. “We are dealing with a cultural tsunami that is sweeping over the country and it’s just going to get worse (after the movie hits),” he said. “We’ve got to be ready.”
58 percent oppose ‘gay marriage’
A new Gallup poll shows that exactly half of American adults support passage of a Federal Marriage Amendment, and even more of them – nearly three out of five – oppose “gay marriage.” The poll of 1,002 adults May 8-11 shows that by a 58-39 percent margin, American adults oppose redefining marriage to include homosexuals. Additionally, 50 percent favor and 47 percent oppose a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate an amendment beginning June 7. Support for the amendment has been somewhat consistent – it was at 50 percent in March 2004, 57 percent in March 2005 and 53 percent last April and May.
At graduation, students pray, protest
About 200 seniors at a high school graduation in Kentucky stood to recite the Lord’s Prayer May 19 in response to a federal judge banning prayer at the ceremony after an ACLU-affiliated lawsuit. School officials said voluntary prayer had been a part of graduations at Russell County High School in Russell Springs for decades without a complaint until May 16, when an anonymous graduating senior collaborated with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky to file a lawsuit claiming he was offended by graduation prayers.
U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinney granted a temporary restraining order about 12 hours before graduation, ordering school officials and a peer-elected student not to proceed with a scheduled prayer in the ceremony. But during the principal’s opening remarks, students stood and said the Lord’s Prayer in unison, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd of 2,000 people, according to the Associated Press.
The “revival-like atmosphere” continued, AP said, when senior Megan Chapman, chosen by her classmates to deliver remarks, mentioned her faith – particularly that she believed God had guided her since childhood. She was interrupted repeatedly by the cheering crowd as she admonished graduates to trust in God.