Chapter 24: Brewing Controversy, Part Two

**Warning: The following passage could be deemed blasphemous by many.  If you have heart problems, back problems, are pregnant, or are incapable of rational thought and can’t even understand that when an exact replication of our world gets destroyed in movies like Deep Impact, the real world doesn't get destroyed, then don’t ride.**

As promised, below is a book excerpt related to my post on Tuesday.  It was written prior to the Holy Blood, Holy Grail controversy, so perhaps it needs a little update, but I believe the content still works.

I am only including the parts that are relevant to our recent conversation, so some story will get lost.  Also, passages from a book never really work on their own, and this is no exception.  There is a history between the characters that you don't know, as well as actions that have occured before this scene that you aren't privy to.  The characters turn out to be very different from how they portray themselves in this scene, the intoxication of one of the characters plays a major role in an upcoming plot point, and, most importantly, the dialogue serves as foreshadowing for a big revelation toward the end of the book.

With that out of the way, here is the scene:

    Even though his stomach was full, Andrew Wilson was staring at Mary Engel hungrily as he held the restaurant door open for her.
    “And so you did or didn’t like it?” he asked.
    “Oh no, it was good,” Mary responded.  “I very much enjoyed it.  I just don’t think The Da Vinci Code is the book of the century.  The different elements that Dan Brown makes up are fascinating, but the writing didn’t particularly blow me away.” 
    “What exactly did he make up?” Andrew asked as he slowed down to let Mary walk in front of him.  He watched her ass bounce up and down gingerly.  He licked his lips.
    “He made up everything,” Mary said, craning her neck to see if Andrew was behind her.  “The Knights Templar hiding the existence of their secret society through Leonardo Da Vinci’s artwork.  Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus.  Her presence in the Last Supper painting.  The Holy Grail’s hidden location underneath the Louvre.  The church burning women at the stake to take away the power of femininity.  These were all elements of a story that he invented.”
    Mary tripped over her own feet.  Andrew rushed behind her and placed his hand against her back.              “Whoopsie daisy,” she said, trying to shrug off her embarrassment.
    “So none of that was real?”
    “No.  I mean, maybe.  But no one knows for sure.  Dan Brown thought he was just creating some interesting narrative, but maybe he’s right.  Maybe everything he says is true.  We can never tell for sure.  Maybe God came to him and told him the truth and asked him to write it down in a book.  Maybe God told him it will be the greatest story ever told.”
    “Are you taking a shot at the Bible?”
    Mary opened her mouth to laugh but only a slight gurgle escaped.  She swallowed hard and then said, “No, of course not.  I’m just being facetious.  But what I love are the books that dispute what Dan Brown writes in his story.  Books like Breaking the Da Vinci Code and The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code.  Have you seen these?”
    “I think so.”
    “I love them.”
    “Why?” Andrew asked, missing the sarcasm in Mary’s voice.
    “Because they are disputing fiction.  They are telling the ‘truth’ about lies.  Dan Brown has admitted that the book is made up.  He says he was just telling a story.  And yet these people are publishing books disputing what that story says.  Of course it isn’t true.  He made it up!”
    Andrew quickened his pace and was now walking alongside Mary.  “Lower your voice,” he told her.          “You’re practically shouting.”
    “How did they ever get this crap published?” she yelled, ignoring his comment.  “Can you imagine going to a publisher and saying, ‘I have a book that proves everything in The Da Vinci Code is a lie.’  The publisher would laugh you out of the building.  He’d say, ‘Um…yes…that’s wonderful.  But we already know it’s a lie.  He admits it.  It’s fiction.’”
    “Well I think the point of those books is to explain to the gullible world what is true and what isn’t.  I mean, Dan Brown may admit that it’s fiction, but that doesn’t mean some stupid people aren’t going to believe it.  You know what I’m saying?”  Mary shook her head in agreement.  “You just said the writing is nothing extraordinary.  So then why is the book so popular?  It’s because of what it says about religion.  People believe it and controversy brews.”
    “You make a good point there.”
    “I know I do.”
    Mary’s forehead wrinkled as if deep in concentration.  When the wrinkles smoothed themselves out, she said, “But that’s really ironic, because they are that gullible world you just mentioned.”
    Andrew stared inquisitively at her, asking her to elaborate without opening his mouth.  She obliged.
    “Think about that hymn that goes, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.’  Are you familiar with it?”
    “Of course.”
    “Whoever sings it is confessing that they believe what the Bible says because the Bible tells them to believe it.  How naïve is that?  Christians are worried that people will believe the things The Da Vinci Code says just because The Da Vinci Code says them, but one of their most famous hymns says to believe the things the Bible says just because the Bible says them.”
    “Well, they have other reasons to believe what the Bible says.”
    “Listen, the fact remains that we don’t really know what’s true.  Say I showed up at the Vatican tomorrow claiming to be a pregnant virgin.  How could they dispute my claim?”
    “Well, you have two kids for one thing.”
    “Okay, so bad example.  But you know what I mean.”
    Andrew turned toward his car but Mary kept walking the other way.  He ran over to her and placed his hand on her back.  He led her through the parking lot to his car.  She kept talking, not noticing the shift in her direction.
    She said, “A woman could claim immaculate conception, she could claim she is carrying the baby Jesus, and the Vatican would demand DNA samples and all that, which they should, but they would demand proof.  They would say, ‘Where is the proof?’  But where is their proof?  They have no proof that what they believe is true.  Maybe Dan Brown has written the real Bible, and everything they’ve been praying to is wrong.”
    Andrew moved his hand down from her back to her butt.  He pinched it playfully.  Mary blushed and slapped his hand away.
    “Who do you think you are?”
    “Just someone who finds you irresistible.”
    She blushed deeper.  In truth, Mary had liked the pinch.  She liked Andrew’s boldness, especially since he had seemed so shy earlier.  But more than anything else, she liked the fact that he was showering her with attention and compliments.  She would never admit this, but she had made many attempts to get Todd to start noticing her again.  Her most recent effort involved buying low-cut jeans that hung off her hips.  She also bought a sexy red thong to wear underneath the jeans so the string of the underwear would rise up over the denim, an event that proved embarrassing since she had her two kids with her.  Todd has yet to comment on them.   
    “So I guess you aren’t big on religion?” Andrew asked.
    Mary didn’t answer.
    “Mary?”
    “Huh?  What?”
    “So I guess you don’t like religion then?”
    “I wouldn’t necessarily say that.  I think religion is a wonderful thing.  It brings people together.  It gives them something to believe in.  Something to look forward to.  It can be great.”
    “But.”
    “Well, let’s just say I only go to church to appease my husband.”  
    They finally reached Andrew’s car and he opened the door for Mary.  She crouched down and stepped into the passenger seat.  She didn’t mean it to be, but Andrew saw it as an act of seduction.  She arched her back sexily as she crouched down.  Andrew moaned to himself as her smooth, perfect neck passed by his line of sight, and he took a large whiff and sighed as her scent filled his lungs. 
    “You know,” she said.  “I appreciate you listening to me.  Todd never lets me ramble.”
    “I don’t know why.  I find you fascinating.”  Mary swooned but Andrew didn’t see it.  He was walking to the driver’s side of his car.  He flung open the car door and sat down.  “So, you ready to go?” he asked as he turned his key and brought the car to life.

The scene then gets into some action that is irrelevant to the issue at hand, so I will fast forward to the next part:

    Andrew Wilson stared intently at Mary Engel, who was talking adamantly in the car seat next to him.  Nothing could make him take his eyes off her, except the blaring horn of a car.  His attention turned to the streetlight ahead of him, which was green.  He started moving forward.  He looked back at Mary, who looked at him and blushed.
    “Did you hear me?” she asked.
    “Yes, yes, I heard you.  Keep going.  I’m listening,” Andrew assured her.
    “But are you considering what I am saying?” Mary asked.  “There are more books refuting the freakin’ Da Vinci Code than the Bible.  Think about how crazy that is.  No one is living their lives based on the writings of Dan Brown.  Is it really that threatening?”
    “I’m sure the church feels threatened.  You said it claims the church burned women at the stake.”
    “But who do you think the people disputing the book are?  They are people who live their lives by the Bible.  They are so hypocritical.  How can they have any idea what the Bible says is true?  They are disputing The Da Vinci Code based on what is written in the Bible.  So they are in essence disputing the writings of one book that may be fiction by citing writings from another book that may be fiction.”
    “Well, many people don’t believe the Bible is fiction.”
    “But that’s my whole point.  It’s just what they believe.  There is no proof to confirm that what is written in the Bible is true.  And yet people who believe what the Bible says claim there is no proof to confirm that what is written in The Da Vinci Code is true.”
    “Yeah?”
    “What do you mean, ‘yeah?’  Don’t you see the insanity in that?  What if there is nothing to prove the legitimacy of the Bible because it isn’t legitimate?  What if the stories were simply invented by a bunch of good storytellers?  What if the authors of the Bible were the original Dan Brown?  What if they just created a great story, and then people started believing it to be true?
    “Then what?”
    “It would be the same thing.  It’s just that the authors of the Bible aren’t around to admit the stories were simply fiction.  Dan Brown is.”
    “Okay, but –” 
    “Maybe in 2,000 years people will look at The Da Vinci Code as their Bible, and there will be people like us having a conversation about whether it is real or whether some guy just made it up to tell an entertaining story.”
    “Okay, but the fact is millions of people live their lives by the Bible.  They don’t want some other book coming around telling them everything they believe is wrong.”
    “No, I know.  You’re right.”
    “So what’s your point?”
    “I don’t know.  I guess I don’t have one.  I’m just kind of thinking in my head, wondering how we come to believe what is real and what isn’t.”
    “Is this conversation real?”
    “Maybe.  Or maybe it’s a mirror of something that happened in some parallel dimension.”
    “Huh?  That doesn’t even make any sense.”
    “Yeah, I know.  I don’t know.” 

They go on, but about something that will only have meaning to people who have read what proceeds it.  Since none of you have actually read the book, that means it won't have meaning to you. 

So what are your thoughts on their conversation?  Which of the two characters do you find yourself agreeing with most? 

Per the end of Tuesday's post, is this conversation really controversial?  Will it stir heated debates between people who agree with it and people who are adamently against its message?  Does it exist solely to be controversial, or is it just a silly little stretch of dialogue that isn't good enough to affect emotion?

We don't know Dan Brown's true intention, but I can tell you mine.  I love books with deep foreshadowing.  I love symbalism and meaning.  The only problem with using foreshadowing in mainstream literature (as opposed to the great American novel that will be dissected for years to come in English class) is that the scene that does the foreshadowing can be boring for the reader until he or she reaches the scene it was supposed to foreshadow.  The dialogue in the above passage, and the movements the characters make, are serious foreshadowing for a very important moment, but I didn't want the foreshadowing to be boring for the reader before he or she got to that important moment and realized the bigger meaning.  Hopefully people will find this discussion on The Da Vinci Code and the Bible interesting, and hopefully they will also get the symbalism when it comes.  I tried to make the best of both worlds. 

And hopefully soon you'll be able to read the entire book and tell me whether I succeeded or not.