Couldn’t help noticing in The Da Vinci Code (Part II)
The tagline for the upcoming The Da Vinci Code movie is “Seek the Truth”. However, I wonder if there is more emphasis on the ‘seek’ part than on ‘truth’ part, and whether this is merely another symptom of what's wrong with our world.
The plot of the novel is roughly structured around the stages of the journey that Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu take to solve the mystery of who killed Jacques Saunière and why: at each stage, they are faced with a new riddle or a puzzle which, when unlocked, points to the next one. Readers can participate in a similar kind of experience (minus being hunted by the French police and threatened by a zealous albino monk) by taking The Da Vinci Code WebQuest and working their way through all its anagrams, riddles and codes. (This was part of the book's original promotional campaign and there is now a second WebQuest that makes use of clues found in the US Edition of The Da Vinci Code which point to Brown's next novel, The Solomon Key.) There is also something for the movie-goer: on the movie's flash site, the viewer is challenged to
Watch The Da Vinci Gallery and embark on your own quest for hidden truth! Search through some of Da Vinci's most famous works of art for hidden symbols. If you succceed in finding all six symbols, you will unlock a secret.
But it seems to me the journey is more exciting than the destination and the seeking is far more enjoyable than the thing that is found. (Who else thought that the end of The Da Vinci Code was a real anticlimax?) The sense of accomplishment you get from finally working it out is what you're supposed to take away with you, not the ‘truth’ you've uncovered. The truth doesn't matter.
In contrast, the truth about who Jesus is can be accessed without code-breaking, riddle-solving or puzzle-cracking: it is plain for all who care to listen. Furthermore, it is a truth that matters for it is a truth that promises liberty to its knowers:
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31b-32)
Such treasure makes The Da Vinci Code look like nothing more than fancy packaging.