The Da Vinci Code

aquaticaquatic
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
In the middle of reading The Da Vinci Code.. I went online to research Opus Dei and was appalled they exist. ODAN.org reveals disturbing information and next time I am in RI I mean to visit one of their "cooperators" in Prov. On a sidenote what are the Knights of Columbus? They seem to be everywhere and attend Eagle Scout ceremonies at our Scout functions, which I thought were secular and supposedly are yet in fact it is appearing Scouts are de facto Catholic or at least Christian in nature as an organization. Religious people have always scared me but after this book I was really disturbed. Opus Dei is apparently very politically active and wealthy and in the process of taking over the Vatican! It is an official prelature of the Pope, which it looks like it bought because they bailed the Vatican out of an embarrassing bankruptcy a while back, and their evil founder is on the fast track for sainthood. \



Anyone's thoughts? Does anyone know someone in Opus Dei? Where do the Masons fit in? I laughed when I saw the Skulls and of course the Stone Cutter's Club on the Simpsons, playing up of secret societies, but now I'm not so sure, looking at how many historical figures were in societies like this.



Anyhow back to the book. Can't. Stop. Reading.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I would say that the Scouts are nondenominational but defiantly not secular. Plus it's a private organization so they can do whatever they want.
  • Reply 2 of 30
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    I read that book in like 3 days, I loved it. I'm sure that this thread will turn into a religion/non-religion flame war, so I'm glad I found it while I did. Dan Brown's other book Angels and Demons is also very good, and talks some about the Masons but mostly the Illuminati. The guy is an excellent writer and the amount of research he has done is amazing. I definitely recommend checking out danbrown.com.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    brbr Posts: 8,395member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    I would say that the Scouts are nondenominational but defiantly not secular. Plus it's a private organization so they can do whatever they want.



    The Scouts are technically nondenominational but all of the wacky decisions about no atheists and no homos are a result of the scouts being the official LDS youth group. Mormons. Feh. They don't make up a majority of all scouts but they are significant enough to be very influential in the decision-making process.
  • Reply 4 of 30
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    If you've read the DaVinci Code you should get Angels and Demons too. Here's a little taste of what you're in for.





    Hint: Look at it upside down!!!
  • Reply 5 of 30
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    A friend of mine just gave me Digital Fortress as a Christmas gift, I'm so psyched to read it. And when I can say I'm psyched to read a book (You know, one that's more than 50 pages and without pictures) then the author's doing something right.
  • Reply 6 of 30
    superkarate monkeydeathcarsuperkarate monkeydeathcar Posts: 2,407member
    i'm just finishing the new patricia cornwall (i have a weakness for patricia cornwall and edna buchanon's crime novels, they are in fact the only fiction i read) and my wife is forcing me to read this next. i just saw ron "opie cunningham" howard is doing the movie so it must have a happy ending.





    actually the time magazine cover (i didn't get the saddam issue, i got the issue that was sent out before the saddam thing happened) last week was a bit about the history the book is based on, and it really got me in the mood to read it.
  • Reply 7 of 30
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    In the middle of reading The Da Vinci Code.. I went online to research Opus Dei and was appalled they exist.



    They certainly exist, but there's nothing sinister about them. They're kinda weird, sure, but no more weird than any religious group.



    I liked the Da Vinci Code, but Angels & Demons is the exact same book! It was kind of spooky. It was like he wrote a trial run for Da Vinci, and then just said "OK I'll change the content here and there but leave the plot exactly the same." But it's good, very-easy-to-read pop fiction. Very very easy to read. But he makes up for his very low-level writing style with interesting content, like the whole Lost Gospels issue. Makes you want to go out and do some more research on the topics.
  • Reply 8 of 30
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    The Knights of Columbus are a secular fraternal organiztion- their work is mostly of a charitable nature - the reasons the membership is mostly Catholic are:



    1. Membership was not proscribed by the church.

    2. Catholics were allowed to join during its entire history.
  • Reply 9 of 30
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Yes it does BRussell! However you should read more about Opus Dei. They are a cult that brainwashes people and takes all their money and they make women completely servile, they clean the males' residences every day and sleep on the floor. \ Also they imply you can "buy" God because you can be a "cooperator" who doesn't believe in their faith but donates money to Opus Dei. From them horse's mouth: "Cooperators are those who, without being faithful of the Prelature, collaborate through their prayer (if they are believers), their financial contributions, or their work. They benefit from the prayers of the faithful of Opus Dei on their behalf. Many non-Catholics and non-Christians, attracted by the spirit of Opus Dei, have become cooperators. " Ol' JC if he was around would prolly kick their asses and overturn their tables...This sounds a lot like what he was against.



    HOM that is COOL! I didn't know about his other books really. I will have to check them out! Dan Brown sounds sort of like Robert Langdon, when I look at that Angels and Demons in HOM's post; a symbologist fascinated by secret societies.



    Scott I know they are, I wasn't saying they couldn't make the decisions they did even if I don't personally agree with them. Scouts do have Catholic ties though or at least Christian ones, we used to meet in a basement of a Catholic Church before moving to a VA hospital.



    Now the Masons, there is an organization that must be very large and influential. They have a very unobtrusive, nondescript, low slung grey stoned building on the URI campus, and hell they even have a Masonic Hall in my town. If they even have a presence in the middle of nowhere aka my town in Vermont they're really serious about spreading around!
  • Reply 10 of 30
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    Now the Masons, there is an organization that must be very large and influential. They have a very unobtrusive, nondescript, low slung grey stoned building on the URI campus, and hell they even have a Masonic Hall in my town. If they even have a presence in the middle of nowhere aka my town in Vermont they're really serious about spreading around!



    You already know too much...
  • Reply 11 of 30
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I don't know much about the Knights of Columbus, but from what I've studied, the Masons aren't exactly sorcerers nor are their so-called secrets terribly terrible. Think geometry, especially from the greeks (the non platonic variety), and of course from Islamic scholars. Their political exploits are another matter, naturally.
  • Reply 12 of 30
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    I liked the Da Vinci Code, but Angels & Demons is the exact same book! It was kind of spooky. It was like he wrote a trial run for Da Vinci, and then just said "OK I'll change the content here and there but leave the plot exactly the same."



    Oh come on! Those two books are completely different! I mean, look:



    One had Robert Langdon, while the other had Robert Langdon.



    One is set in a capital city of Europe (Paris) while the other is set in a capital city of Europe (Rome).



    One is about a secret organization (the Opus Dei and the Scion of whatever) while the other is about a secret organization (The Illuminati).



    One has a wicked smart woman in it (Vittoria) while the other has a wicked smart woman in it (Sophie).



    One focuses almost exclusively on Robert Langdon's stunning ability to solve puzzles and read symbols, while the other focuses on robert Langdon's stunning to solve puzzles and read symbols.



    One is interested in the relationship between science and religion, while the other is interested in the relationship between science and religion.



    And last, but not least, they both have different titles!!!



    I mean, give me a friggin' break, man! They're clearly not the same book! They don't even have the same number of pages!!



    Gah! I'll bet you didn't like the John Grisham novel about the lawyer, either.



    Cheers

    Scott



    PS

    FWIW, I'm about midway through The da Vinci Code, and while I'm finding it enjoyable, it strikes me as being driven by that kind of George Lucas logic: "Hey! They liked the light sabers in the first movies! We'll put WAAAAAAY more light sabers in the second ones, and it'll be that much better!" The puzzles are too often and too many, and they don't get the answers wrong enough, as they did in A&D.
  • Reply 13 of 30
    stupider...likeafoxstupider...likeafox Posts: 1,618member
    Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco is a good book if you're into that whole conpiracy vibe with the Templars etc.



    It follows the pattern of his other, equally great, books of weaving real history into a totally postmodern story that somehow remains utterly involving.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by midwinter

    Oh come on! Those two books are completely different! I mean, look:

    snip...





    That's so amazingly accurate. I read the Da Vinci code a few days after Angels & Demons and thought to myself, "Self, did you just read this?"
  • Reply 15 of 30
    immanuel goldsteinimmanuel goldstein Posts: 708member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stupider...likeafox

    Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco is a good book if you're into that whole conspiracy vibe with the Templars etc.



    That was a book I enjoyed tremendously. Eco is now as much my favourite author as Orwell always was.

    Also, I happen to fully agree with Eco's take on that whole ?hermetic? business, as told by Lia to Casaubon when she explains to him what the ordonation of Provins was really all about.



    [Of course, I could not resist a book containing two of my all time favourite ingredients: Apple and Cabbala.]
  • Reply 16 of 30
    superkarate monkeydeathcarsuperkarate monkeydeathcar Posts: 2,407member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by segovius

    Did you read Cornwell's Jack the Ripper investigation ?



    She believes the Ripper was Walter Sickert (the painter) and provides some interesting evidence.



    Apparently Cornwell believed he left clues in his paintings and she bought one (for $1M) and ripped it up to find some ! Don't think she did though !



    yes, i have it and i was 150 pages into it and i realized i wasn't paying attention. so i stopped. my wife suggested i read "The Devil In The White City" by erik larsen, a true story about a serial killer in chicago during the worlds fair (around the same time as ripper, 1893) which may be the best book i read this year. and i've never gone back to the cornwall.

    maybe after "The Da Vinci Code".
  • Reply 17 of 30
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Shriners are creepy with their fezzes.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    As a curiosity (I have not read that book yet) ... why is it called da Vinci code? What does it have to do with Leonardo?
  • Reply 19 of 30
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    As a curiosity (I have not read that book yet) ... why is it called da Vinci code? What does it have to do with Leonardo?



    http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58378,00.html



    Edit: Didn't read more than half the first page, not sure if this gives away too much of the book.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    HOM that is COOL! I didn't know about his other books really. I will have to check them out! Dan Brown sounds sort of like Robert Langdon, when I look at that Angels and Demons in HOM's post; a symbologist fascinated by secret societies.



    Scott I know they are, I wasn't saying they couldn't make the decisions they did even if I don't personally agree with them. Scouts do have Catholic ties though or at least Christian ones, we used to meet in a basement of a Catholic Church before moving to a VA hospital.



    Now the Masons, there is an organization that must be very large and influential. They have a very unobtrusive, nondescript, low slung grey stoned building on the URI campus, and hell they even have a Masonic Hall in my town. If they even have a presence in the middle of nowhere aka my town in Vermont they're really serious about spreading around!



    The ambigrams from Angels and Demons, like the one HOM posted, were done by a man named John Langdon, how's that for some recognition for the guy. And there's a Masonic temple/lodge in just about every town. I'm sure there's more than a handful of people here that are members of the Freemasons. I've always wanted to sneak into the one in the town where I grew up just to see what's in there. I mean, I've been in the bottom part because they rented it out for parties and BBQs and stuff, but the top half where it looks like a church door I've always wanted to go into. Mostly just because I've heard crazy rumors about altars and stuff, and crazy robes. I did once find a friend of the family's Masonic guidebook thing once when I was younger, I found it on accident I swear, and it didn't make any sense to me, but it didn't look all that mischievous either.
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