I woke up this morning, having read the entire novel newest of Dan Brown "The Lost Symbol", yesterday. I swear this guy really writes stories that keep me riveted--as mysteries and suspense usually do. I read the entire book in one sitting--unable to take my eyes off it. Start to finish, it took me about 8 hours to read--no mean feat when you consider the book is just over 500 pages long.
The only trouble I see with the book is that when the end comes, there is much further writing which seemingly hopes to lure the reader back from the precipice and bring a sense of peaceful tranquility and resolution--maybe even grace? to the reader, and I found myself reading, but not feeling the relief that I believed the book was trying to bestow on my 3 am mind. I had the most difficult time getting to sleep that night with all the strange images flowing through my head and the attempts to juxtapose what was written within with what I knew about things religion.
Sucks to be me. The book is a great read, but the last 10-15 pages felt like fluff that was from a completely different world, and not well thought out. I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone who hadn't had at least some experience in theology and apologetics--things which I have studied a time or two. A background in many different religions--because just one background may leave the reader lost and confused. Someone who is searching may not recognise what's really going on, and I stop now to ponder...
What faith is Dan Brown?
A personal question for sure, but I don't see his path as being one that brings him to any Christian church--meaning one of the mainline churches--that being--Baptist, Methodist or Lutheran. This is not to say that there is no Christianity in other churches, but simply that these are the mainline churches that broke off from the Church of Roman Catholicism, and returned to the study of the Bible, renouncing much of the doctrines and activities of the "management" of the "head church"--that being Roman Catholicism. Still, pagan influences are rife in the church. The songs have been changed to gain more converts so the church can make more money--alas, the church isn't what it used to be, and more and more people are looking for answers--many turning to their own minds or to the internet, and looking for something that either entertains their fancy, or tells them what they want to hear.
Sadly, the book ended in a very predictable way--right down to the last letter--which somehow disappointed me. Perhaps it's the Knowledge of Good and Evil within me that made it possible for me to see how things were going to end? And that was my final thought, as I lay awake in bed at 3am--the Fall--what exactly transpired there?
I mean, let's face it...if God created Man in his own image--then man was very like "God"--with all the traits and so forth--why then, the need for the trees and the "Don't" command. Why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Why the tree of everlasting life? Weren't we created "like God"? Doesn't that imply that we already had those attributes before the Fall? And why did Man choose of the tree of wisdom? Okay, granted, there was a serpent. But take him out of the equation, and you're asking yourself "Why not choose to live forever, first?" If Man was created in God's image, why then was he so dang stupid? I realize that I'm not saying much about God there. Perhaps it wasn't a tree at all--but something that, when "stepped into" would pervade every aspect of a person's life--much like the tree of life indicates--and didn't Jesus and the Apostles talk about trees and grafting and fruit--I suppose I'm getting away from my original premise--but I'm sure you catch my drift. A good tree bears good fruit--a bad tree bears bad fruit--
We have an apple tree in our backyard. We don't use pesticide on the tree, and so the apples are wormy. Not a big deal, since we don't eat the apples, but this doesn't make the tree bad-it just means we aren't very good gardenkeepers to use the pesticide. But even a bad tree, (allegorically) sometimes will bring forth good fruit, if it serves it's purpose, depending what that tree's purpose might be.
Even further, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of everlasting life...well, you could say that these "trees" may be the archetypical male and female---male being "knowledge" and female being "life" because of the womb, but now I'm really stretching.
I don't know if I told you but I finished the Path of Flowers Stole. I still have not blocked it. The keyboard on the laptop is acting up, so I figure that I will go and continue with my queries within my own head. CYA!
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