I’m nearly finished with “The Last Templar,” yet another knockoff on “The Da Vinci Code.” What makes this one different? Not much.
The Premise: Christianity isn’t true. Both the Vatican and remnants of a secret society know it isn’t true. The Vatican is trying to stop the society from revealing the truth using unsavory methods in the latest battle of a 2000 year old war between ‘organized religion’ and 'enlightened' folks who want everyone to get along in a world uncluttered by the power plays of clergy and the evils/excesses of religion and its fanatics.
Lots of action interspersed with diatribes by the various sides expounding on their philosophies, misquoting the Bible and who knows how many other documents, with plenty of secret codes and puzzles, exotic locales, romance, etc….
This one at least explores to some depth the impact on society that such a ‘revelation’ might bring, and quotes Paul in I Corinthians where he says that if the Resurrection isn’t true, then Christians are to be the most pitied of all humans.
What would be the impact on your life if you discovered Jesus never rose from the dead?
What would be the impact on those around you and the world as a whole?
Now, what would be the impact on your life if you discovered Jesus DID rise from the dead?
What would be the impact on those around you and the world as a whole?
Which set of questions do our lives and scholarly pursuits reflect our conclusions to be?
SDG
Follow-up: I finished the book last night, and have to amend my comments slightly. In this case, the author makes it so the Templar's devastating evidence to destroy Christianity (Jesus' handwritten diary as a human) is accidentally destroyed and lost forever, and on the very last page, reveals that the diary was a carefully conceived hoax to bring down all three monotheistic religions so as to remove the barriers, 'so we could all just get along.' So, as a Christian, I am happy that he seems to put a pro-faith twist on it in the end--a refreshing change! I also just found out today that he's come out with a sequel--"The Templar Salvation." If you read it, I'll let you do a review here.
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