Despite the many protest against Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, w/c he emphasized as a fiction but I'm quite sure many who have read it was astounded by the possibility of its contents to be true. The story is very detailed tracing back history and relating facts from the bible and symbology (study of symbol). I don't think someone like the author or anybody else can ever think of such disturbing contents without actual and true basis. So far, I've read the acknowledgements, the prologue and the first page of the novel, and it doesn't look good. The book starts off with three fact claims: 1) That the so-called Priory of Sion is a real secret society founded in 1099, 2) that the catholic lay organization Opus Dei is involved in "brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification,'" and 3) that the novel accurately describes the artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals presented in it. I don't know much about #s 2 & 3 (although, my girlfriend has family members involved with the Opus Dei); but I do know a bit about #1. Having read the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (about ten years ago) as well criticisms against it, The Priory of Sion is a complete fabrication, by a certain frenchman named Pierre Plantard. According to Wikipedia, the Priory was created by Plantard and an associate in 1956. All claims that it dates back to 1099 and was involved in the Christian Crusades is nothing more than a hoax, and an easily exposed one at that. After duly noting that Dan Brown's novel is a house built on sand (Matt. 7:26-27), let us begin our quest to examine what the hype is all about. (And did I forget to mention the book has awkwardly phrased lines like "He had been asleep only an hour, but he felt like the dead." Sad indeed.)
Why would I "need" to read the bible? Because you say so? Or because God says so? Where did God say that? oh yeah... in the bible....
Its called FICTION...if more people would read angels and demons before they read divinci code, they would see that dan brown basically created a modern day indiana jones.
yes, the Bible is its own authority. It's up to you whether you read it or not, but it claims to be inspired of God. Yes men did the actual writing, but it contains God's thoughts. Thus by reading it, with discernment and understanding, we can get to know the mind of God. Is that not a good reason to read it? Not only do we get to know the mind of God, but we get to know why we are here, why we grow old and die, why suffering exists in the world, what is God's purpose for the earth and for us, and what the future holds! So no way I'm going to tell you to read the Bible, why would you need to know these things?
Its a story, fiction and not particularly good fiction at that! What amazes me is that people want to believe, quite desperately sometimes, in anything OTHER than the Bible. How many thousands of hours, dollars, and lifetimes have been spent trying to disprove, add to or in some way twist the truth of the Bible. Entire religions, huge ones (not mentioning any names) are based on twisted doctrines, traditions of men, made-up adventures with golden tablets, and entire university courses revolve around disputing the Bible. Of course there's a very good reason for this. Check out Revelation 12:9 and 2Corinthians 4:3,4.