18/02/2021
I read The Da Vinci Code in my spiritual year as a seminarian. I read it in hiding. My spiritual director warned us not to read the book. He said it contains heresies and teachings which will make one lose faith. He also said the book has been banned by the church.
Trust how my inquisitive mind works. . . it was actually because I heard it was banned that made me develop interest to read it.
I read it in one night. I couldn't put it down. Dan Brown is a gifted writer. I will give it to him any day. Since then, I have read everything published by him. To me, he is a genius.
In truth, The Da Vinci Code changed the way I started looking at the last supper painting of the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci, and the painting of the Monalisa. But did it make me lose faith in Christ? Nah! It even strengthened it. But more importantly, it helped me to know how to write better.
I have always known that the the task of reason is to fathom the deeper depths of the many-sidedness of things. Dan Brown has presented one side, there are others that claimed that Jesus was gay. This is where reasoning comes, and where reasoning fails, faith takes over.
When I proceeded to study philosophy, My specialties were logic, epistemology and metaphysics because they have that capacity to broaden one's reasoning in a way that will make you understand the reason why we reason.
I read lots of atheists and critical minds, people like: Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Alfred North Whitehead, Daniel Dennett, Charles Hartshone, Stephen Hawking. I even got an "A" in my project arguing that God changes. And subsequently, I graduated with a First Class honour from University of Port Harcourt Nigeria. But here am I, have I lost my faith? Nah! Far from it.
And here is the reason I am writing this. . .
In truth, some of those writers and courses have the ability to make you think outside the box of what you have been used to thus making you question lots of things including the existence of God.
But interestingly, in those questioning, if you are sincere, you will get to a point where you will conclude that there are heights that the human mind ALONE cannot reach. Even the "almighty" Alfred North Whitehead could not deny that fact, he recognized it and once wrote, "However far our gaze penetrates, there are always heights beyond which block our vision."
This is why the glory of philosophy is Metaphysics because it arrives at what it calls "the first cause", what Aquinas called the Unmoved Mover, what Christians call God.
If you have not really questioned some of the things you believe, if you have not come to that understanding of who Christ is by yourself through the help of God's spirit, there is still the possibility that you will be an atheist someday, it is just a matter of time, situations or circumstances.
That man carrying bible and claiming born again, let "small sickness" or a certain disaster or lack of money hit him, and you will see him jumping from pastor to pastor until he finally finds himself in a shrine.
That woman forming Catholic, the day someone from no where will come up with the theory that Pope Francis is antichrist and that all Catholics will go to hell, the woman will ditch Catholic.
It is very important to have a PERSONAL experience of Christ. That is what you will fall back on in times of difficulty.
Unfortunately most of what we practice in Africa as religion breed atheism. People now think religion is about prophecy on who wins elections, who gets rich, who will get married.
The day the economy of Africa will improve, the day her leaders will utilize our resources adequately for the people, many churches will close and many people you see today parading themselves as Christians will be no where to be found in churches. But unfortunately, sad to admit, I don't see the economy of Africa improving any time soon or her leaders acting like true leaders, so. . .the churches you see on your streets have come to stay, and more will join them.
Rev.Fr. Kelvin Ugwu.
