The Da Vinci Code: What you need to know

[Shammu]

The Da Vinci Code: What you need to know
May 8, 2006
By David Roach
Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--"The Da Vinci Code" sounded a battle cry, and evangelicals have responded by taking up their pens to combat a challenge to some of the most central doctrines of the Christian faith.

"The Da Vinci Code," a movie from Sony Pictures set to debut in theaters May 19, is based on a bestselling novel by Dan Brown and attacks such key doctrines as the deity of Christ, the reliability of the gospels and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The movie also claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child whose descendents are still alive.

Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago; Darrell Bock, research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas; and R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., are among the many evangelicals who have refuted the movie's claims.

"[T]his is not merely any piece of fiction. The scope of what it claims as fact, the impression it leaves making those claims under the 'cover' of fiction, and the fact that it addresses a significant subject for our culture's own self understanding make it important that its claims be assessed and/or appreciated," Bock writes in his book "Breaking the Da Vinci Code."

He continues, "[T]he issues of faith and relationship to God are too important to be left to the confusing category of 'historical' fiction where the claim is that despite being a novel the history is fact."

Brown's novel opens with the curator of the Louvre Museum found murdered. Paris police call Harvard professor Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu to interpret a strange symbol left on the victim's body. As they investigate, Langdon and Neveu realize that the crime is linked to the legendary search for the Holy Grail.

When Neveu warns Langdon that he is the prime suspect in the murder investigation, the pair flees from police as they simultaneously attempt to crack the case.

Langdon and Neveu meet Holy Grail fanatic Sir Leigh Teabing, who tells them about an understanding of Jesus different from the New Testament's account. He says that the Holy Grail -- rather than being a cup, as traditionally thought -- is actually the remains of Jesus' wife who bore His child.

Despite what everyone has been taught, Teabing says, Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter. After Jesus' crucifixion, Mary and her daughter went to France where they established the Merovingian line of French royalty. This dynasty, according to "The Da Vinci Code," continues today in a mysterious organization known as the Priory of Sion. Members of the Priory of Sion supposedly included Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo.

Teabing and Langdon tell Neveu that the records of the true story of Jesus are guarded and shrouded in mystery. The real story about Mary and Jesus, they say, has been preserved in hidden codes and symbols in order to avoid the wrath of the Catholic Church.

Leonardo da Vinci knew the real story about Jesus, we are told, and used his painting "The Last Supper" to give hidden clues.

As the main characters continue their investigation, they learn that a powerful Catholic organization called Opus Dei is prepared to use any means necessary to keep the true story of Jesus from coming out. If the secrets are revealed, we are told, Christianity, as we know it, will be exposed as a fraud built on centuries of lies.

The movie advocates a false picture of Christianity, but believers can refute the errors by noting the biblical picture of Jesus and the true history of the faith, according to Lutzer, Bock and Mohler.

Following are some of the major heresies of "The Da Vinci Code":

-- Error: The Council of Nicea invented the deity of Christ in A.D. 325.

"The Da Vinci Code" argues that for the first 300 years after Christ, Jesus' followers viewed Him as a mere human. Then the Council of Nicea invented the deity of Christ for political purposes.

Mohler says the Council of Nicea did not invent the deity of Christ but proclaimed what the Bible taught and what the church had believed for 300 years.

"The Council of Nicea did not 'invent' the divinity of Jesus," Mohler writes in an Internet commentary. "This was already the declaration of the Church, claimed by Jesus himself and proclaimed by the apostles."

The Roman Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicea so that the bishops of his empire could settle disputes about Christ's nature. The disputes centered on a man named Arius who gained a wide following by teaching that Jesus was a created being and not fully God. Orthodox Christians opposed Arius.

After discussion, the bishops at Nicea issued a creed affirming Scripture and declaring Jesus to be of the same nature as the Father and Arius a heretic. Only two bishops out of more than 300 present did not sign the creed.

In response to the question of whether Nicea invented the deity of Christ, Lutzer writes, "There is not a single shred of historical evidence for such a notion. Not only was Christ's deity the consensus of the delegates, but as can easily be shown, this doctrine was held by the church centuries before the council met."

-- Error: Other gospels were banned from the Bible by people who wanted to make the church a patriarchal community.

In what Bock calls perhaps "the most misleading statement of 'fact' in the entire novel," Brown claims there were more than 80 gospels considered for the New Testament but that only four were chosen. The "banned" books were suppressed because they showed the truth about Jesus and allowed women to take leadership in the church, according to "The Da Vinci Code."

Although there were not 80 of them, "The Da Vinci Code" refers to what are called the Gnostic gospels, Bock says. These writings advocated an unbiblical understanding of Jesus' life and ministry that the church rejected as heresy beginning during the time of the apostles.

According to Bock, the Gnostic gospels taught that some Christians had secret knowledge not available to all; that there is one spiritual, transcendent God and one physical, wicked Demiurge who created the physical world; and that Jesus did not actually suffer on the cross. The Gnostic gospels also allow women to experience secret revelation and be leaders in the church, Bock says.

Cont'd next post

[Shammu]

But the church never even considered including the Gnostic gospels in the Bible, Lutzer said.

"To put it mildly, there is no reason to accept the Gnostic gospels as historically worthy; their value lies in telling us what the Gnostics believed, even though the writings shed no now new light on Jesus, Mary Magdalene, or early Christianity," Lutzer writes.

The 27 books of the New Testament were affirmed by Christians as Scripture based primarily on their ties to an apostle, as well as their impact on the church and their internal qualities.

-- Error: Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

In his novel, Brown claims that "the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record."

But Bock and Lutzer point out that the Scripture and other historical documents give no reason to believe Jesus was married.

Scripture says that Mary was a disciple of Jesus out of whom Jesus cast a demon, that she was present at the cross and that she was a witness to the resurrection, according to Bock. The early church fathers also refer to Mary as "a faithful disciple, a follower of Jesus who witnessed Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection," Bock says, noting that Scripture never indicates that Jesus and Mary were married.

Two Gnostic gospels mention Mary's relationship with Jesus, Lutzer writes. "The gospel of Philip," written in the fourth century, says Jesus "loved" Mary "more than his students" and kissed her often. But the poor quality of the manuscript prevents scholars from reading where Jesus supposedly kissed Mary.

Lutzer observes that the text might have said "the hand" or "the cheek" and is not an accurate account anyway.

The Gnostic "gospel of Mary" says Mary had a special relationship with Jesus and a rivalry with Peter. Lutzer notes, "Even if these accounts from the Gnostic Gospels were accurate, it is a stretch to say that Mary had a romantic relationship with Jesus, much less that she was married to him."

Bock notes additional evidences that Jesus was single. If Jesus was married, Paul likely would have referred to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 9 in defense of a minister's right to marry, he writes. Jesus also showed no special concern for Mary while He hung on the cross -- an act that we would expect from a husband.

-- Error: There is no agreed-upon and authoritative version of the Bible.

"The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds," says Teabing in "The Da Vinci Code." "Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book."

Lutzer explains that there were books -- in addition to the Gnostic gospels -- written around the time of the New Testament books that were excluded from the canon, but the teaching of these books was sometimes vastly different from the New Testament Gospels. For example, one book claims that when Jesus was a child, he killed another child by pushing him off a room and when accused, responded by raising the boy from the dead.

The Old Testament books were gathered by the nation of Israel as God gave authoritative revelation over the centuries, Lutzer writes. The last book of the Old Testament -- Malachi -- was completed around 400 B.C. Christians' confidence in the authority of the Old Testament books comes from the fact that they were accepted by the Jews and by Jesus.

The New Testament books were written in the first century, but "because of limitations of communication and travel, some time passed before the number of books regarded as authoritative was finally settled," Lutzer writes.

By the end of the first century more than two thirds of the present New Testament was viewed as inspired, and the remaining books were known and quoted as authoritative.

A mutilated fragment from A.D. 175 lists books that were accepted as canonical by that time and contains 23 of the 27 New Testament books. The books that Christians today recognize as the New Testament first appeared together on a printed list in A.D. 367 but were recognized as the authoritative rule of the church for more than 250 years prior to that date.

"The Da Vinci Code" also argues that the Council of Nicea decided on the books of the New Testament. Mohler said that is not true.

"The early church did not establish the canon ... at Nicea, though general consensus was already evident at that gathering. The New Testament writings were recognized and set apart because of their authorship by one of the apostles and by their clearly orthodox content -- in harmony with the other New Testament writings as recognized by the churches spread throughout the Greco-Roman world."

[Soldier4Christ]

Watch 'Da Vinci Code' debunked
D. James Kennedy's TV special airs Saturday

Paul Maier is angry.

"Put it this way," he said, "there is not one ranking scholar in the entire world who supports what Dan Brown has done with history."

Maier, a Harvard graduate, Fulbright scholar, author of 15 books and professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, is incensed at the faulty history in Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "The Da Vinci Code."

"As a professor of ancient history, I can't stand known, accepted facts from the past lied about," he said. "If my students did something like that, I'd flunk them."

Maier is one of 15 scholars, theologians and authors who join Christian broadcaster D. James Kennedy in "The Da Vinci Delusion," a nationally televised documentary look at Dan Brown's wildly popular recasting of ancient Gnostic heresies. The one-hour program airs May 13 and 14 – just days before "The Da Vinci Code" movie debuts worldwide.

Shot in Paris, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere, "The Da Vinci Delusion " also features Darrell Bock, New Testament scholar at Dallas Theological Seminary; Kerby Anderson, president of Probe Ministries; Janet Parshall, host of Janet Parshall's America; William Donohue, president of the Catholic League; Erwin Lutzer, author of "The Da Vinci Deception"; Sandra Miesel, Catholic journalist and medievalist; Gary Habermas, author of "The Historical Jesus"; and Lee Strobel, coauthor of "Exploring the Da Vinci Code."

"Although "The Da Vinci Code" is a murder mystery novel, it claims to be based on facts, and those so-called facts attack the very heart of Christianity," said Kennedy, the author of more than 65 books and one of America's most-watched television ministers.

It is author Dan Brown's claim to facticity – and eager readers who have snapped up 40 million copies of his potboiler worldwide – which make a Christian response so acutely needed, opponents believe.

Brown tells readers on the novel's first page that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." Many take him at his word. One-third of Canadians who have read "The Da Vinci Code" (some 20 percent of the population) believe Brown's theories and think that descendants of Jesus are alive today, according to a 2005 National Geographic poll. A more recent poll, taken in April 2006 by IPSOS found that 13 percent of Americans and 17 percent of Canadians think Jesus was married and had a family.

And a New York Daily News book reviewer wrote that Brown's "research is impeccable" – a claim Brown trumpets on his website.

Others disagree – strenuously.

"Everything in "The Da Vinci Code" is wrong, except Paris is in France; London is in England and Leonardo da Vinci painted pictures. All else is fabrication," said Miesel, coauthor of "The Da Vinci Hoax."

"Don't they have editors at Doubleday in New York; don't they have fact checkers?" groans Maier. "Fifty years ago, Doubleday or any other New York publisher would never have published this book, at least, without tremendous revision."

The one-hour documentary takes up key Da Vinci Code claims, including:

    * Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife. "We don't have any evidence anywhere in any kind of document of any sort that Jesus was married" – Darrell Bock

    * "The New Testament is false testimony" (p. 345 of "The Da Vinci Code"). "The four Gospels were written during the life and the times of those who were the eyewitnesses of Jesus. Now, more importantly, … they were also written during the life and times of the skeptics, who could refute anything that was said." – Kerby Anderson

    * There were 80 gospel accounts of Christ's life. "Frankly, there are no written Gospels from the same time frame that are even in the picture." – Gary Habermas

    * The Roman emperor Constantine gave us the New Testament. "Totally false. He had nothing to do with it whatever. … The Canon was pretty well set in concrete about 150 A.D." – Paul Maier

    * The divinity of Jesus is an invention of fourth-century church leaders at the Council of Nicea. "That is bunk. If you look at the documents, and we have men, like Eusebius, who were there, what happened at Nicea is because the early church believed in the deity of Jesus." – Erwin Lutzer

"The Da Vinci Delusion" looks at more mundane errors as well. Dan Brown tells readers that Silas, a self-punishing albino monk/assassin, belongs to Opus Dei, a Catholic prelature. Not possible. Opus Dei has no monks. Its purpose, in fact, is to energize Catholic lay people.

Brown also writes that an organization created to keep alive the alleged hidden truth about the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene dates to 1099. Actually, that organization, the Priory of Sion, goes back just 50 years, to when French anti-Semitic con man Pierre Plantard invented it out of whole cloth.

"In time, the 'Da Vinci myth' will be discarded into the dustbin of history, along with all of the other attempts to discredit Christ, while the Gospel truth will continue to spread," said Kennedy, coauthor with Jerry Newcombe of "The Da Vinci Myth versus the Gospel Truth."

"The tragedy is that in the interim, some people will miss salvation because they reject the Gospel truth and believe the Da Vinci myth, or something like it."

"The Da Vinci Delusion" is a production of Coral Ridge Ministries, a Christian broadcast organization with radio and television programming that reaches into 200 nations. "The Da Vinci Delusion" airs May 13, 14 in "The Coral Ridge Hour" time slot.

[nChrist]

Dreamweaver,

Thanks for the information Brother!

"The tragedy is that in the interim, some people will miss salvation because they reject the Gospel truth and believe the Da Vinci myth, or something like it."

The above quote is what makes me so sad. Brown and others will line their pockets with money and deceive hosts with filthy fiction that slaps our precious Lord and Saviour in the face.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 1:9-11 NASB  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

[Compatriot]

I feel a deep sympathy for those led astray by this film but I have read the book and frankly did not feel misled. His first page with the header "FACT" has led many to assume the rest of the book is rooted in the same facts when to me it seemed obvious that if you need a "FACT" page the other info must not be too factual. The accusations made are shocking but not remotely able to shake or even touch my faith and I am even more amazed that we as a congregation are giving any sort of validation in complaining. Dan Brown, aside from his web site, has stayed quite for a reason, he knows that our outcry and those deceived's dry back is keeping the book in the news and off the shelves. I liked the book along with his other "Angels and Demons" (where the Catholic Church is almost destroyed by a crazed ancient group (sound familiar?) the Illuminati) and I think it is very American of us to allow him to write it and very Christian of us to love him regardless.

[Shammu]

Hello Compatriot, and welcome back.

The thing I am thinking of is, those new born to Christ, this film/book may lead them astray. That is unless they have a mentor strong enough to explain why, this film/book, is a tool of satan.

[nChrist]

Hello Compatriot,

I second the WELCOME! back.

It's really not a matter of hating Brown for anything he is doing, rather a concern for those searching, the unsaved, and the babes in Christ.

One needs a fairly strong foundation in God's Word to easily recognize the Da Vinci Code as pure fiction, certainly nothing resembling a fact. The concern from Christians is that it will confuse and deceive many.

In terms of hate, we hate sin, not the sinner. The same is true with GOD. HE hates sin but loved mankind enough to send HIS Son, JESUS CHRIST, to die on the Cross. There is no greater love than this, so the hate is for sin, not the man or woman committing the sin.

Glad to have you back!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 4:19-20 NASB  And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

[ibTina]

"In time, the 'Da Vinci myth' will be discarded into the dustbin of history, along with all of the other attempts to discredit Christ, while the Gospel truth will continue to spread," said Kennedy, coauthor with Jerry Newcombe of "The Da Vinci Myth versus the Gospel Truth."



A BIG AMEN!!!!!!!!!

[Rolf]

What I find amusing about this Da Vinci Code stuff is that no one has pointed out that Brown didn't invent this story himself.  He took an old medieval myth about the Holy Grail and reworked it.  Many years ago,  I read  a story about the holy grail not being a cup, but Mary Magdalene.  This medieval myth said that Christ survived the cross and he and Mary travelled around the Mediterranean; finally settling in southern France, where they had children.  The story continued to say that their offspring became the noble families of Europe, and that the Nobility therefore carried Christ's blood in their veins!  The very self-serving nature of the story makes it clearly balderdash!

[Soldier4Christ]

Hi Rolf,

I see that this is your first post so welcome to Christians Unite. Yes this is an old story that is being revived again with a slightly different slant put on it. Some of this story started even prior to that of the Holy Grail myth. Some of it started around 200 BC with the Gnostics in order to substantiate their beliefs. Then it was added to with other stories and myths such as the Holy Grail.

 

[Compatriot]

Hello Compatriot,

I second the WELCOME! back.

It's really not a matter of hating Brown for anything he is doing, rather a concern for those searching, the unsaved, and the babes in Christ.

One needs a fairly strong foundation in God's Word to easily recognize the Da Vinci Code as pure fiction, certainly nothing resembling a fact. The concern from Christians is that it will confuse and deceive many.

In terms of hate, we hate sin, not the sinner. The same is true with GOD. HE hates sin but loved mankind enough to send HIS Son, JESUS CHRIST, to die on the Cross. There is no greater love than this, so the hate is for sin, not the man or woman committing the sin.

Glad to have you back!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 4:19-20 NASB  And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I understand the lost souls that could be turned astray, in fact they were my first concern, I just think that anyone with a level head, not even one with insight in Theology, would realize this is not the book to base your ideas of faith on. I didn't watch "The Passion of the Christ" and was suddenly tricked into thinking Christ was White. I understand that those weak or ignorant to the faith are at risk but I don't think that our reaction as Christians should be to attack a fictional text for discrepancies when it is a fictitious text. I enjoyed "Dogma" for all of its faults but I don't think anyone walked out of the film thinking Alanis Morissette was God (in the last few scenes she was revealed as God). Now you can argue that is because everyone already has a preconceived notion (either from the church or  other pop culture/societal sources) but I think that it's the fact that it is a movie. I am probably missing some part of me as a Christian because I think that anything that Dan Brown should be allowed to do what he wants just as much as any other group. I would hate for others to tell us that loving Christ isn't OK, as public opinion has begun to tip, and I think that our persecution or Brown for writing a book of any content is the reason. I am sorry if I don't sound compassionate for those who may be swayed but I don't think it is realistic that anyone would take a movie for religious truth.

[airIam2worship]

Hello Compatriot, and welcome back.

The thing I am thinking of is, those new born to Christ, this film/book may lead them astray. That is unless they have a mentor strong enough to explain why, this film/book, is a tool of satan.

Welcome back Compatriot, 

Amen DW, I pray that we continue to pray for the baby Christians, and even for those that aren't. Come to think of it sometimes baby Christians are so pumped up with the Good News of the Gospel, that we can learn from them as well. In any case right now the best thing we can do is pray, pray, pray.

[airIam2worship]

Hi Rolf,

I see that this is your first post so welcome to Christians Unite. Yes this is an old story that is being revived again with a slightly different slant put on it. Some of this story started even prior to that of the Holy Grail myth. Some of it started around 200 BC with the Gnostics in order to substantiate their beliefs. Then it was added to with other stories and myths such as the Holy Grail.

 

I agree, PR. ROLF, welcome to CU.