This may be an issue which is getting old in the tooth, but I believe it is imperative that we continue to fight this kind of evil attack on our Lord Jesus Christ whenever we can.
I am talking about Dan Brown’s evil novel The da Vinci Code.
I believe it is a purposeful and deliberate attack on Judaeo Christianity, and the book is rife with venom and slanders.
I have decided to take up just nine of the many lies and inaccuracies and shine the light of truth on them.
John Bronzesnake
The Many Errors and Outright Lies Of Dan Brown’s da Vinci Code1) The canonical gospels are not the earliest gospels. Instead. The Gnostic gospels are the earliest written gospels and the canonical gospels were selected from among 80 other gospels.
Right off the bat, there was not even half that number of books written about the life of Jesus.
The New Testament was complete before the end of the 1st Century, and the Gnostics weren’t written until the second century. Also, the names attributed to the Gnostics were most definitely not the actual authors, and so right off the hop the books lead us to conclude they are illegitimate.
2) In "The Last Supper," Leonardo da Vinci allegedly painted Mary Magdalene seated next to Jesus.
OK, this is just foolish. Brown’s “proof” for this is the fact that John looks feminine in the painting, but the reality is that John was the youngest of the disciples, and was portrayed as a young man. Let’s say for argument sake that Brown is correct, and this is not John, but actually Mary…OK, so where is John? Where is the “beloved disciple? LOL!
3) The Priory of Sion was created by the Knights templar in 1099.
Documents discovered in the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris, which allegedly “proved” that the Priory of Sion was as old as 1099, and that da Vinci and Isaac Newton among others secretly presided over it.
These documents were proved beyond any doubt to be utter fakes, and it was discovered that a French anti-Semite con man named Pierre Plantard had invented the entire lie!
4) Jesus was just a man, and not God! Brown claims that “pagan” Roman Emperor Constantine, created the “myth” that Jesus was crucified and resurrected in order to consolidate his empirical power!
This is amazing! It is general knowledge that Constantine converted to Christianity and ended Rome’s persecution of Christians, and convened the Council of Nicea in 325.
Constantine did not add any new books to the canon and the council was convened to sort out differences among early church leaders, all of whom absolutely believed Jesus was divine, and in fact was God!
The Council of Nicea, which took no votes, was convened by Constantine with Christian leaders across the empire mainly to dispense with the theories of Arius (father of Arianism), who claimed that Jesus, while divine, was a created being. Only two of 318 clerics at the Council did not sign the Nicene Creed. The early church had already adopted the Four Gospels and most of the rest of the New Testament as authoritative long before the Council of Nicea.
5) Christianity was based on pagan religions. Dan Brown quote - "
Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras called the Son of God and the Light of the World was born on Dec. 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days."
This is an amazingly stupid and baseless assertion!
The exact opposite is true! These pagan religions stole from Christian themes!
Just as Islam, Mormon, and Jehovah’s Witnesses have done!
In ancient cultures, there was always the myth of the dying and resurrecting god essentially "winter" and "spring." However, these are never alleged to have been real history. In contrast, on such and such a day (some scholars, including Dr. Alan Whanger, retired professor of Duke Medical Center believe April 7, A.D. 30) Jesus Christ was crucified and laid in a tomb in Jerusalem. He came out alive with a resurrected body in three days (as Jews count it two days as we would count it).
Going further on the mystery religions, note what authors Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel write in their book, "
The Da Vinci Hoax":
“
Unfortunately for Brown and the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," there is little or no evidence that most pagan mystery religions, such as the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris or the cult of Mithras, existed in the forms described in their books prior to the mid-first century. This is a significant point, for much of the existing evidence indicates that the third- and fourth-century beliefs and practices of certain pagan mystery religions are read back into the first-century beliefs of Christians without support for such a presumptive act …”
So many people, and even some Christians, actually do not know this fact, and incorrectly believe the Egyptian, and other pagan religions predate Christian, and or, Jewish old testament themes.
6) The four New Testament Gospels (the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) comprise a false account. Numerous ancient writings tell a more truthful story.
Again, utterly dumbfoundingly stupid! The “
Numerous ancient writings” Brown is speaking of are of course the 52 books collectively called the Gnostic Gospels.
These were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. All were written more than a century after the real Gospels were written and none of the Gnostics has any link to any eye witnesses in the time of Christ, so we can see why Brown would place so much stock in them! LOL!
7) Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter with her. Brown claims the church was led by Mary Magdalene, whose role was covered up by a ruthless Catholic Church.
OK, I’m what the English refer to as “Gob smacked”!
This is such an utterly incredibly, amazingly stupid statement as to be almost beyond need of rebuttal…but…
OK, this foolishness states that Jesus was not actually killed on the cross, and that He somehow managed to fool the Romans into believing He was dead, and was helped to escape and eventually married Mary and had children after escaping to France!
Wowee! Alright, let’s look at what Roman pagan historian Flavius Josephus recorded…
“
He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him”
The nonsense about Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene and having children with her came from the Plantard forgeries and the Gnostic gospels of Phillip and “Mary Magdala.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1950’s.
Another amazing example of the utter incompetence, or willingness to lie outright.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947, not in the 1950’s.
9) The Bible is an ever-changing living document. The Bible “has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book,”
This is without doubt the most widely accepted perversion of truth as far as the scriptures are concerned. I get more people making this remark than any other objection to the scriptures. Whenever I challenge the person to give examples, the usual response is “well, that is just fact”, when pressed further to give specific examples, none are forthcoming
Or, if examples are given, they are very easily refuted.
No other book in antiquity has as many manuscripts that are consistently accurate, even after 2,000 years. The New Testament, of which 5,000 early copies exist, also has the shortest gap between time of authorship (55-95 A.D.) and the earliest copies (around 200 A.D.). Other ancient books have gaps of 1,000 years or more. In total there are over 28,000 copies of antiquity of the scriptures in existence today and more are being discovered all the time. These manuscripts have been carefully cross referenced and we know today that the Bible we have today is virtually identical to the original manuscripts!
There are more examples of inaccuracies in this evil novel, but I’m going to end with a quote from a leading authority on scriptures and biblical history,
Dr Paul Maier…
Historian and first-rate scholar
Paul Maier just has to shake his head. He notes, "
Detailing all the errors, misinterpretations, deceptions, distortions, and outright falsehoods in "The Da Vinci Code" makes one wonder whether Brown's manuscript ever underwent editorial scrutiny or fact-checking."
Amazingly, we live in the Information Age, yet we live in an age of massive disinformation. The Bible says Satan is the "the prince of the power of the air"
Ephesians 2:2. The Bible also says that in the end times, "men will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears"
2 Timothy 4:3. Is that not happening in our own day?
John
