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I
have no desire to promote The Da Vinci Code,
either in book or movie form, but I believe that
those concerned with truth should be informed.
Don’t waste your money buying this book or
seeing the movie.
My
first encounter with the dangers of The Da
Vinci Code [hereafter abbreviated as TDVC],
by Dan Brown, was while I was on a mission trip
to the island of Curacao, part of the
Netherlands Antilles, in July 2004. After the
evening worship service, we went to Denny’s
Restaurant for supper and got into a discussion
with the manager. He told us that he had been
brought up as a Catholic, but as a result of
reading TDVC, he no longer believed that
Jesus is the Son of God. I had heard of the
book, but was unaware of the power it might hold
over those who read it. Perhaps this manager had
little faith to begin with, but I wondered how
he could give up his faith in Christ on the
basis of a novel.
In
suggesting the dangers of TDVC, many
wonder why we should be concerned about a novel.
How can a novel have much impact? Several years
ago, another novelist, L. Ron Hubbard, wrote a
series of very successful science fiction books.
Over time, some became so enamored with his
stories that they developed a whole new religion
around them. The church of Scientology, which
seems to be primarily a Hollywood fad, was
formed on the basis of these science fiction
books.
A
year or two ago, the Disney Studios produced a
movie called National Treasure, starring
Nicholas Cage. National Treasure was an
adventure story with many twists and turns
similar to TDVC. The plot centered on a
treasure map hidden by the Masons on the back of
the Declaration of Independence. The movie
characters raced against the bad guys, finding
clue after clue until they were able to find the
treasure hidden deep under Boston. Surely no one
doubted that the whole story was fiction. No one
really thinks that there is a treasure map
hidden on the back of the Declaration of
Independence, or that the treasure of the ages
is buried under Boston. It was just a good
story.
But
then we have The Da Vinci Code movie and
book. People say, “It’s just a movie.” “It’s
just a novel.” “Since it’s just a story, what
difference does it make that it has sold 70
million copies?” It makes a difference, I
believe, because of what Mr. Brown claimed for
the book, and because of his message that: (1)
the Bible is not inspired, (2) the church has
withheld the truth from mankind, (3) Jesus is
not deity, and (4) the intention of Jesus was to
establish goddess worship.
On
NBC’s Today Show, October 10, 2005, Matt
Lauer asked Brown, “How much of this [book] is
based on reality in terms of things that
actually happened?” Brown emphatically replied,
“Absolutely all of it … is historical fact.”
On
ABC’s Good Morning America, November 3,
2003, Charlie Gibson said, “This is a novel. If
you were writing it as a nonfiction book, how
would it have been different?” Brown responded,
“I don’t think it would have.”
On
the very first page of TDVC, Brown
states: “All descriptions of artwork,
architecture, documents, and secret rituals in
this novel are accurate.” While the characters
of the novel are admittedly his own creation, he
insists the facts he cites are accurate and
truthful. I disagree!
Several good books have been written about the
errors in TDVC, which you may read if you
have further interest. I have gleaned what I
consider to be some of the main dangers in
TDVC from several different sources, and
primarily from an article compiled by Alex
McFarland titled, “The Top 10 Errors Found in
‘The Da Vinci Code.’” I have grouped the
dangers into two main topics: (1) issues related
to the text of the Bible, and (2) issues related
to Christ and His church.
I. ISSUES RELATED TO THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE.
1. TDVC INDICATES THAT THE BIBLE HAS
BEEN EXTENSIVELY REWRITTEN AND REVISED.
The
implication is that because of all of
these revisions, the original meaning of the
Bible has been lost. According to TDVC,
the scriptures “evolved through countless
translations, additions, and revisions” (p.
231.). The implication is that with all of these
changes we know nothing about, we cannot trust
the scriptures. The truth is, that while there
are issues related to translation from one
language to another, the large number of
manuscripts of the Bible, as well as the care of
translators, assures us that the scriptures are
accurate. There are literally thousands of
manuscripts of the books of the Bible, and
differences among the manuscripts are minor and
few. The large number of manuscripts helps us to
understand and have confidence in the Bible. For
more information, see How We Got the Bible,
by Neil Lightfoot.
2. TDVC CLAIMS THAT
“LOST” GOSPELS WERE FOUND AMONG THE DEAD SEA
SCROLLS.
“Fortunately for historians … some of the
gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate
managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were
found in the 1950’s hidden in a cave near Qumran
in the Judean desert.” (TDVC, p. 234).
This claim shows how careless Mr. Brown is in
his “facts.” The Dead Sea Scrolls were
discovered in 1947, not the 1950’s, and were
found in several caves, not “a cave.” They
contained no gospel accounts or any reference to
Jesus. They did contain portions of every Old
Testament book except Esther, commentaries on
the Old Testament, some extrabiblical works,
some secular works, and some business records.
The Qumran community, thought by many to be the
Essenes, had nothing to do with Jesus or
Christianity. Interestingly, among the scrolls
was the book of Isaiah. The scroll, which was
several hundred years older than any other
previously discovered manuscript of Isaiah, was
virtually identical to later manuscripts,
affirming the accuracy of those who had copied
the biblical texts.
3. TDVC CLAIMS CONSTANTINE ESTABLISHED
THE CANON OF THE BIBLE.
“The
Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the
pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great” (TDVC,
p. 232). Brown makes many of his claims, as will
be shown below, in relation to the Council of
Nicaea, which met in A.D. 325. This council,
which was convened by Constantine, a pagan who
converted to Christianity, did not discuss the
canon of scripture [which books should be in the
Bible]. The canon of scripture was already
established by the end of the first century.
Early church fathers were quoting from the New
Testament in the second century, at least 150
years before Constantine and the Council of
Nicaea. Documents from the second century, such
as the Muratorian Fragment (discovered by L. A.
Muratori), give lists of the books accepted in
the canon. Justin Martyr, in the middle of the
second century, spoke of the practice of
Christians meeting each Sunday to read the
“memoirs of the apostles” and “writings of the
prophets” (Justin Martyr, First Apology,
chapter 67).
4. TDVC CLAIMS THE BIBLE IS THE
PRODUCT OF MAN.
“The
Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of
God. The Bible did not fall magically from the
clouds. 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” (TDVC, p. 231). If
this claim were true, what kind of religion and
holy book would men create? What kind of
religion did the Greeks and Romans create? They
created gods in their own image. If men were
creating the Bible and Christianity, would they
choose to have a God who would be incarnate as a
man, who would choose to die and be raised from
the dead?
The
death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the
heart of Christianity. Paul said, “If Christ be
not risen, then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain” (1
Corinthians 15:14). If man were writing the
Bible on his own, he would certainly teach that
a man could win heaven on the basis of his own
merit, but Christ came as our perfect
substitute, the one way to God. Isaiah spoke of
man’s unrighteousness: “But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and
we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah
64:6). Paul chose to “be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith” (Philippians 3:9). “For he hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in
him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The
amazing accuracy of Old Testament prophecies
fulfilled in the life of Christ as recorded in
the New Testament demonstrates to the honest
observer that the Bible is not from men alone.
5. TDVC CLAIMS THERE WERE MANY
GOSPELS, SOME OF WHICH WERE SUPPRESSED.
“More
than eighty gospels were considered for the New
Testament, and yet only a relative few were
chosen for inclusion—Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John among them …” (TDVC, p. 231). The
“gospels” he refers to are the Gnostic gospels,
which were written in A.D. 250-350, long after
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written.
There were several Gnostic gospels, but nowhere
near 80, and they have never been considered
part of the canon. Any reputable Bible scholar
will affirm that the books of the New Testament
canon were accepted by the church long before
these Gnostic gospels were written. Eusebius,
the first church historian, affirms the early
church rejected these Gnostic gospels because
they were teaching false doctrine.
II. DANGERS RELATED TO CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.
1. TDVC CLAIMS JESUS WAS
MARRIED TO MARY MAGDALENE. “One particularly
troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the
[Gnostic] gospels. Mary Magdalene. … More
specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ” (TDVC,
p. 244). This claim, which did not originate
with Dan Brown, provides much of the intrigue of
the book. It is supposed that “The Last Supper,”
painted by Leonardo Da Vinci pictures Mary
Magdalene seated on the right hand of Jesus, in
the figure that has always been considered to be
the Apostle John. Discovery of this “fact” opens
the door to action in the book.
In
reality, the facts show how ridiculous this
claim is. Remember that Leonardo Da Vinci
painted this fresco almost 1500 years after the
event. Although he was a great painter, he was
not an inspired man, and the painting is
inaccurate in many ways. Jesus and His disciples
would not have been seated at a long table, as
the painting shows, but would have been
reclining around a low table. That is why it was
so obvious that no one had washed the disciples’
feet that evening (John 13).
What
TDVC ignores is the fact that painters of
that era almost always painted John, who was
thought to be one of the younger disciples, this
way. His lack of a beard was to show he was
young. What Dan Brown surely knew is that
Leonardo Da Vinci made sketches in preparation
for painting “The Last Supper,” identifying the
figure as the Apostle John.
Other paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci show
that he often painted biblical characters in a
fashion that we would consider to be feminine. A
good example of this is his portrait of John the
Baptist.
Could Jesus have married? Yes, of course,
He could have married. But is there any
evidence He married? Scripture is silent on
Jesus being married, and so are the Gnostic
gospels, as well as early church traditions. How
could the gospel accounts tell us so much about
Him and leave this out?
In
speaking of his apostleship, Paul said, “Have we
not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as
well as other apostles, and as the
brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” (1
Corinthians 9:5). Paul’s argument—If Peter [Cephas]
and others can be married, why couldn’t I?
Wouldn’t his argument have been even stronger if
he had said, “If Jesus can have a wife, why
can’t I?” But Paul didn’t say this.
TDVC goes beyond even this, to give
“secret” information that Jesus and Mary had
children who became the crown heads of Europe.
He claims as evidence the writings of the
Gnostics. It is strange that he makes this
particular claim from the Gnostics, since most
of them denied that Jesus had come in the flesh.
Most of them would have denied the possibility
of Jesus marrying, since they considered
anything related to the flesh to be unholy.
The
Apostle John refuted the claims of the Gnostics,
that Jesus was not actually flesh and blood, in
his first epistle (1 John). “That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
life; (For the life was manifested, and we have
seen it, and bear witness, and
shew unto you that eternal life, which was with
the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:
and truly our fellowship is with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John
1:1-3).
The real purpose of
TDVC
making these claims, besides selling books, is
to lobby for the “restoration” of goddess
worship, and bringing back the balance that
supposedly was taken away by the patriarchal
monotheism of Christianity.
2. TDVC CLAIMS CHRISTIANITY AND
CHRIST’S DEITY WERE INVENTED BY MEN.
“My dear,” Teabing declared, “until
that moment in history, Jesus was viewed
by his followers as a mortal prophet … a great
and powerful man, but a man nonetheless.
A mortal.”
“Not
the Son of God?” [said Sophie].
“Right,” Teabing said. “Jesus’ establishment as
‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and
voted on by the Council of Nicaea.”
“Hold
on. You’re saying Jesus’ divinity was the result
of a vote?”
“A
relatively close vote at that,” Teabing added (DVC,
p. 233).
According to A History of Christianity,
by Kenneth Scott Latourette, pp. 152-157, the
only issue debated at Nicaea (A.D. 325) was the
question: “Was Jesus coeternal with the Father?”
The council, which was convened by Constantine,
called for bishops from throughout the Roman
Empire to convene to discuss issues. The
original New Testament system of a plurality of
bishops, or elders overseeing one congregation
(Acts 20: 17, 28) had evolved to a system of one
bishop over a city or area. The convened council
dealt with an issue raised by a recently deposed
bishop named Arius.
Arius
decided that the words of Jesus in John 14:28,
“Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away,
and come again unto you. If ye loved me,
ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the
Father: for my Father is greater than I,”
indicated that Jesus did not share the same
level of deity as the Father. (Interestingly,
TDVC denies that John’s gospel should be
part of the canon.) As a matter of simple logic,
the son of deity must be of the same substance
as deity.
318
bishops were in attendance at Nicaea. Initially
28 sided with Arius. After debate, Constantine
said anyone siding with Arius would be deposed.
The final vote rejecting the position of Arius
was 316 to 2. Even changing the 28 votes, 290 to
28 is hardly “a relatively close vote.” Things
did not happen as TDVC
alleges. And even if it had happened as
TDVC alleges, it does not matter, because
the New Testament is clear that Jesus as the Son
of God is deity, and shares the same nature as
His Father. “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
(John 1:1). Here we see why Dan Brown wants to
get rid of the gospel of John!
There
was never any question that Jesus was deity. The
apostles were very slow to understand this, as
we learn from the story unfolding in Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, but when they understood,
they risked and gave their lives to defend the
fact that Jesus was God in the flesh. Men do not
risk their lives for a lie. They gained nothing
from a worldly standpoint by affirming the
divinity and resurrection of Christ.
Thomas was not present when Jesus made his first
appearance to the apostles on the first day of
the week as He was raised from the dead, but he
was present one week later, the next first day
of the week. “And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them:
then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and
stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither
thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my
side: and be not faithless, but believing. And
Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and
my God” (John 20:26-28). Thus Thomas recognized
very clearly the deity of Christ. (Strangely
enough, TDVC says that the Gospel of
Thomas, a spurious document which was not
really written by Thomas, supposedly says Jesus
is not deity.)
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast
seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have
believed” (John 20:29). There is a blessing
offered to us when we believe the evidence of
the gospel accounts, that Jesus is the Son of
God. John then tells us why he wrote his account
of the life and ministry of Jesus: “And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of
his disciples, which are not written in this
book: But these are written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name” (John 20:30-31).
We
see then that Thomas and John both recognized
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Peter
affirms: “For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he
received from God the Father honour and glory,
when there came such a voice to him from the
excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased” (2 Peter 1:16-17). Peter, who
had been present at the baptism of Christ, knew
the truth that Jesus is the Christ. For Paul’s
explanation of what Jesus did in coming to
earth, read Philippians 2:5-11.
The
message that Peter and the other apostles
preached on the day of Pentecost was that Jesus,
the Son of God, needs to be obeyed. “Now when
they heard this, they were pricked in
their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts
2:37-38).
In
conclusion:
(1)
The Bible is complete and accurate. The
thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and
twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the
inspired word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
(2)
The scriptures reveal that Jesus is the Son of
God, King of kings, and Lord of lords (1 Timothy
6:13-16).
(3)
The church of Christ we read of in the New
Testament understood the deity of Jesus Christ
and fulfilled prophecy as His kingdom (Matthew
17:18-19).
(4)
The Da Vinci Code is no more than a novel,
and most of the history in it has been twisted
and fabricated solely to delude the unwise and
profit from the gullible.
Dangers of the DaVinci Code
By Bob Prichard
www.oxfordchurchofchrist.com |
