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WELCOME, ATTENDANCE PAD
You may want to refer to today’s outline that I’ve provided to follow some quotes from the book I’m discussing, as well as some other quotes and Bible readings.
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THE DA VINCI CODE (Dan Brown): WHAT’S THE STORY ABOUT?
First of all I want to address why I am doing a sermon of this nature.
Some of you when you read about this asked—Why preach about something like this? Well many books about spirituality are being published out there and people are hungry for them. I think as followers of Christ you need to be prepared to enter in discussions with people who are seeking after spiritual matters and you must be prepared to answer their questions. You must be able to say this is what I believe as a person who is trying to follow Christ.
And then some people said to me I’m glad you are speaking on this topic. I have read the book and I wondered what is accurate and what is questionable in the way things are presented in this book.
So fasten your seatbelts—I invite you to ride along on this journey today.
The Da Vinci code focuses on a subject that many of us know little about: the Holy Grail. Most of my knowledge comes from two movies-- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.
8.30 am – video clip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy discovers the Grail.
Watching these moves qualifies me to speak as an expert on this topic. At least as much of an expert as author Dan Brown who wrote The Da Vinci Code.
In the book Brown’s characters believe that Jesus married and had a child by Mary Magdalene, who, after Jesus’ death, moved to France to raise their child. His characters further assert that the Catholic Church knew these facts and successfully suppressed them through the centuries, going so far as to kill people to keep these facts from surfacing.
These ideas appeal to the same instinct in us that gives birth to countless conspiracy theories – a certain paranoia and distrust of authority coupled with just enough fact to make them seem plausible, until we dig a bit deeper into their ideas.
With the exception of the misrepresentation of historical facts, I enjoyed reading the book – it is an enjoyable to the extent that you remember that it is fiction. Dan Brown is an excellent story teller.
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The story begins in France where Robert Langdon the noted symbologist from Harvard University has been visiting as a guest lecturer. Now if you thinking “I’ve never met a symbologist before,” that’s because there has never been one before Robert Langdon. Such a topic is not even offered at Harvard as far as my research could determine.
Langdon is disturbed at his hotel room by the French Police who take him to the Louvre to assist in a murder investigation. It would appear that one of the curators of the museum, Jacques Sauniere has been brutally murdered. However before dying Sauniere is able to leave a variety of clues scattered around the gallery he has locked himself in as an unsuccessful bid to escape his killer.
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Unbeknownst to our hero he is actually a suspect in the murder and only escapes with the help of the beautiful police cryptographer Sophie Neveu. Langdon discovers that the murdered curator of the museum not only is Sophie’s estranged Grandfather but he is also the Grand Master of Priory of Sion, a secret society entrusted with a secret which if revealed would destroy the Christian church as we know it. Still with me?
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Their quest for clues to break the Da Vinci Code leads them to Leigh Teabing, a former British Royal Historian, who is one of the foremost authorities on the Holy Grail. Their ensuing journey takes them through France, across the English Channel on an illicit flight.
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All the while staying one step ahead of the police, are an albino monk killer and the “teacher,” a mystery man who appears to be orchestrating the entire story. It’s during the trip that Langdon and Teabing are able to lecture Sophie about the fallacies of Christianity and the Bible as well as the evils of the church.
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So Brown begins by saying “Trust me, I’ve done my homework.” But the question is has he?
I want to unpack this novel in this manner today:
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· WHAT DAN BROWN GOT RIGHT
· WHAT BROWN GOT WRONG
· WHO CARES?
So first of all,
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A. WHAT BROWN GOT RIGHT
I’ll try to begin on a positive note about the story.
1. The author understands the inferior status of women in the patriarchal society of Jesus’ time.
Women had few rights and almost no voice. They were considered property, which passed from one owner, their fathers, to the next, their husbands. Marriage was a property contract. Adultery was a property crime. Children, particularly sons, were the woman’s fulfillment of that contract.
Do you remember the passage in John 4 – Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well? Do you remember what the disciples were angry about?
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John 4: 27 NLT Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing.
The disciples were upset not that she was a Samaritan, although they would have had cause to be upset by that. Jews and Samaritans did not mingle. No, they were upset that he was talking, having an intelligent conversation with a woman! That just wasn’t done!
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Furthermore,
2. The author understands that the role of women in evangelizing in the early church has been down played throughout the history of the church.
Don’t just blame the Catholic Church. You may notice, after all, that the Protestant Reformation of 1517 did not bring a sudden understanding of the importance of women disciples! We are just now acknowledging the important role of women.
In The Acts of the Apostles (chapter 16) you see how women like Lydia and Priscilla helped shape the missionary work of Paul. Church historians are looking at the Bible and other historical documents to see how the home churches of that time worked and are increasingly convinced that as the keeper of the home, the women of these home churches provided much of the hospitality and perhaps much of the leadership for the churches.
Bible studies for women about women are more and more common. We look at Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha (John 11), the woman at the well (John 4) and the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:26) with renewed respect and curiosity. The role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus’ ministry and the early ministry of the church is remarkable (Luke 8:2). She was probably the first female evangelist. I’ll be saying more about the importance of her role in early Christianity later.
So those are a couple of things Brown got right. But now I want to explore:
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B. WHAT BROWN GOT WRONG
1. The author is mistaken about some “Facts” he presents in the introduction to the book.
“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Introduction
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It’s not just Christians who have problem with that claim, here is a quote from Bruce Boucher who is the curator of European decorative arts and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. “It is also breathtaking to read that the heroine, Sophie Neveu, uses one of Leonardo’s paintings, "The Madonna of the Rocks," as a shield, pressing it so close to her body that it bends. More than six feet tall and painted on wood, not canvas, the "Madonna" is unlikely to be so supple”
By claiming up front that all the documents are accurate the reader is left with the impression that Brown is a historian on par with the characters in his novel. The truth is that Dan Brown is a school teacher and novelist who writes fiction. He’s not an art expert, he’s not a historian and he’s certainly not a theologian. As sociologist and author Andrew Greeley stated “Brown knows little about Leonardo, little about the Catholic Church, and little about history.”
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2. He is mistaken about the authority and source of canonical scriptures.
In The Da Vinci Code the historian named Teabing teaches Sophie about the Bible.
Teabing paused to sip his tea and then placed the cup back on the mantel.
“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.” 231.
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“The fundamental irony of Christianity!” [That a pagan Emperor (Constantine) decided on which books would be canonized] 231.
“Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels (which he believes were what are called the Gnostic Gospels) were outlawed, gathered up, and burned….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. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms. Of course, the Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. And why wouldn’t they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own
power base.” 234.
“The Bible is a product of man…Not of God….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.” 231.
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Who was Emperor Constantine, was he a Christian, did he “commission and finance a new Bible and was it he who canonized the New Testament books? And what does the word Canonized even mean?
Constantine was the first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire. He stopped the persecutions and made Christianity a state sanctioned religion in the year 315. He didn’t choose which books would go into the New Testament
A Canon is simply a recognized collection of books.
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The premise of the Da Vinci Code is that there are more reliable gospels then the ones we know. According to Langdon and Teabing, Coptic scrolls found near Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945 are indeed the earliest Christian records and disprove the Gospels which the church accepts today. These fifty-two Coptic scrolls, only five which were referred to as Gospels in general and Gnostic Gospels in particular, have been the subject of much study since their discovery. And in 1977 an English translation of them was published. That much is true. But what Dan Brown failed to consider is that many of these writings are written in a mystical form, and are primarily.
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But as I see it, our Canonical Bible is a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors (Kings, fishermen, a tax collector, shepherds, prophets a doctor and a Jewish scholar named Paul) over a period of 1,500 years. And yet, they all wrote of one theme, the topic of Jesus Christ and the payment for sin that He provided. There is agreement on this from the beginning of Genesis to the closing words of Revelation.
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In II Timothy 3:14-17 we read how the early Christians understood the Old Testament as authoritative scripture:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
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Here’s what is most important to know about the New Testament, from a historical perspective:
It contains writings that are, with one or two exceptions, considered by even the most liberal of scholars to be from the first century, reflecting the earliest traditions of the Christian faith.
Second, it was 150 years before the time of Constantine that the Church began to clarify which books were authoritative – this process was nearly completed long before the Emperor convened the Council of Nicea in 325 and this issue was not really addressed at this council.
And finally, the church consistently held that these books you have were apostolic – that is, reflected the true faith as it was passed on from the beginning.
Hence, contrary to statements in books like The DaVinci Code Christianity wasn’t hijacked by later generations – it reflects the teachings of the earliest followers of Jesus.
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"In the early 200’s, Origen (an early church leader) listed all the accepted books of the new Testament—a list that matches today’s canon." Ralph Muncaster: A Skeptic’s Search For God, 235.
By the time the earliest of the gospels found at Nag Hammadi was written the church had already settled on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the Gospel account of the life of Christ. And this was at least 150 years prior to Constantine and the Council of Nicaea who Brown asserts masterminded the entire conspiracy of the New Testament. This must have been quite a feat seeing it happened at least 100 years before any of them were born.
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In their book “Cracking Da Vinci’s Code” Jim Garlow, who by the way is a Wesleyan Pastor, and Peter Jones wrote “The New Testament Canon is not the invention of Constantine in the fourth century. It is an essential part of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles from the start. In the first century the Canon was in organic form and functioned without formal church declaration.”
A glaring gaff by Brown is in regards to two great archeological finds of the 20th century. On pages 234 and 245 of his novel, Brown lumps together the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library as if they were intrinsically connected and implies that they are both Christian documents. They are neither. They were written one to two hundred years apart, and hidden and discovered hundreds of miles apart.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are the work of a Jewish sect, while the Nag Hammadi books are early Christian works. He also gets the discovery date of the Dead Sea Scrolls wrong. They were discovered in 1947. The Nag Hammadi find is correct. Those books were found in 1945.
And poor Constantine, boy does he seem to be the ultimate bad guy. He really wasn’t. As I stated earlier, he was the first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire. He stopped the persecutions and made Christianity a state sanctioned religion. Again, he didn’t choose which books would go into the New Testament. He did make the church highly political, but the church was well on its way down that road before Constantine. He was no angel, but he wasn’t the devil incarnate either. Next, what Brown got wrong…
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3. He is mistaken about both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus.
“…almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” 235.
…”…many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon—the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of sacraments, and, of course the divinity of Jesus….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….Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man” 233 &234.
One more of these quotes from the book, that in some ways captures the premise behind the book, is found on page 233, where his character, Teabing, again speaks, ”the early Church literally stole Jesus from his original followers, hijacking his human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity and using it to expand their power.”
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In a interview at religious Internet site, www.beliefnet.com, Prof. Darrell Bock, an evangelical Christian, Bible scholar and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary says he believes that the book puts forth a “conscious agenda” that takes away from Jesus’ uniqueness. The book, Professor Bock says, paints Jesus as just another religious leader or prophet among many when we Christians know that he was more than that. That he was the Son of God, the Savior.
Brown paints Jesus as completely human – essentially a really nice guy with lots of good moral and ethical philosophies! Pages 233 and 234 are perhaps the most historically inaccurate of the book. They may be the most historically inaccurate things I have ever read!
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What the Da Vinci code wants us to believe is that the Divinity of Christ was something not believed by the early church, it was an invention of the Council of Nicaea in 325 and not only that but we are told that it was a relatively close vote at that council.
I suppose in Brown’s mind it may have been a close vote. The 300 bishops came together to discuss the teachings of a prominent preacher named Arius who had proclaimed that Jesus was a created being, just like the rest of us and wasn’t actually the “begotten Son of God.” From those discussion the Nicene creed was adopted affirming the churches belief in the divinity of Christ. The vote? 298 in favor 2 opposed.
This had been the understanding of all Christian missionaries since before Christians were called Christians.
What was up for debate was whether Jesus was of the same substance as God or was the first creation of God, divine but not equal with God. Yes, politics no doubt played a part, but everyone was there because they believed that Jesus, the Son of God was their Savior.
The earliest Christian writings that we have come from Paul. What did Paul teach about the Divinity of Christ?
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Romans 1:3-4 NLT It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man, born into King David’s royal family line. And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.[
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Colossians 1:15 NIV Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.
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1 Corinthians 8:6 NIV But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
Throughout the letters that Paul wrote to the church he spoke of Jesus as God.
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If we read through the Gospels we see that Jesus allowed people to call him the Christ, and the son of God, he said he could forgive sins, he never stopped people from calling him the Son of God, he promised to rise from the dead and said he would be the ultimate judge at the end of time.
History tells us that all of the original disciples died martyr’s deaths; they were killed for their faith, and all they had to do to save their lives was to say that Jesus was just a man, that he wasn’t God. Would you die for a lie?
Another assertion that is made in the book is this:
Again this is the historian Teabing speaking.
“The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.” 245
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In the Beliefnet interview Prof. Bock is asked if the book’s agenda takes away from Jesus’ uniqueness because it posits that he was married.
Prof. Bock answers, “No, I actually make the point in the book (Prof. Bock has written, Breaking the Da Vinci Code) that if Jesus had been married it wouldn’t touch the theology one bit. Jesus is 100 percent human. Had he been married and had he had children, all it would have done would have been to reflect his engagement with his humanity – but I just don’t think historically there’s any evidence that Jesus was married. But the important point in relationship to the novel is, had Jesus been married, the church wouldn’t have had any reason to suppress that knowledge.”
Contrary to Mr. Brown’s assertion, the church would not have hidden a wife or children to prove Christ’s divinity. They might have brought it forward to prove his humanity.
Reverend Richard Hurst asks
"What does a married Jesus do for you that a single Jesus doesn’t?"
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This idea that Jesus was married and had children leads to the next thing Brown was wrong about:
4. He is mistaken about the role and person of Mary Magdalene.
“According to these unaltered gospels, it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church. It was Mary Magdalene.” 248.
“That unfortunate misconception (the book says) is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church. The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret—her role as the Holy Grail.” 244.
“The legend of the Holy Grail is a legend about royal blood. When Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’…it speaks, in fact, of Mary Magdalene—the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline.” 249.
“…the greatest cover-up in human history. Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father…..Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ.” 249.
"Christ’s line grew quietly under cover in France until making a bold move in the fifth century, when it intermarried with French royal blood and created a lineage known as the Merovingian bloodline." 257
"Magdalene’s and Sarah’s lives were scrutinously chronicled by their Jewish protectors. Remember that Magdalene’s child belonged to the lineage of Jewish kings—David and Solomon. For this reason, the Jews in France considered Magdalene sacred royalty and revered her as the progenitor of the royal line of kings. Countless scholars of that era chronicled Mary Magdalene’s days in France, including the birth of Sarah and the subsequent family tree." 255
So Mary is not only the wife of mother of his children, but is the leader of Jesus’ church—not Peter.
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Mary is identified as Jesus’ closest disciple and lover based on Da Vinci’s rendition of the last supper. If we pull it up on the screen we discover that the person on Christ’s right that has been identified as John throughout history is in fact Mary.
Ok, the guy in the picture does look a little girly (a girly man as the governor of California would say), but then look at the way Leonardo draws King David as a young man.
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Oh you know what Peter said at the Last Supper don’t you? “Hey everyone, you gotta get on this side of the table if we want to be in the picture.”
The biblical accounts of the Last Supper tells us it was attended by Jesus and His twelve apostles, so even if the great conspiracy theories are right and Leonardo did actually draw Mary in the picture, so what?
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Furthermore, the Code claims that Mary is the Holy Grail. But what does history actually teach us about the grail? Nothing, zip, nada, nothing. Again even the most liberal scholars and historians attest that there is no historical evidence that Mary and Jesus were married and had all these descendants. This notion of Mary as the Holy Grail in fact is a modern notion, not an ancient one, according to research discussed in the book Secrets of the Code.
For 1200 years after the death of Christ, nobody mentions anything about the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper, nor about his plate or bowl or his knife. They were just utensils. And then in the late 1300’s legends started being told about King Arthur and his quest for the cup, which was said to not only have been present at the last supper but was used to catch the blood of Christ while he was hanging on the cross. This is primarily pure conjecture and fiction. The Roman Catholic church which has promoted many relics through the years has never promoted the grail as a holy relic either.
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In the Da Vinci Code we are told that the church has spent two thousand years trying to suppress the true identity of the chalice, once again –little evidence for this premise.
Brown likes to condemn the Catholic church, in his novel. I don’t think the Catholic Church deserves to be so demonized. After all, if we demonize the Catholic Church we had best do the same to ourselves. The Protestant Churches accepted some of the Catholic Church’s doctrines without change and perpetuated many of the same myths. None of the churches are perfect—if you find a perfect church group you better join it right away. But then it won’t be perfect anymore.
The Catholic Church may make a good villain, but… I’m not a fan of Catholic-bashing, or any other kind of bashing either. I’d rather define what I stand for than what or whom I’m against. I fear that Brown’s highly negative view of the Catholic church incites further prejudice and aggression.
If you were to look beyond the mystery and ask “Why?” you’d have to wonder about:
The mysterious Priory of Sion is charged with protecting the descendants of Jesus and Mary. Must be a big organization. I’m no mathematician but you can do the math. In Brown’s book Jesus and Mary had a child named Sarah. If Sarah married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children you are now approximately 100 years after the death of Christ and there are 76 descendants, 20 years later there are 148, 20 years later there are 296, 20 years later 592, 20 years later 1184 and in anther 20 years there are 2368. That’s two hundred years, another hundred years there are 75,776. If that number only doubled every 100 years the direct descendants of Jesus would number over 100 million people today.
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Who was Mary Magdalene according to the Bible?
Mary was a follower and friend of Jesus as were many women (Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:41).
Jesus cast out of Mary seven demons. (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2)
Mary watched Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus (Luke 23:56)
After three days, Mary returned to the tomb with some other women, saw that the stone had been rolled away (John 20:1) and they ran back to tell the disciples (John 20:2) that someone had stolen the body.
Mary was also the first person that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection (John 20:15-16) and He instructed her to go back and tell the disciples (John 20:18).
In fact, all four of the Gospels put Mary Magdalene at the tomb on Easter morning as the first, or one of the first, witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ.
We are first introduced to Mary Magdalene in Luke 8:1-3 NIV
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Luke tells us that as Jesus traveled, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, he traveled with the twelve (meaning the traditionally named twelve, male disciples) as well as some women whom he had healed. This included Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast seven demons. Let’s not get hung up on the demons. Demon possession was a common diagnosis in the first century. Mary Magdalene was sick and Jesus healed her.
This small piece of scripture seems to describe Mary as a strong woman, healed of disease by the One she believes to be her Savior, who then dedicates her life to him. She must have been a woman of courage. It took a strong constitution – not to mention stomach – to watch a crucifixion.
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Please don’t waste your time looking for the passage that tells you she is a prostitute. It doesn’t exist. In the Middle Ages a pope equated Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman in Luke 7: 36-50, the woman who anoints Jesus’ feet. Her reputation as a sinner and then a prostitute grew in legend, but has no place in fact.
You have been wrong if you have assumed that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. So maybe we can be forgiving of Brown for being wrong on so many accounts in his mystery story.
Well Don, this is just a novel. What’s the big deal? You might ask:
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C. WHO CARES?
We should. The Da Vinci Code has got people talking and asking questions about religion. It has them interested in the subject. That’s a good thing.
You could read The Da Vinci Code and say, “Wow, I bet that stuff is all true and I’ve just never heard it before!” Or you could read the book and say, “Now, where did he get that idea and how can I learn more.”
Therefore I hope that you will realize you need to keep update in your study of the Bible and the history of the church. So when people ask you when they read things like this book, is this true?, you will be ready to share your faith. There is great spiritual interest among people—it’s reflected in the books and magazine articles that appear. So be ready as it says in Colossians 4:6 CEV
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Be pleasant and hold their interest when you speak the message. Choose your words carefully and be ready to give answers to anyone who asks questions.
Margaret M. Mitchell is Associate Professor of New Testament at the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Chair of the Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature. She says about the Da Vinci Code: “It was a quick romp, largely fun to read, if rather predictable and preachy. This is a good airplane book, a novelistic thriller that presents a rummage sale of accurate historical nuggets alongside falsehoods and misleading statements.”
Even Dan Brown had this response to the question that was asked of him:
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WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CLERICAL SCHOLARS ATTEMPTING TO "DISPROVE" THE DA VINCI CODE?
”The dialogue is wonderful. These authors and I obviously disagree, but the debate that is being generated is a positive powerful force. The more vigorously we debate these topics, the better our understanding of our own spirituality. Controversy and dialogue are healthy for religion as a whole. Religion has only one true enemy--apathy--and passionate debate is a superb antidote.”
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The appearance of this book does give you and me opportunities to engage people in conversation about the message of the Bible. When the issue is raised we gain an opening to talk about the historical, Biblical Lord Jesus in a caring and constructive way.
Prayer: Sovereign Lord, equip us to clearly engage in conversations about our faith. Help us to respond with compassion; it’s easy to be argumentative, which is how the world handles conflict. Help us to speak the truth in love. Your power is in us, and Your word upholds us. Heavenly Father today…
We pray for those whose lives closely touch our own that they may always be in our hearts and have joy and happiness in their lives. We pray for those who trespass against us that their sins may be forgiven.
We pray with thanks for families, neighbors, teachers, teammates, and all those in our community who support the well being of others, especially the sick and the needy.
We pray for those who suffer the loss of family, friends and neighbors that they may be comforted by those who love them. Help restore peace and harmony in their hearts. Let them discover Your love through the care and support of others.
We pray for the mission of the church; for our Bishop, Joe Pennel who retires this month and for our new incoming Bishop, CharleneWe pray for all who proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth and for all who seek the Truth.
We pray for all the leaders of the world that they may make wise choices for everyone and that they may lead us to honor one another and serve the common good.
We pray for your wonderful creation, the Earth, and its streams, trees, mountains and plants. We pray that the animals of the Earth may freely enjoy these resources.
We pray for those who have died and for the people who miss them. May all find peace and strength in You.
We pray for those who do not understand or have not found Your love, that they may seek a deeper knowledge of You. May Your love find those who need You most. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The novel, the Code, is about secrets. Are you into secrets? Probably we all love secrets, here’s one for you:
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READ THIS WITH ME
Ephesians 1 NLT
9God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 10And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth.
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11Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,[1] for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. 12God’s purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. 13And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
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And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
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Next week I begin the series on the Faith of the Methodist, John Wesley. Bethany Church would not be here if it were not for his faithfulness.
SLIDES 47 – 50 will be used earlier in the service when the congregation reads together the Nicene Creed. I have saved these under a separate file in this folder.
Web resources used to research this topic:
http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/reviews.html
http://cor.org/StudyGuides/2004/extra/manuscript_jan11_2004.htm
http://www.maherconsulting.com/bumc/sermondetail.cfm?ID=283
http://www.maherconsulting.com/bumc/sermondetail.cfm?ID=281
http://www.frontline.to/resources/series.asp?SeriesID=28
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/144/52.0.html
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/145/52.0.html
http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/inspiration.htm
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/femalex.html
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=68618&ContributorID=1399
OUTLINE FOR BULLETIN INSERT
The Da Vinci Code:
A Christian Response
What Dan Brown Got Right, What He Got Wrong,
and Who Cares?
August 22, 2004 – Bethany Church
Pastor Don Hawks
THE DA VINCI CODE (Dan Brown):
WHAT’S THE STORY ABOUT?
A. WHAT BROWN GOT RIGHT
1. The author understands the ___________ status of women in the patriarchal society of Jesus’ time.
John 4: 27 NLT Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing.
2. The author understands that that the role of the women in __________ in the early church has been down played throughout the history of the church.
Lydia and Priscilla Acts 16; Mary and Martha (John 11), the woman at the well (John 4), the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:26) Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2).
B. WHAT BROWN GOT WRONG
1. The author is mistaken about some “Facts” he presents in the introduction to the book.
“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Introduction
Andrew Greeley -- “Brown knows little about Leonardo, little about the Catholic Church, and little about history.”
2. He is mistaken about the authority and source of canonical scriptures.
“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.” 231.
“The fundamental irony of Christianity!” [That a pagan Emperor (Constantine) decided on which books would be canonized] 231.
“Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. … clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own
power base.” 234.
“The Bible is a product of man…Not of God….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.” 231.
Who was Emperor Constantine, was he a Christian, did he “commission and finance” a new Bible and was it he who canonized the New Testament books? And what does the word Canonized even mean?
A Canon is simply a ____________ collection of books.
II Timothy 3:14-16--But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
"In the early 200’s, Origen (an early church leader) listed all the accepted books of the new Testament—a list that matches today’s canon." Ralph Muncaster: A Skeptic’s Search For God, 235.
“The New Testament Canon is not the invention of Constantine in the fourth century. It is an essential part of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles from the start. In the first century the Canon was in organic form and functioned without formal church declaration.” “Cracking Da Vinci’s Code” Jim Garlow, and Peter Jones
3. He is mistaken about both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus.
“…almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” 235.
…”…many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon—the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of sacraments, and, of course the divinity of Jesus….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….Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man” 233 &234.
Romans 1:3-4 NLT It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man, born into King David’s royal family line. And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.[
Colossians 1:15 NIV Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.
1 Corinthians 8:6 NIV But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
“The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.” 245
"What does a married Jesus do for you that a single Jesus doesn’t" Reverend Richard Hurst
4. He is mistaken about the role and person of Mary Magdalene.
“According to these unaltered gospels, it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church. It was Mary Magdalene.” 248.
“That unfortunate misconception (the book says) is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church. The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret—her role as the Holy Grail.” 244.
“The legend of the Holy Grail is a legend about royal blood. When Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’…it speaks, in fact, of Mary Magdalene—the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline.” 249.
“…the greatest cover-up in human history. Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father…..Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ.” 249.
"Christ’s line grew quietly under cover in France until making a bold move in the fifth century, when it intermarried with French royal blood and created a lineage known as the Merovingian bloodline." 257
"Magdalene’s and Sarah’s lives were scrutinously chronicled by their Jewish protectors. Remember that Magdalene’s child belonged to the lineage of Jewish kings—David and Solomon. For this reason, the Jews in France considered Magdalene sacred royalty and revered her as the progenitor of the royal line of kings. Countless scholars of that era chronicled Mary Magdalene’s days in France, including the birth of Sarah and the subsequent family tree." 255
Who was Mary Magdalene according to the Bible?
Mary was a follower and friend of Jesus as were many women (Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:41); Jesus cast out of Mary seven demons. (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2); Mary watched Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus (Luke 23:56);
After three days, Mary returned to the tomb with some other women, saw that the stone had been rolled away (John 20:1) and they ran back to tell the disciples (John 20:2) that someone had stolen the body; Mary was also the first person that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection (John 20:15-16) and He instructed her to go back and tell the disciples (John 20:18). She is NOT the sinful woman in Luke 7: 36-50.
C. WHO CARES?
“It was a quick romp, largely fun to read, if rather predictable and preachy. This is a good airplane book, a novelistic thriller that presents a rummage sale of accurate historical nuggets alongside falsehoods and misleading statements.” Margaret M. Mitchell Associate Professor of New Testament at the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Chair of the Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature
”The dialogue is wonderful … a positive powerful force. … Controversy and dialogue are healthy for religion as a whole. Religion has only one true enemy--apathy--and passionate debate is a superb antidote.” Dan Brown
THE GREATEST SECRET: Ephesians 1:9-14
