Introduction: On December 26, 2005, a tsunami, created by an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, killed thousands of people from 12 different countries. It registered a 9.0 on the Richter scale. To provide you with a little perspective, the most powerful quake to ever hit America occurred in California in October of 1989. It registered 7.1. What is the difference? Each whole number step in the Richter scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number. This means that the quake that caused the tsunami that ravaged Indonesia, India and several other countries was about 60 times more powerful than the largest one ever recorded in America. Now, suppose for a moment that geologists and geophysicists had been able to predict the quake and ensuing tsunami with a great deal of accuracy. How many lives do you think would have been saved? What would the people living in Southeast Asia have done differently if they had known that a tsunami was coming? We’ll never know, will we? We can only conjecture, because there was no advanced warning and the largest natural disaster of the last thousand years was the result.
On May 19th, a spiritual tsunami is going to hit America. It is the day that the movie, "The DaVinci Code" will be released for public viewing. Sony Pictures who has put more than $130 million into the movie is engaging in an all-out media blitz that will likely make this film the biggest money maker in the history of Hollywood. You may wonder why we should be concerned about this. If you have not read the book (and this may put you in the minority since an estimated 100 million people have already devoured the hardback version), then I’d like to take a few moments to lay out some of the prominent themes of this fast-paced fictional story from Dan Brown.
The main plot goes something like this: While in Paris on business, a Harvard Professor who specializes in interpreting symbols named Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. A baffling secret message has been found near his body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Nevue, who just happens to be the granddaughter of the slain curator, solve a series of bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo DaVinci. These clues, though visible for all to see, are ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a link between the clues and a secret society named the Priory of Sion, whose more famous members include Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo and DaVinci. Gradually they come to understand that the two are on a hunt for the holy grail and a breathtaking historical secret that would completely change the way people look at Christianity forever. SOUNDS PRETTY EXCITING, DOESN’T IT? It is a fast-paced tale that eventually leads to the home of Sir Leigh Teabing, an English knight living in Paris who has been searching for the Holy Grail for most of his adult life. It is a conversation that the principle characters have in his study that has caused many who have read the book to question the very integrity of the Christian faith in three important areas. Next Sunday, we’ll be discussing one of them, "What did it mean for Christ to be human?" On Easter Sunday we’ll consider another, "How Do We Know That Jesus is Really God?" Today, we’re going to consider if the Bible we have in our possession is the same one that was written in the first century by the Apostles and their associates.
I. The Controversy: (pg. 231-234). In his book, Dan Brown claims that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men at the Council of Nicea in 325AD. These men, led by Emperor Constantine, himself a lifelong pagan who worshipped the sun, possessed a political agenda--to promote Jesus to the status of the Son of God while using His influence to solidify their own power base. Since Christianity was on the rise and sun worship on the decline, the emperor, quite simply, decided to back the winning horse! He ordered those at the Council to edit the original message of the gospels endorsing Jesus as the Son of God and to destroy the rest, nearly 80 other accounts which would have negated that claim. Fortunately, according to Brown, some of the texts (The Gnostic Gospels, i.e. The Gospels of Thomas, Phillip and Mary of Magdela and the Apocalypse of Peter are a few) were not destroyed but hidden and were rediscovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Later in ’50s, more were found (The Dead Sea Scrolls) in a cave near Qumran in the Judean Desert. These documents detail the lies of the Bible and paint a very different picture of Christ. Application: See where this is going? Don’t think for a moment that people aren’t being influenced by this conclusion. Erwin Lutzer, the pastor of Moody Church, met a woman recently who said to him, "I can never go to church again, because now I know that the church is based on lies."
There seem to be two kinds of reactions to this issue among Christians. Many are enraged and want to boycott anything to do with the book or movie. The problem with this response is that it puts believers on the defensive and makes us appear as if we have something to hide. Another group has done the exact opposite. They have asked the Lord to make the story the most effective evangelistic tool since the 4 Spiritual Laws was written in the 1950s. Their view, and I subscribe to it as well, is that Christians should not be fearful of close historical scrutiny. In fact, when an honest investigation is done, the findings will likely lead more men and women to consider the claims of the Bible as the authentic words of Christ. With this in mind, here’s how we can respond to the claim that the Bible is full of lies.
II. Our Response: I have to confess that I would love to refer to the Bible to make my case right now. The only problem is that those who don’t believe the Scriptures will argue that it is inappropriate to use the Bible to prove the Bible. So let’s take a different approach by looking more closely at the Gnostic Gospels, from which most, if not all of Dan Brown’s information is ultimately taken, and the Canon (meaning "Standard") of Scripture.
A. The Gnostic (The Greek Word for "Knowledge") Gospels - According to Darrell Bock, a research professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, Gnosticism was an attempt to blend Christianity and Greek Philosophy, especially that of Plato. Some of what it taught is...(1) that all matter was evil (Contrast with Genesis 1:31); (2) that the body is a prison for the soul (Contrast with 1 Thessalonians 5:23); (3) that the Hebrew scriptures were to be rejected (Contrast with 2 Timothy 3:16-17); (4) that the God of creation was an evil spirit (Contrast with Psalm 145:9); (5) that the major problem facing man is ignorance (Contrast with Luke 1:77 (6) that only an elite few are able to access a new kind of revelation, more significant than that of the past (Contrast with Psalm 119:130; Deuteronomy 6:6-7) ; and (7) and that the knowledge of this elite few cannot be challenged (Contrast with 1 Corinthians 3:19-20). There is much more to Gnosticism, but given our time restraints permit me to share 3 reasons why we shouldn’t believe the Gnostic Gospels.
1. THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIAN IN ANY SENSE OF THE WORD! Some have proposed that the Gnostic Gospels show just how diverse Christianity was in the second century. For them, there was more than one form of truth floating around that could be associated with this new faith. They suggest that our understanding of the early Christianity should be broad enough to encompass and appreciate both movements. However, the early church fathers (Irenaeus, Ignatius, Tertullian, Athanasius etc) did not see the two as differing expressions of the one faith. They clearly did not believe that the Gnostics were Christian at all. Irenaeus even wrote a book "Against Heresies" to refute many of these teachings.
2. THEY WERE NOT AUTHORED BY THE APOSTLES! The names of the Gnostic Gospels (The Gospels of Thomas and Phillip, the Apocalypse of Peter, The Acts of John etc) could lead someone to believe that they were written by those who were eyewitnesses to the life of Christ. This, after all, is the basis for an appeal from Peter to follow his instruction (See 2 Peter 1:16). What we see in this case is that the names were borrowed to lend credibility to their writings. How do we know this? This brings me to my last point.
3. THEY WERE NOT WRITTEN UNTIL 200 YEARS AFTER THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Typical of this movement, the Gospel of Phillip was written in Syria around 250AD. Any information they had about the life of Christ was either pure fabrication or it came from sources other than those who had firsthand experience with the events surrounding His life. (Illustration: This is no different than if I were to challenge American historians take on the Civil War claiming that I have been given new, divine insight that nullifies everything that came before me!)
B. The Canon of Scripture - Because it relates to these issues we will talk about the Gospels in particular. There were four factors that drove the effort to define which gospel documents held unique authority for Christians, ultimately leading to their formal recognition at the Council of Nicea in 325.
1. Apostolic roots as a ground for truth: The Gospel accounts had to be written either by an apostle or a close associate. Matthew and John were disciples of Christ (See Mark 3:16-19). Luke ministered alongside of Paul (See 2 Timothy 4:11), while Mark had contact with Peter (See 1 Peter 5:13). This assured accuracy in what they wrote.
2. Widespread use: The gospels had to enjoy widespread acceptance among the churches. There is not one shred of evidence that the Council of Nicea ever discussed which books should be viewed as scripture. Why not? They didn’t have to. They simply acknowledged those that were already being used by the early church. We know this because the writings of the church fathers and historians (Ex. The Muratorian Canon) reveal that these were the accepted accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Christ more than 150 years before the Council of Nicea.
3. The rise of competing views of the faith: Early Christian documents contend for certain gospels while naming others that should be excluded (Irenaeus does so in 180AD. Justin Martyr does so as well 25 years before Irenaeus.) This was obviously necessary as new groups promoted teachings other than those that were commonly held to be orthodox.
4. Persecution: The first three factors had to do with those who wanted to preserve the details of the gospels for future generations. This one, however, came from those with a different agenda. In some persecutions predating Constantine, during the reign of Diocletian in AD303, the sacred books were ordered to be burned or destroyed. To be able to carry out these orders, authorities had to identify and name the books. This they did by investigating what books and letters were considered the sacred documents. Application: In summary, to attribute the selection of the Gospels to Constantine and the Council of Nicea is to ignore more than a century of widespread use and recognition from the church.
Erwin Lutzer asks two questions for us to consider in our evaluation of the books of the New Testament: WHAT BOOKS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT DO YOU THINK SHOULD NOT BE THERE? WHAT BOOK THAT WASN’T INCLUDED, SHOULD BE?
Conclusion: In his book, "Breaking the DaVinci Code" Daryl Bock argues that Dan Brown and his contemporaries are engaged in an attempt to rewrite history. He says, "Here we begin to discover the real secret and code behind THE DAVINICI CODE. It is nothing less than a conscious effort to obscure the uniqueness and vitality of the Christian faith and message...Readers of such works should be in the know about what is going on and why it matters" (See pgs. 95-96). It is important to me, as your pastor, and to the other elders that you are ’in the know’ when it comes to this battle. We are reminded that though it may seem that our opponents are popular authors and mistaken theologians, the real enemy is the Devil (See Ephesians 6:11-12). A while back a Chicago-area drug user became a police informant. His job was to get drug dealers to sell narcotics to him or an undercover agent, leading to an arrest. He was unusually successful at it. His primary strategy was to manipulate the person by saying something like, "Everybody says they can deliver, but you look a little too young; or you look a little too old; or you look like a nerd." Without fail, it didn’t take long for the dealer to want to prove himself by getting the drugs and making the sale. I wonder if the Devil isn’t applying a similar kind of psychology to manipulate those like Dan Brown and others who are proposing a new kind of truth when it comes to the Christian faith. Could it be that they are just pawns in a spiritual conflict that is meant to divert people from the saving knowledge of Christ? He is the Father of Lies and will do anything to keep people from loving our Lord (See John 8:42-44). I invite you to participate in God’s good work as He takes what was intended for evil and uses it for His glory (See Romans 8:28).
