The Da Vinci Deception, 1 Tim 1:3; 4:1,2
1 Timothy 1:3 (NIV), “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.”
1 Timothy 4:1-2, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
1 Tim. 6:3-10, “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain… People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
So, what is YOUR Authority for Faith & Practice? Is the Bible your ONLY Authority? Or do also add Another Gospel, the Traditions of Men, or the Daily Horoscope, or gospel according to Garfield?
The DaVinci Code has been atop the NY Times Best-seller list and Amazon.com since 2003 and has sold over 43 Million copies. And it will soon be released as a Billion dollar Blockbuster on 19 May starring Tom Hanks and directed Ron Howard!
But it’s only fiction, right? So, why should I care? Because, it’s the biggest faith-based attack against Christianity since “The Last Temptation of Christ.” And, it seems that Dan Brown’s sole agenda is to create doubt and confusion by undermining the Authority of God’s Word.
He says on the Title page: “All descriptions of art work, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in the novel are accurate.” As for Dan Brown’s credentials, he is neither a historian, nor theologian, but rather a school teacher and writes fictional novels.
Dan Brown blurs fact and fiction and has caused a great deal of confusion and caused many to doubt their faith—probably because many weren’t grounded in their faith to begin with! Are you? Do you know what you believe and why you believe it?—the fundamentals of our faith—the core essentials upon which our soul depends for eternity.
But sadly, too many Christians are ignorant of God’s Word. According to 82% of Americans, they think that “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse. Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many professing Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples (that was Peter, Paul, Mary, right? Oh no, that was the Beetles!). And 60% of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments.
A Barna poll indicated that at least 12% of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50% thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.
A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.
Be that as it may, the point is, that many Christians lack the confidence to defend their faith and are not ready to give an answer because they lack the knowledge of God’s Word—and it’s not something we learn overnight. It takes diligent study, discipline, and application.
But we can and should know and understand the Essentials of our Christian Faith. When I use the word ‘essential’, these are the core beliefs of Christianity, and to beware of any group who denies them. Cults often attack one or more of these key elements of Christianity.
When we understand the essentials of our faith, and become grounded in the basic doctrines of God’s Word, it is a great tool to use against such deceptions as the “DaVinci Code.”
We don’t have to know what all the false religions are about, we do need to know God’s Word.
I find that many Christians, however are sucked into cults and such deceptions as the DaVinci Code. These Christians are confused because they aren’t grounded in God Word and, thus, are “tossed to fro by every wind of false doctrine.”
With just a basic knowledge and understanding of our faith, we can answer the questions of the DaVinci Code.
The Six Main Lies of the DaVinci Deception: 1. Is Jesus God?; 2. Is the Bible true?; 3. Was Jesus married?; 4. The Gnostic Gospels- Are They Real?; 5. The Sacred Feminine - What is it?; 6. The Holy Grail?
But the Knowledge of God’s Truth shared in God’s Love is very powerful. If we know the basics of God’s Word and are prepared to share it, we can refute many silly and empty arguments—which is simply false knowledge or lies. “Satan is a liar and the father of lies.”
Christians that have gone astray and buy into such fiction as the DaVinci Deception are themselves not grounded in God’s Truth.
They may come from religious backgrounds and their answers reflect a lack of knowledge. When I ask about their spiritual life and when they last read the Bible on their, “well, it’s been awhile.”
So, I would highly recommend that all Christians get a grasp on the basic doctrines of what we believe.
What do I mean by “doctrine”? It’s basically a distillation of what the Bible teaches about a particular topic.
Take the study of Christ Jesus, Christology: His Diety, Humanity, Virgin Birth, Death, the Resurrection, the Ascension and 2d Coming of Jesus.
The Basic Bible Doctrines that we should know, understand, and be grounded in are: God (Proper), Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, The Word of God, Angels, Sin, Salvation, Man, the Church, & End Times.
A good one that I’ve used in Bible studies is Porter Barrington’s Master Outline Series that can be found at http:clife.bjjthompson.com/barrington/barrington.htm
It’s only 15 lessons and can be studied an hour a night over two weeks. If you study Porter Barrington’s Outline and you’ll know more about the Bible than you ever thought possible in such a short period of time—and certainly more than most Christians who’ve spent a lifetime in church.
So, let’s look at the six main lies of the DaVinci Deception.
1. Is Jesus God?
Was Jesus merely a man—a mortal, as Brown asserts? He says that the deity of Christ was an invention of the church at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD—the church deified Christ in 325 AD.
Dan Brown asserts that at the Council of Nicaea convened to decide if Jesus was God, and by a vote, the Church imputed His Deity, when, in fact, they convened on a theological issue over whether He was “co-eternal with God.” And the “vote” was a landslide victory with 298 to 2.
Jesus’ followers, who had worshipped Him as God for the past 300 years and even had died for Him as martyrs believed in Him as God. The Council of Nicaea did NOT meet to decide if He was God but to affirm His Deity and that He was co-eternal with the Father.
So, let’s turn to the words in the Bible and see what Jesus said about Himself. (Most of which is found in the John.)
1. Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sin. Mark 2:5-7.
2. Jesus’ accusers believed He was claiming to be God. John 5:17-18.
3. Jesus claimed that knowing the Son was the same as knowing the Father. John 5:19-23.
4. Jesus claimed for Himself one of God’s highest names, Jn 8:58-59.
5. Jesus did not stop people who worshiped Him. Jn 9:35-39; Jn 4:20-24 (only God is worthy of worship).
6. Jesus claimed He was alive before the world began. Jn 17:5, 24.
7. Jesus didn’t rebuke Thomas when he called Jesus “God.” Jn 20:28; Jn 20:30-31.
8. Jesus claimed eternal existence with God. Jn. 8:58,59.
9. Jesus claimed to be one with the Father. Jn 10:25
10. At His trial, under oath, He affirmed that He was the Christ and His claim condemned Him to death. Mt. 14:61; Mt. 26:63.
But even if these were only claims of Jesus while He walked on Earth, they would’ve meant nothing, if, in fact, He did not rise from the dead. There have been many liars and lunatics that have claimed Deity.
And, yes, he was a good man, Rabbi and teacher and His miracles added credibility. But the BIGGEST miracle of ALL was THE RESURRECTION when Christ ROSE FROM THE DEAD—the “Resurrecton Factor,” as Josh McDowell says.
It all means NOTHING, if, in fact, He did not rise from the dead. Because, if, He did not rise from the dead, “we are of all men most miserable because we are still in our sins.” And, if that’s true, I wouldn’t know the joy of His forgiveness (like I do). What’s more, all the martyrs of all the ages wouldn’t have died for a mere mortal.
2. The Gnostic Gospels- Are They Real?
First of all, what is Gnostism? “Gnostic” means “Knowledge. In the 2d C. AD, it was the spiritual knowledge that the elite or insiders possessed and upon which they based their salvation. In a nutshell, they believed that matter was evil, but spirit was God.
The problem is: if Jesus is God and appeared in the flesh which is matter and evil, then he couldn’t be God. So, the solution, Jesus wasn’t actually matter. He was completely spiritual. Either that, or not spiritual— so he was completely material and mortal, and not Divine at all.
Gnosticsm pretty much died out after the 4th C. AD, but revived in Dec. 1945 when a Egyptian peasant in the town of Nag Hammadi stumbled on a cache of 52 mss, some of which were written by Gnostics.
Another assertion was that the Bible is the product of man, not God. And that the Bible can’t be trusted or relied upon “because it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions.” (pg 231) But then he says that we trust does the Gnostic Gospels and he builds his novel on the “facts” of the Gnostic Gospels. They were discovered in 1945 with the Nag Hammadi documents. The find yielded 45 works, not 80 as he says—and only five of which were called “gospels.” The gospels of: Truth, Thomas, Egyptians, Philip, and Mary.
It doesn’t seem to matter to him that they were determined to be heretical by the close of the 2d century. And, most of them were written 200-300 years after the Canonical four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), which were all completed by the close of the 1st Century.
And, by the way, the Canonical Gospels have accurate details of historical dates, people, places, and events in contrast to the Gnostic Gospels, which were written in the style of fables.
The Gospel of Mark was one of the earliest written in 60 AD. Matthew and Luke were written in 70 and 80 AD, an the Gospel of John and Revelation were written by John on the Island of Patmos in 90-100 AD.
So, here’s how the NT developed. (draw Mediterranean basin) They were books:
a. Were written from various places (Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Rome)
b. Copied and circulated
c. Recognized as bearing the marks of God were kept.
d. Copied carefully.
e. We have 15,000 manuscripts.
f. They always copied from the Greek and Aramaic.
g. NT is the most reliable book in history because of
1. the care in copying
2. the number of copies to compare
3. the closeness of the copies to the original.
For writings to be accepted in our Bible they had to be meet the strict criteria established by our church forefathers. So, what criteria helped them determine whether or not a particular writing was truly inspired by God?
A. Ancient = The book had to be written near the time of Jesus and His original followers. This tends to exclude any writings dated after the first century A.D.
B. Apostolic = The book had to be written by an apostle or a companion of an apostle. Consider our four gospels.
C. Orthodox = The book had to be consistent with the teachings already accepted as having come from Jesus and His original followers.
D. Accepted = The book had to be widely recognized and accepted by a large proportion of the orthodox Christian church.
So, consider this: The so-called Gnostic gospels are heretical precisely because they were secret documents in contrast to the Apostolic writings that were widely circulated and verifiable.
Also, Dan Brown also says, “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.”
There is no evidence that Constantine tried to destroy the Gospels. In fact, if anything, he was trying to promote Christianity for the sake of his empire. And they weren’t discovered in the 1950’s as he says, but they were discovered in 1947.
And there were no Gospels nor any Christian documents of any kind discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were largely OT writings and fragments, commentaries, extra biblical works and business records. So again, he’s wrong again on all counts—except for the fact that they were found in a cave in Qumran.
Dan Brown creates a piece of fiction that is based on the Gnostic Gospels which were largely a collection of fables and thrown out as heretical by the close of the 2d C. He claims that Jesus somehow revived from the crucifixion, married Mary Magdalene, and they escaped to southern France to start a family with their daughter Sarah. They started a secret bloodline of descendants which was protected by a secret Catholic Order, the Opus Dei and guarded to this day.
3. Was Jesus married?
Dan Brown builds an entire story on a rejected heretical Gnostic gospel that was written at least 100 years after the Canonical Four Gospels—and none of them make any reference to Jesus being married.
All Philip’s gospel says is that he kissed Mary… but the text is incomplete and broken. But that’s not unusual in the Mid-East cultures. And it doesn’t say where—mouth, cheek, nose, forehead?
Philip says she was companion, but there is no reference to a spouse. And it was written in Coptic, not Aramaic or Greek like the NT was. And there is no word in the Aramaic where companion means spouse. And certainly no mention in the NT.
In fact, Jesus did not come to procreate, but came to save the lost. And He is in love with His Bride, the Church, the Body of Believers.
And, on top of all that, as Jesus hung on the cross, He showed no special care or concern for Mary Magdalene as He did for his own mother.
So, Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene; she was not pregnant with his child; she did not flee to France; there is no royal bloodline; and there is no conspiracy to cover up what never happened.
4. What About The Holy Grail?
So there you have it the truth about the gospels, Jesus and Mary Magdalene. For fun let’s take a look at the Truth about the Grail. Most of us have learned all we know about the grail either from Indiana Jones or from Monty Python. But what does history actually teach us about the grail? Nothing, zip, nada, nothing!
For twelve hundred years after the death of Christ, nobody says anything about the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper. Then, in the late 1300’s legends were told about King Arthur and his quest for the cup, which not only at the last supper but also used to catch the blood of Christ while he was hanging on the cross. Still, this is only pure fiction.
The Roman Catholic church which has promoted many relics through the years has never promoted the grail as a holy relic. But 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, sorry, it never happened.
So, those are just a few of the many errors and false ideas that Dan Brown tries to promulgate through his fictional novel, the DaVinci Deception.
So, what’s YOUR FINAL Authority for Faith and Practice? Are you trusting in the Truth and reliability of the Inspired, Infallible, Inerrant Word of God… or, some Other Gospel, or the Traditions of Men, or Horoscopes, or the gospel according to Dan Brown?
Scripture says in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV), “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
2 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV), “Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
Sounds like it fits Dan Brown to a “t”? Don’t you think?
