The “Duh” Vinci Con
I Peter 3:15
SCRIPTURE READING: I Peter 3:15
INTRODUCTION:
Today we’re going to deal with the Dan Brown novel and Movie called the Da Vinci Code. In the Da Vinci Code Dan Brown mixes old heresies and new religio-feminist dogma with his own imagination to write an adventure story … that also just happens to be an all-out attack on Christian belief.
I guess you can see my opinion of it from the title of this sermon. Maybe you’re wondering “Why bother talking about a movie at church. No one would believe fiction over the time-tested truths of Scripture.” Haven’t you noticed that while you’re watching a good movie, you tend to “suspend belief” and get caught up in the world on that big screen. Slick packaging draws people in.
Maybe you think people now-a-days are anything but gullible. After all, we are the most educated people in history. We know better than to fall for propaganda, sales hype or superstitions … right? Here’s a little test to see if you’re gullible:
You might be gullible if you …
• Get a call that you have just won a free luxury vacation on a tropical island --- so you rush out to pick up your prize … and you come back with a condo-time-share in Eagle Pass. (Okay, I know that one from personal experience…)
• Give out your bank information on line when you get an e-mail that says: “You don’t know me, but I inherited fifty million dollars and I just need an account to deposit it in.”
• Give up eating sweetener, refined sugar, white bread, red meat, canned vegetables, processed cheese, and p-nut butter … because someone on the Internet says they give you cancer.
• Go on a big spending spree because you got a thousand dollar check in the mail … from a car dealership.
• Really believe God won’t answer your prayers unless you forward that chain letter to your 10 closest friends.
• Bet your eternal salvation on the latest religious fad in Hollywood.
I got to thinking, what would I know about God if I followed the doctrines of Hollywood. Well, I’d know he looked like George Burns and he sometimes loaned his power to people like Bruce Almighty. But then again, Shirley McClain went out on a beach and shouted, “I am god!” so where does that fit in? Maybe I’d go with New Age or try Wicca or Scientology.
And what would I believe about Jesus? From the old movies I’d know he had blue eyes and talked with a British accent. From more recent movies like The Last Temptation of Christ, I’d learn He was a tormented and sinful man who died needlessly. And from this newest Hollywood rendition…?
Well, let me summarize the premise of The Da Vinci Code. The title comes from the idea that Leonardo Da Vince left clues (a “code”) in his paintings. According to the “Code,” Church leaders have been engaged in a diabolical conspiracy for the last 2000 years.
According to Dan Brown’s novel, early Christians never believed Jesus was the Son of God. He was a Rabbi … who was married to Mary Magdalene. Their offspring were ancestors to a line of European Royalty. Jesus wanted Mary Magdalene to run the church, but Peter took it over. Then, about 300 years later, the Council of Nicaea burned a bunch of “gospels” that told the truth about Jesus and took a vote to start calling him The Son of God.
So, where does Leonardo Da Vince come in? Well --- here’s one example of the “CODE” he supposedly left in his art work: In his painting of The Last Supper, you might notice that the Apostle John has no beard. That’s because he’s actually Mary Magdalene in disguise.
The plot is far-fetched to say the least. That wouldn’t be much of a problem IF it was presented as a work of pure fiction. Instead, it is presented as if it were a well-researched expose. On page 1 of the novel, Dan Brown writes, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”
As Christians, what should we do when false teaching is packaged as entertainment? If you argue against it, people may say, “Hey, lighten up. It’s just a movie.” If you picket against a movie, you’re just giving it valuable publicity. But if you ignore it, you’re missing a big opportunity.
Peter was talking about this kind of opportunity when he said, Always be ready to tell everyone who asks you why you believe as you do. Be gentle as you speak and show respect. 1 Peter 3:15 (New Life Version)
You can bet people will be talking about this movie. They may be asking you what you think about it. Speaking about this opportunity, Dr. Erwin Lutzer wrote:
“This movie will confuse a lot of people, but Jesus will become the centerpiece of many conversations. For those who are prepared to explain that Christianity rests on solid foundations, the opportunity will be tremendous.”
When researching this sermon, I found out there’s no shortage of Christians writing a response to the novel. Stuart Tyler has prepared a resource sheet with books, articles and web sites that might be helpful to you. If you have questions, just let me know. I’ll help you find answers.
Today, I’m going to mention just a sampling of what could be said in defense of our Christian beliefs. We’ll look at 3 of the attacks on Christian teaching that are found in the Da Vinci Code.
1. The Bible is not Trustworthy
Let me give you a few quotes from the novel. A character named Sir Leigh Teabing has this to say about the origins of the Bible: “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 . . . " (DVC, p. 231)
He goes on to explain that in the 4th century the Roman Emperor, 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 were outlawed, gathered up, and burned." ( TDC 234)
Then Sir Teabing explains that, "Fortunately for historians . . . some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert." (DVC, p. 234)
Well, unfortunately for the fictional Sir Teabing, the only thing he got right is that Dead Sea Scrolls were found … (even there he got the date wrong since they were found in 1947.) More importantly, the Dead Sea Scrolls contained NO gospels of any kind. What they DID contain were portions of every Old Testament book, except Esther. They do not refer to Jesus at all because the manuscripts were dated 100 to 200 years Before Christ. (The top 10 errors found in The Da Vince Code by Alex McFarland)
The “gospels” that Dan Brown talks about in his novel are portions of texts that were discovered 30 years ago in a place in Egypt called Nag Hammadi. They are sometimes called the Gnostic Gospels because they teach that salvation comes from spiritual gnosis (knowledge.) They are certainly NOT “earlier gospels” as the novel claims. The earliest was written in the 2nd century. Some were written as late as the 9th century. All were written long after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Besides that, most of the manuscripts don’t mention Jesus at all. And NONE of them say that Jesus was a man and not God. In fact, if they talk about Jesus at all, they present him as a “spiritual Christ who is neither God nor man, but a sort of filmy illusion who guides us to recognize our own innate divinity.” (Sounds like so-called New Age talk, doesn’t it?) (The Da Vinci Hoax by Sandra Miesel)
Perhaps you noticed a headline on the front page of the San Antonio Express News a few weeks back. It said the “Gospel of Judas” was calling Christian teaching into question. These Gnostic Gospels have been in the news lately … probably because of interest stirred by The Da Vince Code.
Last time I went to my medical doctor, he wanted to know what I thought about all that. I was glad I’d been researching the topic and had an answer to give! I was able to explain to him that the Gnostic Gospels were written well AFTER the books of the New Testament. Besides that, an early church historian (a man named Eusebius) states that the church rejected Gnostic writings as soon as they appeared. (The top 10 errors found in The Da Vince Code by Alex McFarland)
This brings us to an important topic: How DID books make it into the New Testament? The books that make up the Bible is called the “canon.” The church used 3 criteria when including a book in the canon of the New Testament: apostolic authorship, orthodoxy, and universal acceptance.
Apostolic Authorship means it was written by an Apostle or a close associate of an Apostle (which, or course, means it was written in the 1st century)
Orthodoxy means it conforms to the doctrines of other books that were written by apostles.
Universal Acceptance means it was accepted as authentic by a majority of churches
When the Council of Nicaea met in 325 AD, 21 of our New Testament books were in the canon. The remaining 6 books were still being debated. Early Christian leaders were very cautious about accepting a book for the canon. It was hard to make the cut. The 27 books we now use were first listed as a canon about 30 years AFTER the Council of Nicaea. Even then, the canon was not officially “closed.” The reason more books were never added to the New Testament is simply because no other books could meet the strict criteria that was required.
Despite the claims of Sir Teabing, neither the Emperor Constantine --- nor anyone else --- ever threw any gospels out of the New Testament. There’s simply no historical evidence for any of those claims. But it gets worse. The “Da Vinci Code” not only attacks the reliability of the Bible, it also denigrates the central person of the Bible.
2. Jesus was only Human
Here’s an excerpt --- again from good old Sir Teabing:
"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. (TDC 233-234)
It’s hard to know where to start with all that. It is true that some of Jesus’ followers thought he was just a “mortal prophet” for a while. But it didn’t take 300 years and a vote at the Council of Nicaea to change their minds. They changed their minds 3 days after Jesus was crucified --- when he rose from the dead!
As for this supposed close vote that made Jesus the Son of God, here’s a bit of church history: In 325 AD, the Emperor Constantine invited 1500 Christian Bishops from all over the world to come together. Their purpose was to confront a false teaching propagated by a man named Arius. This teaching said that Jesus was a Created Being --- higher than a man but less than God. (By the way, there’s no record of anyone teaching that Jesus was just a man during that time.)
318 Bishops were able to make it to the meeting. These were not evil, power-hungry men like Dan Brown implies. Many of them had been tortured for their faith. Some were crippled or had missing limbs because of the persecution they had suffered. These men were serious about what they believed.
These church leaders shared an amazing unity of belief … especially when you consider that they came from a wide geographic area in a time when communication and travel were difficult. They wrote what became known as the Nicene Creed.
This creed did NOT enforce a new belief system on the church. Instead, it encapsulated what the churches already believed. Here is a quote from the Nicene Creed that tells what the early church believed about Jesus:
“We believe in … one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven …” The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Part I, Book of Confessions; Geneva Press, Louisville, KY. Copyright ©1996
It’s clear that what early Christians believed about Jesus Christ is the same thing Christians still believe today.
By the way, the vote for this statement of faith was 316 to 2. Hardly the “close vote” that Sir Teabing claimed.
We’ll close out with one more fallacy in The Da Vinci Code. This is the most bizarre of all.
3. Mary Magdalene was the Messiah
Here’s the logic (if you can call it that): Jesus was nothing more than a Jewish Rabbi --- and since all Jewish Rabbi’s must be married, then Jesus must have been married --- and since he was married, he must have been married to Mary Magdalene.
It’s hard to know where this theory originated, but it’s a popular one. You don’t find even a hint of it in the New Testament. (By the way, the New Testament doesn’t give any physical description of Mary Magdalene --- but for some reason people always portray her as young and beautiful.)
The Gnostic Manuscripts don’t imply that Jesus was married to anyone. They seldom mention Mary Magdalene. Let me show you one of the few mentions of Mary in a Gnostic book called The Gospel of Thomas. (Please keep in mind that this was not actually written by the Apostle Thomas. I think you’ll notice that the content and quality of this book are VERY different from New Testament writings.)
"Simon Peter said to them, ’Let Mary leave us, because women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ’Look, I shall lead her so that I will make her male in order that she also may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’" (The Gnostic Gospels and the Canon of Scripture by Ed Komoszewski and James M. Sawyer )
In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown makes it sound like these Gnostic Gospels elevate Mary Magdalene to the position of a female Messiah. You can see from that quote that in reality these books are not the least bit “feminist-friendly.”
The other day I saw part of a movie that was playing on TV. Jack Nicholson’s character said something that caught my attention because it was funny, but true. He said, “I never lied to you. I always tried to give you some version of the truth.”
Well, Dan Brown’s version of the truth is skewed at best.
CONCLUSION:
The sad thing is, some people will buy into his version of the truth. They have already rejected the Gospel, and they are ready to grab onto ANYTHING that discredits the Bible. These people will be glad to believe the theories and superstitions presented in The Da Vince Code.
James Dobson credits his father with this statement: “Superstition is the worm that exudes out of the carcass of dead faith.”
On the other hand, many people will be genuinely curious about the subjects introduced in The Da Vince Code. They may ask you WHAT you believe … and WHY you believe.
I hope you’ll take this opportunity to study up on the history behind our faith. Learn about HOW we got our Bible and WHY we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Let’s get ready to do what I Peter 3: 15 says: Always be ready to tell everyone who asks you why you believe as you do. Be gentle as you speak and show respect.
