20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In 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. (2 Peter 1:20 - 2:3)
Should I Read the Da Vinci Code?
In a couple of weeks the movie The Da Vinci Code will come to a theatre near you. The book has had a huge impact the on America. The numbers are staggering, perhaps as many as a third of the population has read the book. Since the book portrays Jesus not as God but as a good man and married, Christians must be ready offer a testimony of truth. Christians must know what they believe and be ready to help others discover truth about Jesus Christ and God’s Word. Wherever you cut into the God’s Word it bleeds Jesus.
Dan Brown’s book, The Da Vinci Code, purposely blurs the lines between history and fiction. On the back of the book it is classified as fiction. But just a few lines down on the back of the book you find this statement, “an astonishing truth concealed for centuries…unveiled at last.”
The veil between fact and faction in The Da Vinci Code is razor thin. The result is that many are wondering what the real truth is about Jesus, the Bible, and the Church. The book is far more than a literary blockbuster and a number one worldwide bestseller - don’t be fooled! You will be called upon to decide if the book challenges the veracity of God’s Word. In our text today Peter said these things would happen in the last days.
20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In 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. (2 Peter 1:20 - 2:3)
One of the great benefits of Brown’s book is, it will force the church to become more apologetic in defending their faith and more alert to the issues concerning a historical basis for early Christianity. A win for the church!
The Da Vinci Code has sold over 40 million copies and has been translated into over 22 languages. With a soon to be released Hollywood movie by Director Ron Howard of Happy Days, and actor Tom Hanks, the sales of the book will continue to climb. So where does The Da Vinci Code stand in all-time sales?
Bible - 6 billion
Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (Little Red Book) - 900 Million
Noah Webster Spelling Book - 100 million
Benjamin Spock (Parenting) - 50 Million
The Da Vinci Code - 40 Million (If you don’t include Webster’s Dictionary and McGuffey Reader.)
Almost everyone knows someone who is reading or has read the book. What is Dan Brown’s mission in writing this manuscript? Financial? Maybe. Literary joy? To produce a mystery? Americans love a mystery and a challenge to the status quo.
The book calls into question, as author Erwin Lutzer says, “…the authority of the Bible and the truth of what Christians believe about Jesus. Millions of readers are being duped into believing the book is based on a true conspiracy on the part of the church and those in power to manipulate Christianity to serve their own purposes.”1
We have a mandate as Christians living in the last days to clarify the truth about Jesus and God’s Word if the literary work misleads the masses about false doctrines. So why should I read The Da Vinci Code? Let me suggest a couple of reasons:
1. We must help those who are accepting the book as truth about Jesus, God’s Word, and the Church, suggesting to them they look at other sources of truth.
2. Some are finding their faith shaken; we must help them anchor in a harbor of truth.
3. We must help truth-seekers come to meet the real Jesus and his free gift of salvation through repentance and forgiveness of sins.
The book will continue to be a hotbed of discussion and debate on college campuses, at the water cooler, and even in church settings where Christians and seekers talk about “Who is Jesus?” This is not going away.
Let me briefly, without telling you too much about the book, offer a short list of theological and historical issues that The Da Vinci Code challenges about Jesus, God’s Word, and the historicity of the Church.
First, the book suggests an alternate source of truth concerning Jesus and his Church than the New Testament - other books called Gnostic Gospels.
Next, the most interesting part of the book is the suggestion that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Da Vinci’s painting offers some clues.
Also, the book suggests that Mary Magdalene was supposed to be the leader of the church but that Peter had a problem with that.
Finally, one of the most spurious ideas is that, “Everything the early church fathers taught us about Jesus Christ is false,” as Teabing, one of the characters in the book, laments.
The idea is that the New Testament is simply the result of a male-dominated leadership conspiracy that invented Christianity in order to control the Roman Empire and oppress women. The real Jesus was the original feminist, but his wishes were ignored to foster the type of Christianity we have today. If the book were just an interesting read for conspiracy buffs, fine. But the problem is that the book is being pawned off as based on facts. This basic plot is not new; it has been around for centuries.
Brown has a website for people to add comments about the book and one person said, “I will never be able to enter a church again.” An ABC documentary on The Da Vinci Code gave credibility to the book by ignoring serious scholarship in favor of sensationalist rumors. The program ended with this statement: “…although we don’t have any proof…” It is clear that the book was given some degree of respectability, with the implication that proof or not, “Dan Brown might be on to something.”
Let me ask you a couple of questions. Is it really possible that such a conspiracy could be kept under wraps all these years? How do you explain the power of Christianity to change lives and society if Brown’s accusations about its deception are true? Why would the disciples give their lives for such a hoax if they knew it was a lie? Oh, by the way, not much at stake? If it’s true then all those who have ever trusted in Jesus Christ, including us, well our hope for heaven, forgiveness of sins, healing, and peace of mind is meaningless.
You Can Trust God’s Word
I think the place to begin our search for truth has to be with God’s Word. Are you going to interpret The Da Vince Code in light of the Bible or vice-a-versa? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Let’s start by discovering why we can trust the Bible, even though Brown would suggest otherwise.
“Forever, O Lord
Your Word is settled in heaven.”
-Psalm 119:89
The Bible is the real Route 66 (66 books). With over 40 different authors, it was written in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. Its writings span over 1600 years from many continents. We can trace the text from Babylon, Greece, Rome, Asia, Palestine, and perhaps even Arabia. Every sort of literature is found in the Bible: poetry, prophecy, didactic, biography, travel, philosophy, and theology.
The Bible is a miracle in its inception. Suppose that forty different artists were to paint a picture without having any idea what the others might be doing or that the others were doing anything at all. Imagine someone collecting these pieces and arranging them all upon a huge wall, and the result was a perfect portrait that displayed the features of Jesus Christ2.
So how influential has the Bible been on our world? Well, author and professor William Lyons from Yale University puts it this way:
“Our civilization is founded on the Bible. More of our own ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art and our ideals come from the Bible than from all other books combined.”3
1. You can trust God’s word because it is inspired.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:14-16).
Inspiration: The Scriptures are breathed out by God, as the Holy Spirit inspired men to write on behalf of God’s Will and Intentions.
The Bible will always be your most reliable source to interpret life because it doesn’t have its origin in human imperfections. It is a divinely given record of a divinely directed history. No human contrived system established the Word of God. The Bible is the only historically verified and categorically authoritative book that offers us help and hope for the issues of life.
Many are skeptical about the Bible and its claims and try to undermine its integrity with statements such as “it’s unreliable,” “it’s contradictory,” “it’s simply a collection of false stories and made up fables.” Such was the case this past Easter at our church when our church family was greeted with handbills on their windshields that read:
“Did you know that your parents and pastor are wrong when they tell you about “God” and “the devil.”
“That’s right! Everything in the Bible is actually just a fairy tale.”
“Sometimes grown-ups try to trick children into being good by making up scary stories. That’s kind of mean isn’t it?”
“So the next time an adult tries to scare you with things like “Hell,” and “damnation,” just say, “Stop trying to scare me! That’s mean.”
This debate is not left to the theologians and atheists. This war on truth is being waged in the parking lots of churches and in the classrooms of schools. The reason you can trust God’s Word is that it did not originate with man, it was God-breathed. God is the author. The scriptures are God talking to us. Because the Bible is God-breathed, it is God’s message not ours. He didn’t ask us for input. He alone chose the content for “all” of scripture.
What a person does with inspiration sets the tone for whether or not they will allow God to speak His message to their mess! If it is not inspired, then a person feels no obligation to adhere to its advice and commands.
The brilliant, anti-Christian philosopher Bertrand Russell illustrates the above insight. In the book entitled Why I Am Not A Christian Russell says, “Science could not tyrannize over philosophy and tell philosophy that there was no meaning to life because if you accept the evolutionary scientific view, then life has no meaning.” 5 Why did he not believe in God? Because science and philosophy disproved His existence? No, because the idea of God interfered with his sin.
The sad commentary on Russell is that people believed him. He proved nothing, only proclaimed his ethic. When you subtract inspiration from God’s Word you get mankind’s moral obligation to deal with the “sin issue.” Russell and countless others have known this for years. Their writings reflect it!
2. You can trust God’s word because it is inerrant.
1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)
Inerrant: The idea that the Bible is truth without error of any kind. It is closely aligned with the word “infallible,” that is, the Bible is incapable of error.
Luther: “The Scriptures never err. Where the Holy Scriptures establishes something that must be believed, there we must not deviate from the words.”
Calvin: “The sure and infallible record. Infallible Word of God. Free from every stain or defect.”5
In Luke’s day, many had already begun to record the events surrounding the life of the Sin-Bearer and our Savior - Jesus. The problem? Many of the accounts were not the result of an eyewitness report and were filled with fallacies. So Luke set out to make sure that early Christians could rely on the integrity of the account of Jesus.
3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:3-4)
Let me suggest a couple of reasons you can have confidence in what was originally written as Scripture.
First, evidence by the vast number of New Testament manuscripts. The writings of Plato and Aristotle are recorded in about 25 - 50 manuscripts. They also contain the same number of copies dated within a couple hundred years. In comparison, there are over 6000 manuscripts or parts of the New Testament; many are dated within the first two centuries AD.
Next, evidenced by the confidence in the text. Because manuscripts were hand copied, it is not surprising that errors and mistakes of omission could creep in. The Iliad by Homer, for instance, contains 15,600 lines, of which literary scholars question the accuracy of 746 lines due to errors and omissions. The same study was done on the New Testament, not necessarily by Christians. The discovery? There are 20,000 lines of the Greek New Testament, of which only 40 lines are scrutinized as to accuracy. Oh, by the way, among the 40 lines that raise a question, not one relates to a theological issue of any significance.
One of the best research issues surrounds the Dead Sea Scrolls. Do your own study. The Scrolls are the greatest archeological find of all time. Included in the Scrolls is the famous Isaiah scroll that is 100% intact. It was dated at 125 BC. Over 1000 years separated it from the Masoretic Isaiah scrolls. When the two were placed side-by-side scholars expected to find many changes and mistakes. The exact opposite occurred! They found almost no difference; the integrity of the text was well preserved.7 A full 1000 years separated the documents giving evidence for our trust that the Bible we have today is indeed what was written long ago. You decide!
3. You can trust God’s word because it is incarnate.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5)
John leaves us staggering at the reality that the Living God took on human flesh and dwelt among us. There is no greater revelation of God than Jesus. Jesus is the central issue of Christian thought and practice. The central message of the incarnation is that “the word became flesh” and the world’s inability to accept this truth is found in John 1:5:
5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
It is with the incarnation that we truly learn what it means to be like Jesus.
The Louvre in Paris is perhaps the most famous art museum in the world. It displays originals by such masters as Delacroix, Michelangelo, Rubens, Da Vinci, Ingres, Vermeer, and many others.
Since 1793, the Louvre has encouraged aspiring artists to come and copy the masters. Some of our most famous modern artists have done that and have become painters by copying the best the world has ever known.
An article in the Smithsonian magazine tells about Amal Dagher, a 63-year old man who has been duplicating art at the Louvre for over 30 years. Dagher remains in awe of the masters and continues to learn from them. He said, “If you are satisfied with yourself, you can’t improve.” My prayer is that we resist the temptation to be satisfied with the way we presently imitate Jesus.
This is our goal - to imitate the life of Christ. Paul reminds us of that in Ephesians 5:1, “be imitators of Jesus.” This is your purpose in life. You were created to be like Jesus. When you know your purpose in life you are able to:
keep your life simple,
know what you should and shouldn’t be doing,
help others find meaning and direction for life,
experience personal satisfaction.
Summary Thoughts
I think the place to begin our search for truth has to be with God’s Word. Are you going to interpret The Da Vince Code in light of the Bible or vice-a-versa?
The Bible will always be your most reliable source to interpret life because it doesn’t have its origin in human imperfections. It is a divinely given record of a divinely directed history. No human contrived system established the Word of God. The Bible is the only historically verified and categorically authoritative book that offers us help and hope for the issues of life.
Surprising Thoughts
What a person does with inspiration sets the tone for whether or not they will allow God to speak His message to their mess! If it is not inspired, then a person feels no obligation to adhere to its advice and commands.
End Notes
1. Erwin W. Lutzer. The Da Vinci Deception. Tyndale House Publishing, Illinois, 2006, pg. 2.
2. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcomb. What if the Bible had Never Been Written? Thomas Nelson Publisher, Nashville, Tenn., 1998, pg. 4.
3. Ibid, pg. 4
4. Bertrand Russell. Why I Am Not A Christian. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1957.
5. Stanley M. Horton. Systematic Theology, Logion Press, Springfield, Mo., 1998, pg. 102.
6. Jack Hayford. Ground for Living. Chosen Books (Regal) Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2001, pg. 18-19.
