Debunking the DaVinci Code

1. Debunking the DaVinci Code Primary source: Stand to Reason (www.str.org)

2. What is the DaVinci Code?

3. Debunk: To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of something

4. Isn’t the DaVinci Code fictional? • Yes, but Brown makes the following claim: • “FACT – All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” • Writers of historical fiction typically try to get the history part right. • Many people have been misled because they have taken the historical parts as fact. • The book has sold over 50 million in hardback, and will sell tens of millions more in paperback and tens of millions will see the movie.

5. Dialogue with alleged “facts” conveyed by the character of the historian Sir Leigh Teabing: “The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. 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.”

6. “[Jesus’] life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land. 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.”“Who chose which gospels to include?” Sophie asked.“Aha!” Teabing burst in with enthusiasm. “The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.”

7. “Constantine needed to strengthen the new Christian tradition, and held a famous ecumenical gathering known as the Council of Nicaea.”Sophie had heard of it only insofar as its being the birthplace of the Nicene Creed.“At this gathering, Teabing said, “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 Christ.”

8. “I don’t follow. His divinity?”“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?”“Right,” Teabing said. “Jesus establishment as ‘the son of God,’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea.”

9. “Hold on. You’re saying Jesus’ divinity was the result of a vote?”“A relatively close vote at that,” Teabing added.“And I assume devout Christians send you hate mail on a daily basis?”“Why would they? Teabing countered. “The vast majority of educated Christians know the history of their faith . . .”

10. “The twist is this,” Teabing said, talking faster now. “Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke. From this sprang the most profound moment in Christian history.” Teabing paused, eyeing Sophie. “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.”

11. “Fortunately for historians,” Teabing said, “some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And of course, the Coptic scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi . . . 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.” (pages 231 – 234)

12. The purposes of Nicea • Date of Easter • Meletian schism • Divinity of Christ • If this was the reason for convening the council, how could Constantine have fabricated this at the council?

13. Was Jesus deity determined at Nicaea? • According to Eusebius of Caesarea and Arthanasius, archdeacon of Alexandria, Christ’s divinity was the cause for Nicea, not the result of it. • These men participated in and wrote extensively about Nicea. • Writings and archeology from the first three centuries are full of references to Jesus’ deity. • The main heresies of the 2nd century (Gnosticism and Modalism) even claimed Jesus was divine. • The real Bible has many clear references to Jesus’ deity

14. Was the vote on Jesus’ divinity “relatively close?”

15. Was the vote on Jesus’ divinity “relatively close?”You decide. Yes 316 No 2

16. “Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death”Nicea was 325 AD, so it was only three centuries later.

17. More early references • Ignatius (AD 110-130) – “We also have a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the on-begotten Son and Word before time began, but who afterwards became also man of Mary the virgin.” • Irenaeus (AD 115-190) – “In order that through Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King . . .”

18. What is Gnosticism? • Belief that matter is inherently evil and spirit inherently good • Even though it was a heresy, it affirmed Jesus’ divinity! • Brown’s “evidence” from the Gnostic gospels actually refutes his point about Constantine inventing Jesus’ deity.

19. Gnostic gospels (Thomas, Philip, Mary, Judas) • Not written by those they are named after (written much later than real Gospels) • Not eye witness accounts • Attempted to link Greek philosophy to Christianity. • Few if any references to the Old Testament. • Their version of Jesus places no demands on us. • Claim that our problem is lack of special knowledge, not sin. • Hebrews 9:22 . . . without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness

20. What makes Brown think the Gnostic gospels (Phillip, Thomas, Mary, etc.) are early, authentic and reliable?

21. If the early records of Jesus’ life are so corrupted and compromised with “countless translations, additions and revisions,” if “history has never had a definitive version of the book,” from where does Teabing derive his reliable, authentic, unimpeachable biographical information about Jesus?Greg Koukl

22. “some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert.” • The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1940’s, not the 1950’s. • The Dead Sea scrolls contain the Old Testament, not the New Testament. They contained no Gospels.

23. “[Jesus’] life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land. More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament . . .”So Constantine was able to gather and destroy thousands of copies of documents throughout the Roman world, even though early Emperors had failed miserably to eradicate the real Bible? And how do we know it was “thousands” if most of them were destroyed?

24. “The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.”The Canon of Scripture was not an issue at Nicea.

25. When was the New Testament written? • The Apostle Paul was killed in 64 AD. This is a well attested historical fact. All his writings obviously occurred before then, and 1 Corinthians and Romans were written well before then. • Paul testified that Jesus rose from the dead, among other things, and he did so within 20-30 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection. • The book of Acts, written by Luke, ends with Paul was in prison in 62 AD • Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke before he wrote Acts, so it was presumably written in the late 50’s. • Most scholars agree that Luke was not the first Gospel. Therefore, the earliest Gospel must have been written no later than the mid to late 50’s. If Matthew and Luke used the ‘Q’ document as a source, then of course ‘Q’ would have been written even closer to Jesus’ death and resurrection. • If the Gospels were all written after 70 A.D., why wasn’t the destruction of Jerusalem mentioned anywhere (especially in Matthew)?

26. Has the Bible changed over the centuries?

27. “No evidence suggests the New Testament evolved over time through countless translations and revisions. Instead, the academic analysis shows it to be the most reliable document from antiquity.”Greg Koukl, Stand to Reason

28. The Canon, or authoritative rule • Writers needed to be: • Apostles commissioned directly by Christ (e.g., Matthew, John, Peter, Paul, etc.) • Companions of the Apostles who wrote under their authority (e.g., John Mark, a companion of Peter, or Luke, a companion of Paul) • Gnostic Gospel authors did not meet this criteria (there were other problems with their writings as well).

29. Books considered for the Bible • Homologumena • Books that received unanimous support by all church leadership • Includes 20 of the 27 New Testament books, including all four Gospels • Antilegomena • Not unanimously supported. Some were rejected, some accepted (Revelation, Jude, James, Hebrews, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John) • Pseudepigrapha • Heretical books considered worthless • Late dated and not connected to original Apostles

30. Are there lost books? • If the Bible is inspired by God, there would be no lost books (God doesn’t lose things) • If the Bible is merely a collection of books assembled by man, then the books were left out of the Bible because early Christians didn’t believe them. Therefore, they couldn’t be lost. • Discovery of “lost” books proves they weren’t lost, but discarded

31. Other claims • The Holy Grail • Mary Magdalene’s alleged marriage to Jesus • Secret identify of Jesus’ alleged progeny • In DaVinci’s Last supper painting, Brown claims person to right of Jesus is Mary, not John. • If that is true, then where is John? • Warning  - Must be able to count to 13 to prove this out

32. John 8:44You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

33. John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

34. Should you read the book or see the movie?

35. Don’t assume readers/viewers are naïve or gullible. • If someone says they believe what is in the DaVinci Code, start with one question: • Why? • Also ask: • What did you think of book/movie? • Did it change your opinion of Jesus / the Church / the Bible? In what ways? • How did you come to that conclusion? • Remember, Christians have unfair advantage in marketplace of ideas: We have the truth on our side.

36. How can you use this topic to shift the message to the real Gospel?

37. Genesis 50:20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

38. Additional resources • Stand to Reason - www.str.org • www.4simpsons.com