The Da Vinci Code Part 1

1. The Da Vinci CodePart 1 It’s just a novel, why bother? USA Today: the book consists of “historical fact with a contemporary storyline.” Charles Taylor: “The most amazing thing about this novel is that it’s based on fact.” Dan Brown: “I began as a skeptic. As I started researching…I really thought I would disprove a lot of this theory about Mary Magdalene and Holy Blood and all of that. I became a believer.” First page: “FACT,…All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”

2. The Da Vinci Code claims: • Almost everything the church teaches is false. • Jesus was only human. No one claimed he was divine until a church council in the fourth century. • Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and had a child whose descendants live today. This has been covered up. • Mary is the “Holy Grail” and was commissioned by Jesus to lead the church, celebrating the “Sacred Feminine”. Peter stopped her and took over power. • The early church worshiped the “divine feminine” until the pagan Constantine create the gospels and led the church to put men instead of women in control.

3. This book has raised questions. • Are there other ancient documents about Jesus beside what we have in the NT? • Are they more reliable or authoritative? • Was Jesus married? To Mary Magdalene? Was there a child, whose descendants live today? • Was Leonardo da Vinci part of secret organization that knew about this? • Do we know why the NT has the books it does? • Was Jesus just human or just divine or both? • What is the Holy Grail? How long will this take?

4. Let’s answer some questions Question one: Is it really possible for a gray haired middle aged, slightly over the hill man to be considered dashing and attractive (as Robert Langdon is described)? I thought this might be one aspect that could be realistic, but the answer is NO.

5. Question two: How can we trust the veracity, the reliability of the Bible? Were there other authentic sources or gospels that were discarded in the process? One of the characters in TheDa Vinci Code says, “The Bible is a product of man, my dear, not of God. History has never had a definitive version of the book. The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 325 AD.”

6. How was the New Testamentformed? In a book called Excavating Jesus, a scholar by the name of John Dominic Crossan cites a study that says that in the ancient Mediterranean Basin, “Our best guess is that the literacy rate was about 5 percent.” In ancient Israel, the best guess is it was about 3 percent. That means that when Jesus was teaching people, probably only about three out of one hundred would have been able to read the Old Testament Scriptures for themselves.

7. Let’s look at some of the writers Luke 1:1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, 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, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

8. John 20:30-31 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 21:24-25 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

9. 2 Peter 1:16-21 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

10. 2 Peter 3:14-16 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

11. Gnostic writings were rejected.The Canon was formed early. • Canon is from a Greek word which means “the norm, the standard, the rule.” • Which books would be canonical must pass at least three criterion: -Does this document have a direct connection to one of the apostles? -Is this document consistent with the teaching of Jesus the Christ? -Did this document have early widespread influence and acceptance in the churches?

12. First criterion, connection • Matthew was an apostle. • Mark was a student of Peter and Paul. • Luke traveled with Paul. • John was an apostle. • All of the books of the New Testament have a direct connection to an apostle. • All of the books of the New Testament were also written within 30 to 65 years after Jesus ascended into heaven.

13. Second criterion, consistency • The Gospel of Thomas, written in the second century is an example of not being consistent. • Here’s an excerpt: “Simon Peter said, ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

14. Third criterion, early widespread influence and acceptance • One historian puts it like this: “None of the non-canonical gospels comes close in date of composition, breadth of distribution, or proportion of acceptance.” • William Barclay once wrote, “It is the simple truth to say that the New Testament books became canonical because no one could stop them from doing so.”

15. The Canon of Scripture was formed by the second century Mark Strauss stated: The four gospels from the New Testament…are the only historical documents that really can be shown, with certainty, to be first century documents. That is, they are documents that arose within the first and second generation of Jesus’ followers. The claim that these other gospels were competing with those until this particular date is just simply not accurate.”

16. Third question, what happened at Nicea in 325 AD? • The Da Vinci Code states,“any gospels that describe earthly aspects of Jesus’ life had to be omitted from the Gospel—what was included in the New Testament.” • Yet the Bible states that Jesus was hungry, thirsty, saddened, tired, wept and was in pain. • The Da Vinci Code implies that Jesus must have been married because all Jewish men had to get married. • As a prophet of God, the contrary was true.

17. So, what happened at Nicea? • The canon of scripture was recognized. • The Nicene Creed was adopted. • There was much discussion about whether or not Jesus was of the same substance or similar substance as the Father. The vote was not close, over 300 for, 2 against. Jesus is divine, co-eternal with the Father - of the same substance. • Constantine, a convert for several years prior, led and financed the council to unify the church.

18. There is more to examine, but for now the Bible you hold is reliable and authoritative for your faith and your life. We can be secure in knowing God has preserved His Word in these Scriptures. We need not be shaken. We stand in Christ alone.

19. The Nicene Creed • We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen. • We believe I one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

20. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. • We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.