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The Da Vinci Code Faith, Fact or Fiction. Just in case you haven’t noticed, a phenomenon known as the Da Vinci Code has taken the world by storm. Released 3 years ago, 40,000,000 million hardcover copies have been sold with the release of a paperback version just this past March.
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The Da Vinci Code Faith, Fact or Fiction
Just in case you haven’t noticed, a phenomenon known as the Da Vinci Code has taken the world by storm. Released 3 years ago, 40,000,000 million hardcover copies have been sold with the release of a paperback version just this past March.
A major motion picture starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard is set to hit theatres on May 19th. Many people are expecting that this film will be the blockbuster that Hollywood has been longing for.
What is The Da Vinci Code? A novel by Dan Brown, whose previous book, Angels and Demons, introduces the main character, Robert Langdon.
What is The Da Vinci Code? The plot of this book concerns the attempts of Dr. Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, after Saunière's body had been found inside the Louvre naked with a cryptic message written on his torso in his own blood and posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, Vitruvian Man.
What is The Da Vinci Code? The plot continues in ways that combine the detective thriller and conspiracy theory genres with Saunière's murder being attributed to powerful forces that wish to preserve ancient secrets relating to Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene and having been the father of their child. The interpretation of hidden messages inside Da Vinci's famous works, including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, figure prominently in the solution to the mystery. The solution itself is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The Catholic organization Opus Dei also figures prominently in the plot.
What is The Da Vinci Code? • It transpires that Saunière was in fact the secret head of the Priory of Sion - an organisation that was devoted to preserving certain secrets about the location of the Holy Grail. The cryptic messages on his body being his own dying attempts to leave an important message to his grand-daughter, Sophie Neveu, who was employed by the French state as a cryptologist.
What is The Da Vinci Code? • According to the novel, the secrets of the Holy Grail, as kept by the Priory of Sion, are as follows: • The Holy Grail is not a physical chalice, but a woman, namely Mary Magdalene, who helped to carry the bloodline of Christ into the following ages. • Mary Magdalene was of royal descent (through the Jewish House of Benjamin) and was the wife of Jesus, of the House of David. That she was a prostitute was a slander invented by the Catholic Church to obscure their true relationship. At the time of the Crucifixion, she was pregnant. After the Crucifixion, she fled to Gaul, where she was sheltered by the Jews of Marseilles. She gave birth to a daughter, named Sarah. The bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian dynasty of France.
What is The Da Vinci Code? • The French expression for the Holy Grail, San gréal, actually is a play on Sang réal, which literally means "royal blood". • The Grail relics consist of the documents that testify to the bloodline, as well as the actual bones of Mary Magdalene. • Sophie Neveu and her brother are descendants of the original bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (their last name was changed to hide their ancestry).
What is The Da Vinci Code? The existence of the bloodline was the secret that was contained in the documents discovered by the Crusaders after they conquered Jerusalem in 1099. The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar were organized to keep the secret.
What are we to make of The Da Vinci Code? On the one hand, if read (cover to cover - including the so-called “Fact” page) as purely a fictional novel, The Da Vinci Code can be appreciated as a fast-paced murder mystery… a good summer vacation read.
What are we to make of The Da Vinci Code? On the other hand, The Da Vinci Code throws out so many statements & claims concerning the teachings of Christianity that one can get confused or misled by its assertions. For example…
According to The Da Vinci Code… ･ Jesus is not God; he was only a man. ･ Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. ･ She is to be worshiped as a goddess. ･ Jesus got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter. ･ That daughter gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in Europe today. ･ The Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor. ･ Jesus was viewed as a man and not as God until the fourth century, when he was deified by the emperor Constantine. ･ The Gospels have been edited to support the claims of later Christians.
According to The Da Vinci Code… ･ In the original Gospels, Mary Magdalene rather than Peter was directed to establish the Church. ･ There is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive. ･ The Catholic Church is aware of all this and has been fighting for centuries to keep it suppressed. It often has committed murder to do so. ･ The Catholic Church is willing to and often has assassinated the descendents of Christ to keep his bloodline from growing.
What are we to do with The Da Vinci Code? Well…. avoiding extremes is probably a good idea: Some Christians have, perhaps, gone ‘overboard’ in reacting to the book (and film) - condemning The Da Vinci Code as one of the worst heresies ever. On the other hand some Christians have, perhaps gone ‘under-board’ - not taking seriously enough the many false teachings that are contained in this book and how these teachings can undermine faith.
What are we to do with The Da Vinci Code? Without judging Dan Brown’s motives or intent, we will look at the false teaching that The Da Vinci Code contains. (As believers we may not be personally challenged by Brown’s book, but we have to recognize that there are others who might be tempted to buy into what he says.)
What are we to do with The Da Vinci Code? We will also recognize that virtually all scholars of the ancient world, the Bible and early Church history agree: The assertions made in The Da Vinci Code (concerning things like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion) are simply false. This is just bad science & shoddy historical research at work here.
What are we to do with The Da Vinci Code? Some of the issues we will address are… Is Jesus really God or is that a fabrication of 3rd and 4th century ‘Christians’? Can the Gospels (and the rest of the Bible) be trusted or are there other gospels that deserve consideration? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene and did the Church try to cover that up? How can we, as believers, use something like The Da Vinci Code to further God’s Kingdom?
How can we, as believers, use something like The Da Vinci Code to further God’s Kingdom? Or, another way of asking the question… Why bother?
Why bother? It’s a tempting question, isn’t it? Why bother spending time or energy arguing against the ideas advocated in the Da Vinci Code? Don’t we just play into the hands of those who want to make money off of this? Isn’t this our society’s problem instead of ours? Don’t we have better things to do?
Why bother? Well… consider these words from Jesus… Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) (Jesus said) “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)
Why bother? Consider these words from the rest of the New Testament… For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18) Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in - who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery - to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:4-5)
Why bother? And then this from Ephesians… And he (Jesus) gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
Why bother? Because God is in the “truth business” God is in the “truth business” because it is only the truth that sets us free… it is only the truth that grants us salvation… it is only the truth that matters in the long run. And people need to know the truth! They need to know Jesus!
They need to know Jesus! They need to know Him the way we do… As Savior! As King Eternal! As Good Shepherd! As the Way to the Father! As the Lord of All! As Friend! As the Truth that sets us free! As the Son of God!
They need to know Jesus! They need to hear from us the truth of who Jesus is and the truth of what Jesus did. They need to hear the truth of the Gospel proclaimed. They need to hear the clear call of God’s love. And they especially need to hear all this at a time when the truthfulness and clarity of God’s Word is called into question by Da Vinci Codes or Gospels of Judas! They need to have answers to their questions and they need to hear responses to their challenges.
This is a golden opportunity An opportunity to engage in conversations with our neighbors, co-workers and classmates about Jesus - the real Jesus of Scripture! An opportunity to give witness to the truth as God has revealed it to us in His Word. An opportunity to take the tactics of Satan and turn them against him. An opportunity to invite people to believe. An opportunity to further God’s Kingdom!
Remember what the apostle Peter said? In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16)
The Da Vinci Code Faith, Fact or Fiction
Let this sermon series prepare you to know & speak the truth!
