The Da Vinci Code film

1
The Da Vinci Code film

• Threat or opportunity?

2
How much is true?

• How much of what DVC says about Opus Dei is true?
  
• Hardly anything
• How much of what DVC says about the Church is
  true?
• Hardly anything
• How much of what DVC says about art,
  architecture, geography, literature, is true?
• Hardly anything
• THE DVC IS A WORK OF FICTION!

3
If its only fiction, why worry?

• Because it pretends to be factual and accurate,
  based on truth (page 3 FACT)
• It changes basic facts about major historical
  figures
• It uses real organisations to do evil acts
• Therefore it is not enough to say its just
  fiction

4
What the DVC claims

• Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene they
  had a child and their descendants are still
  around (in France)
• The Catholic Church exists to keep this secret
  from people, and is ready to kill people to do
  this the Church is a big lie
• Opus Dei is the Catholic group that does the
  dirty work (like killing or stealing)
• The Christian faith is false, a delusion

5
Turn it around

• Its a book about Christ
• Its a unique opportunity to talk about Christ!

6
Priory of Sion according to the DVC

• A real organisation founded in 1099 to defend the
  bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene
• Persecuted by the Catholic Church
• Dedicated to the Sacred Feminine

7
The Priory of Sion in fact

• Invented by Pierre Plantard in 1956 (a conman
  recently out of prison)
• Planted documents in National Library of Paris
• Admitted to be a hoax on TV by its founder

8
Opus Dei according to the DVC

• Brainwashed killer monks
• Women second class
• Involved in financial wrongdoing
• Engaged in grotesque practices of corporal
  mortification

9
Opus Dei in fact

• Ordinary Catholics seeking holiness in their
  daily lives
• Women and men have the same status
• Members are adults who are in Opus Dei freely
• John Paul II was not for sale

10
Corporal mortification

• Context prayer, fasting, good works
• Traditional in the Church and other religions
• Most mortifications are very small
• Examples of corporal mortifications sackcloth
  and ashes, walking barefoot, hair-shirt, cilice,
  sleeping rough
• Motivation reminder, moral training, solidarity
• Secular motivation dieting, sports training

11
Jesus Christ according to the DVC

• The early Christians did not believe Jesus to be
  God this was invented by Constantine in Nicea
  (325)
• Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene
• The Bible (New Testament) was edited to support
  new invention

12
Did the early Christians believe Jesus to be God?

• Jesus is called Theos in the New Testament
• Jesus revealed his divinity by his actions
  (miracles, prophecies)
• His disciples believed he was God so much so
  that they all gave their lives for it
• Early Christian writings
• Docetism 2nd Century heresy

13
Were the Bible texts edited?

• No evidence of any instruction to edit (e.g.
  written order)
• No evidence of any editing process
• Texts surviving from long before 325 AD
• Canon of approved gospels
• Gnostic gospels 3rd-5th Centuries

14
Was Jesus married?

• No wife is mentioned anywhere at all
• He entrusts his mother to the care of John
• Jesus extols celibacy
• Being unmarried was unusual but not unheard of
  (St John Baptist, St Paul)
• Even Gnostic gospels do not support this theory
• For Gnostics physical matter is evil
• gospel of Mary Magdalene does not mention any
  union
• gospel of Philip is misquoted in DVC

15
Jesus Christ in fact

• Jesus a liar, a fool, or God
• He challenges each person today
• Weigel Christ is the answer to the question that
  is every human person
• John Paul II Christ is the one everyone is
  searching for even if they dont realise it
• Benedict XVI let ourselves be astonished by
  Christ

16
If you are a Christian

• YOU are the best answer to the film
• Encourage people to read the Gospel have copies
  to give away
• CTS booklet and other booklets available
• Longer books
• Form study groups to study the matters brought up
  in the film
• Encourage many friends to watch a different film
  in the cinema during weekend 19-21 May and to
  completely ignore the Da Vinci Code!