Title: The Da Vinci Code
1(No Transcript)
2Introduction
Matter of life death
- Major publishing phenomenon
Raises important issues
Opportunity for witness
3So Whats the Problem?
Claim 1 Jesus is not God
The Church did not recognize Jesus as divine
until the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.)
The Push to make Christ divine was a power play
by Constantine
4So Whats the Problem?
Claim 2 Jesus was married and had a child
The church suppressed evidence of Jesus secret
marriage to Mary Magdalene and
The birth of their daughter, Sarah (Gospel of
Mary, Gospel of Philip)
5So Whats the Problem?
Claim 3 The four Gospels Are not Reliable
The four Gospels were late in being accepted in
the canon
Matthew, mark, Luke, and John were accepted late
in the place of earlier and more reliable Gnostic
Gospels
6So Whats the Problem?
Claim 4 Mary Magdalene sat at Jesus right hand
at the Lords Supper
Not John the Apostle
Leonardo Da Vinci depicts this in his painting,
the Last Supper
This proves that Jesus was married to Mary
Magdalene
7Mary Magdalene?
8So Why Does It Matter?
Popular Influence
Media Acclaim
God-given Opportunity
An Ignorant Generation
Still, Why Bother?
9Heres Why
Symptom of a larger trend in American Culture
Belief that truth is subjective, relative, and
always provisional
Christians must proclaim the truth to a culture
that has abandoned absolute truth
10Plot Summary
- The curator of the famous French museum, the
Louvre, is discovered dead, the apparent victim
of a bizarre, ritualistic crime. Robert Langdon,
a Harvard expert in religious and other symbols,
is called to decipher the mysterious codes left
at the scene.
11Plot Summary
- He teams up with the dead mans niece, Sophie
Neveu, in order to help the authorities to solve
the crime. After a series of breathtaking
adventures, the duo discovers that the crime was
commissioned by a Roman Catholic elite troupe,
called Opus Dei.
12Plot Summary
- This group, which is extremely loyal and reports
directly to the pope, was seeking to wrest a
carefully guarded secret from another
clandestine society, the Priory of Sion, which
counts among its members famous people such as
Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Victor Hugo.
13Plot Summary
- What is the secret at the heart of the plot of
The Da Vinci Code? It is Jesus marriage to Mary
Magdalene, and the couples production of an
offspring, a daughter named Sarah, who was to
continue Jesus legacy through his bloodline,
issuing in the French dynasty of the Merovingian
kings.
14Plot Summary
- Jesus was not divine (he was only declared to be
such in the fourth century for political reasons)
but thoroughly human. He was married, had a
child, and his career was tragically cut short by
death.
15Plot Summary
- Christianity is thus based on a lie, and Jesus
turns out to be rather different from who he was
believed to be throughout church history. There
are many more twists and turns in the plot, but
this, in essence, is the basic premise of the
story.
16Fact or Fiction?
More than a novel, a claim of historical accuracy
- Page 1 All descriptions of artwork,
Architecture, documents, and secret rituals in
this novel are accurate.
17(No Transcript)
18Fact or Fiction?
His research is impeccable.
New York Daily News, cited on Dan Browns own
website, www.danbrown.com,
Is it?
19Fiction, not Fact
Even much of non-biblical information is
inaccurate
Encoding of Symbols in Leonardo Da Vincis
paintings
Priory of Sion
Council of Nicea and the canon
20Browns View of History
Postmodern view of history
Blurs line between fact and fiction
Morris, Dutch A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
Doctorow, The march
21Browns View of History
The book is fiction, but its based on
truth Owner of the Chateau de Villette
Brown claims that everything in his book is fact
and not fiction
22Browns Sources
Little is Original
23Anti-Christian Bias
24Anti-Christian Bias
Almost everything our fathers taught us about
Christ is False.
Teabing, One of the main characters in The Da
Vinci Code
25Pure Fiction
The plot inventions add up to a reckless joy
ride through pseudo-history. Those in possession
of the facts will present Brown with some hefty
speeding tickets. But Brown knows that the
revenues from the book sales will certainly pay
for them.
Amy Bernstein, Secrets of the Da Vinci Code,
15
26An Analogy
27ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
- My dear, Teabing declared, until that moment
in history i.e. Constantine, Jesus was viewed
by His followers as a mortal prophet . . . a
great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A
mortal. -
The da Vinci Code, 233
28ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
- Not the Son of God? Sophie Neveu
- Right, Teabing said.Jesus establishment as
the Son of God was officially proposed and
voted on by the Council of Nicea.
The da Vinci Code, 233
29ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
- A relatively close vote at that, Teabing
added. Nonetheless, establishing Christs
divinity was critical to the further unification
of the Roman empire and to the new Vatican power
base.
The da Vinci Code, 233
30ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
- ... By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of
God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who
existed beyond the scope of the human world, an
entity whose power was unchallengeable.
The da Vinci Code, 233
31ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
- This not only precluded further pagan challenges
to Christianity, but now the followers of Christ
were able to redeem themselves only via the
established sacred channelthe Roman Catholic
Church
The da Vinci Code, 233
32ISSUE 1 Is Jesus God?
Was Jesus pronounced divine by Constantine merely
for political reasons?
Is it true that Jesus never claimed to be God and
that no one believed he was God prior to the 4th
century A.D.?
33The Old Testament Prophesied that Jesus would be
God
- Behold, the virgin shall be with child and
shall bear a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, which translated means, God with us.
Matthew 123
34Jesus Claimed to be God
- And the high priest said to Him, I adjure You
by the living God, that You tell us whether You
are the Christ, the Son of God.
35Jesus Claimed to be God
- Jesus said to him, You have said it yourself
nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see
the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Matthew 2336-64
36Jesus Claimed to be God
- I tell you the truth, Jesus answered,
before Abraham was born, I am! At this, they
picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid
himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 858
37Jesus followers believed he was God
Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
Matthew 1616
- Theirs the Jews are the patriarchs, and from
them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who
is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Romans 95
38Jesus followers believed he was God
- We know that an idol is nothing at all in the
world and that there is no God but one. For even
if there are so-called gods, . . . yet for us
there is but one God, the Father, from whom all
things came and for whom we live and there is
but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all
things came and through whom we live. But not
everyone knows this.
1 Corinthians 84-6
39Jesus followers believed he was God
- Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did
not consider equality with God something to be
grasped . . .
Philippians 25-7
40Jesus followers believed he was God
- The grace of God . . . teaches us to say No
to ungodliness . . . while we wait for the
blessed hopethe glorious appearing of our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 213
41Jesus followers believed he was God
- But about the Son he says, Your throne, O God,
will last for ever and ever.
Hebrews 18
42Jesus followers believed he was God
- Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ, to those who through the righteousness of
our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a
faith as precious as ours.
2 Peter 11
43Jesus followers believed he was God
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. (cf. 114, 17)
John 11
44The early church believed Jesus was God
- We must think of Jesus Christ as we do of God.
Clement of Rome, A.D. 100
45The early church believed Jesus was God
- God himself came among us in human form.
Ignatius, c A.D. 100
46Even Jesus opponents realized He claimed to be
God
- For this reason the Jews tried all the harder
to kill him not only was he breaking the
Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own
Father, making himself equal with God.
John 518
47Even Jesus opponents realized He claimed to be
God
- Christians were singing a hymn to Christ as a
God.
Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan, A.D. 112
48Conclusion
Jesus claimed to be God
His followers believed he was God
The early church believed he was God
Even Jesus opponents realized he claimed to be
God
49Conclusion
Jesus deity is emphatically not a 4th-century
A.D. invention by Constantine
50ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- Brown claims Jesus marriage to Mary Magdalene
is a matter of historical record.
Is it?
51ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- one particularly troubling earthly theme keeps
recurring in the gospels, Mary Magdalene. He
paused. More specifically, her marriage to Jesus
Christ
Teabing, in The Da Vinci Code, 244
52ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- Langdon, too, says, Jesus as a married man
makes infinitely more sense than our standard
biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor. -
- Why? Sophie asked.
53ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- Because Jesus was a Jew, Langdon said. . . .
According to Jewish custom, celibacy was
condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father
was to find a suitable wife for his son. . . .
54ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- If Jesus were not married, at least one of the
Bibles gospels would have mentioned it and
offered some explanation for His unnatural state
of bachelorhood
The Da Vinci Code, 245
55ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
What does the New Testament say about Mary
Magdalene?
Mary (called Magdalene) had 7 demons exorcised by
Jesus
- one of a group of women who helped support Jesus
out of their own means
Luke 82-3
56ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
Not the same woman as the sinful woman who
anoints Jesus in Luke 7
Stood at the foot of the cross with a group of
women when Jesus died (John 1925)
Watched until body was taken down and wrapped in
linen and placed in a tomb (Matthew
2761)
57ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
- One of the women who went to anoint Jesus on the
third day
Mark 161
Encounters the risen Lord, who tells her not to
cling to Him
John 2013-17
58ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
At this point Attempt to shift burden of proof
Argument from silence
If Jesus had NOT been married, The Gospels would
have mentioned it
True?
59ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
Celibacy was valued highly at Qumran and in
Judaism for people dedicated to God
60ISSUE 2 Was Jesus Married?
The argument from silence is inconclusive
To the contrary, if Jesus HAD been married,
scripture would have certainly mentioned it
The fact is, it does not
61What evidence is there?
- There were three who always walked with the
lord Mary his mother and her sister and
Magdalene, the one who was called his companion.
His sister and his mother and his companion were
each a Mary
Gospel of Philip 59910
62What evidence is there?
- The Greek word companion (koinonos) means
friend or associate, not wife (which would
be gyne)
contradicts Browns claim, As any Aramaic
scholar will tell you, the word companion, in
those days, literally meant spouse (p.
246)
63What evidence is there?
- The author of the Gospel of Philip distinguishes
Mary Magdalene (companion) from Jesus mother
(also called Mary) and her (or his?) sister
The word koinonos appears 10 times in the New
Testament and not once implies a marital or
sexual relationship
64What evidence is there?
- And the companion of the
- . . . Mary Magdalene. . . . loved her more
than all the disciples and used to kiss her
often on her . . ..
Gospel of Philip 6334645
Probably refers to a kiss of fellowship
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66Conclusion
- No New Testament evidence that Jesus was
married, or married to Mary Magdalene
No evidence from Gnostic Gospels, rightly
interpreted
Unimaginable that this would not be mentioned in
Scripture
67Conclusion
God, being sinless, would not marry a sinful woman
- Jesus is spiritually engaged to be married to
the Church in heaven
68Conclusion
- Why is she identified in the Bible as Mary
Magdalene rather than as Jesus wife?
Why mention Jesus mother, father, brothers and
sisters, disciples, wives of apostles, but never
mention Jesus wife?
69Conclusion
- Not a shred of evidence from the Bible, or later
sources, that Jesus was married, or married to
Mary Magdalene
in none of our early Christian sources is there
any reference to Jesus marriage or to his wife
Bart Ehrman, UNC Chapel Hill, p. 153
70ISSUE 3 Is the Bible true?
- The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of
God. The Bible did not fall magically from the
clouds (p. 231)
Teabing, in The Da Vinci Code, 231
71ISSUE 3 Is the Bible true?
- Did Constantine commission a new bible which
omitted those gospels that spoke of Christs
human traits?
The Da Vinci Code, 234
72ISSUE 3 Is the Bible true?
Evidence only as good as reliability of sources
Primary sources, secondary sources
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John vs. Gnostic Gospels
73How Was the Canon Formed?
Pauls letters already considered Scripture by
Peter (A.D. 60s 2 Pet. 316)
- First impetus for canon heretic Marcion (A.D.
140)
4 canonical Gospels recognized by Tatian (2d
century A.D.)
74Canon Formation
Irenaeus (c. A.D. 180) argued for 4-Gospel canon,
comparing it to the 4 winds
- Muratorian Canon (A.D. 190) includes only 4
Gospels
75Conclusion
4 Gospels foundational from the start
Based on church usage, apostolic origin
- Formed basis for evaluating and rejecting later
Gospels
76The Canon Council of Nicea
Brown says Gnostic Gospels Removed from the canon
and 4 Gospels added
- no discussion of canon at Council of Nicea
Council discussed deity of Christ in relation to
God the Father
77Nicene Creed
- We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of all things visible and invisible and in
one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only
begotten of his Father,
78Nicene Creed
- of the substance of the Father, God of God,
Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten,
not made, being of one substance (homoousios)
with the Father . . .
79Nicene Creed
- . . . By whom all things were made, both which
be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for
our salvation came down from heaven and was
incarnate and was made man.
80Nicene Creed
- He suffered and the third day he rose again, and
ascended into heaven. And he shall come again to
judge both the quick and the dead. And we
believe in the Holy Ghost. . .
81Nicene Creed
- . . . And whosoever shall say that there was a
time when the Son of God was not Arius, or that
before he was begotten he was not, or that he was
made of things that were not,
82Nicene Creed
- or that he is of a different substance or
essence from the Father or that he is a
creature, or subject to change or conversionall
that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church
anathematizes them.
83Council of Nicea
Primary subject Ariuss view that Jesus was a
lesser god than God the Father
Homoiousios Controversy
- condemned Arius as a heretic
84Council of Nicea
Not just about the divinity of Jesus
- how do we account for Jesus humanity in light
of his deity?
How could God be God and Jesus be God at the same
time?
85Council of Nicea
- Wrong to make Arius (who was condemned as a
heretic) the representative for all pre-Nicene
Christianity
86Conclusion (Issue 3)
Issue of Canon settled much earlier
Vote (not on canon) passed by very wide margin
(3182)
- not a close vote at that as Brown claims
87Conclusion (Issue 3)
- Only 2 of 318 bishops failed to vote for
denunciation of Arius
Both were exiled and branded as heretics
88Conclusion (Issue 3)
There was never a time when the 4 Gospels were
not included in the canon
Nor was there ever a time when the Gnostic
Gospels were included in the canon
89ISSUE 4 The Da Vinci Code
- Claim that the person on Jesus right in Da
Vincis painting The Last Supper is Mary
Magdalene (not John)
One of many codes
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91ISSUE 4 The Da Vinci Code
- Person on Jesus right not Mary Magdalene, but
actually the apostle John
John often depicted as effeminate in paintings of
that period
92John the Apostle
93Is There a Da Vinci Code?
Big Problem
- If the person on Jesus right is Mary Magdalene,
where is the twelfth disciple?
94Is There a Da Vinci Code?
Da Vinci clearly dependent on John 1323-24
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was
reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to
this disciple and said, Ask him which one he
means.
95Peter motions to John (not Mary) to find out who
would betray Jesus
Peter
John
96Conclusion (Issue 4)
- The person on Jesus right in The Last Supper is
not Mary Magdalene but apostle John
Therefore there is no Da Vinci code
No conspiracy to cover up supposed evidence of
Jesus marriage to Mary Magdalene
97Conclusion (Issue 4)
- Claim at heart of novel is patently false
98ISSUE 5 The Sacred Feminine
- Was Christianity invented to suppress women?
99ISSUE 5 The Sacred Feminine
According to Brown
- Roman Catholic Church usurped the Place of Mary
Magdalene by establishing male hierarchy that
suppressed the sacred feminine
100Jesus the Original Feminist?
According to Brown
- Sophie Youre saying the Christian Church was
to be carried on by a woman?
That was the plan. Jesus was the original
feminist. He intended for the future of His
Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene.
The Da Vinci Code, 248
101Peter Anti-Women?
According to Brown
- And Peter had a problem with that, Langdon
said, pointing to The Last Supper. Thats Peter
there. You can see that Da Vinci was well aware
of how Peter felt about Mary Magdalene
The Da Vinci Code, 248
102Mary Magdalene the Holy Grail?
Browns Contention
- The Holy Grail not just the chalice from the
Last Supper that held the blood of Christ
it is the womb of the woman who bore Christs
daughter
The Da Vinci Code, 238
103Margaret Starbird-Holy Blood, Holy Grail
104What Does Scripture Say about Peter?
- Matthew 1618 Peter the rock upon whom Christ
will build his church
John 21 Peter reinstated by risen Christ after
Jesus encounter with Mary Magdalene
105What Does Scripture Say about Peter?
Acts 2 Peter preaches message at Pentecost
Acts 8 Peter called to authenticate Holy Spirit
coming on Samaritans
- Acts 10 Peter sent to Cornelius house (Acts 10)
106What about Mary?
Was Mary given keys to the kingdom?
Did Mary preach the Pentecost sermon?
Was she called to authenticate coming of the Holy
Spirit to the Samaritans?
- Was she sent to Cornelius?
107Peter-Mary Magdalene Rivalry?
Peter was something of a sexist
The Da Vinci Code, 248
- all the way back to the first pope!
No biblical evidence for Peter-Mary rivalry
108Browns Sources
- Peter in answer spoke with reference to things
of this kind, and asked them the disciples
about the Savior
The Gospel of Mary
109Browns Sources
- Did he then speak privily with a woman rather
than with us, and not openly? Shall we turn about
and all hearken unto her? Has he preferred her
over against us?
The Gospel of Mary
110Browns Sources
- Then Mary wept and said to Peter My brother
Peter, what do you then believe? Do you believe
that I imagined this myself in my heart, or that
I would lie about the Savior?
The Gospel of Mary
111Browns Sources
- Levi answered (and) said to Peter Peter, you
have ever been of a hasty temper. Now I see how
you exercise yourself against the woman like the
adversaries.
The Gospel of Mary
112Browns Sources
- But if the Savior has made her worthy, who then
are you that you reject her? Certainly the Savior
knows her surely enough.
The Gospel of Mary
113Browns Sources
- Therefore did he love her more than us by
making her the first witness of the resurrection
and recipient of divine revelation.
The Gospel of Mary
114Conclusion (Issue 5)
Jesus was not the original feminist
He appointed 12 men as apostles
- He made Peter (not Mary Magdalene) the churchs
foundation
115Conclusion (Issue 5)
Mary Magdalene was the first witness of the
resurrection
- No biblical evidence that Peter resented Mary
No evidence that early church sought to suppress
the sacred feminine
116Conclusion (Issue 5)
Mary Magdalene was not Jesus wife, and did not
have a child with him
- there is no evidence of this that needed to be
suppressed
117ISSUE 6 The Priory of Sion
- Dan Brown
- The Priory of Siona European secret society
founded in 1099is a real organization. In 1975,
Paris's Bibliothèque Nationale discovered
parchments
118ISSUE 6 The Priory of Sion
- known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying
numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including
Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and
Leonardo da Vinci.
119(No Transcript)
120ISSUE 6 The Priory of Sion
The parchments are not a reliable, accurate source
Priory of Sion not a medieval organization
- Priory of Sion a recent right-wing political
organization established in 1956
121ISSUE 6 The Priory of Sion
- Cannot be guardian of secret that Jesus and Mary
Magdalene married and had child if only
established in 1956
122Summary
1 Is Jesus God?
Jesus claimed to be God,
His first followers believed he was God
The early church believed he was God
Even his opponents realized he claimed to be God
123Summary
2 Was Jesus Married?
No New Testament evidence that Jesus was married
Not even the Gnostic Gospels say Jesus was married
Jesus was not married, to Mary Magdalene or
anyone else
124Summary
3 Is the Bible True?
The canon always included Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, and never the Gnostic Gospels
The Gospels are reliable
The real Jesus is the Jesus of the 4 Gospels, not
the Gnostic Gospels
125Summary
4 The Da Vinci Code
The apostle to Jesus right not Mary Magdalene,
but John
Young men often painted with feminine features
during the Renaissance
There is no Da Vinci Code
126Summary
5 The Sacred Feminine
No New Testament Evidence for sacred feminine
- Gnostic Gospels tend to have anti-feminine
teachings
Christianity was not established to suppress the
sacred feminine
127Summary
6 Priory of Sion
- The Priory of Sion is not a medieval organization
Priory established in 1956 as a political
organization
Da Vinci could not be part of organization that
did not exist
128Conclusion
The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, not facts.
- Dan Brown says that virtually everything we used
to believe about Christianity is false.
129Conclusion
Virtually everything Dan Brown says about
Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible is False.