DA VINCI CODE
Last Saturday, Pastor Daniel did an excellent teaching about the Da Vinci Code and why even non-Christian historians, artists and researchers find it absurd and a fabrication of history.
Dan Brown brought a whole new meaning to rewriting history by penning a fictional novel that claims that all facts are accurate, when they are not. The book does not even have a bibliography page which makes it easy for readers to check up on sources of historical facts. How ironic and contradictory!
Let me first explain why Christians seem so critical and hostile to this novel. First of all, you must understand that we do not hate Dan Brown; we do not wish to see Dan meet some unfortunate accident nor do we curse him in our hearts.
We are against the anti-Christ and deceiving spirit behind his inspiration as mentioned in 1 John 4:1.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
We, like non-Christian critics from historian and researcher circles, only want to preserve the truth for the next generation. We defend the integrity of the Bible, which is the truth that has saved and transformed as many persons as would put their trust in Jesus.
Long foretold in the Bible before this book was written, we knew that many people would try to distort the truth to suit and deceive themselves and others. The truth is important because it sets us free to make the right choices. It does not dictate our decisions but we are free to either be wise or foolish.
The Church would never use a cover-up, like what Brown claims, to control and oppress people. What we do unto others will be done unto us. We know that fairly well.
Dan Brown’s novel, “The Da Vinci Code”, has sold 40 millions copies in more than 40 languages. On the bestseller lists in many countries, we have to admit that the plot, characters and the supposedly accurate historical facts in the book were well-crafted, to say the least.
However, the book has been causing an uproar in the Christian, historian and other research circles because Brown fabricates history that has been proven and agreed by liberals and conservatives in the historian and researcher circles. When two opposing sides agree upon a single issue, that issue is probably true.
What Brown has done is use the mass media to promote personal prejudices and achieve ulterior motives. Rather than giving a truthful representation of history, Brown has made history his story.
On the preface of the book, Brown states that everything from Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion are well-researched facts from documents found in various libraries and museums like Paris’ Biliotheque Nationale and Egypt’s Nag Hammadi. It was only after proof and rebuttal given by critics and historians that he defended himself with an excuse that his book was fictional, not factual.
What Brown has done is fictionalise both the background and foreground of his story. The background is the backdrop of a real historical event portraying the political climate of the different eras. While making the foreground fictional is widely accepted, such as creating imaginary characters who never existed, messing with the background just makes the story plainly absurd.
In the words of one historian, what Brown has done is like writing a book about WWII, in which the story goes on to reveal that the Allies had lost the war and President Roosevelt was held on trial in Japan for war crimes.
FICTION: The Priory of Sion was started in 1099 A.D. by a French King named Godefroi to guard and pass down the secrets of the Holy Grail from generation to generation. Their aim is to also find the Sangreal Documents. Supposed proof of the Priory’s existence is found in Paris’ Biliotheuque Nationale in papers called Les dossier’s Secrets.
FACT: The Priory of Sion was started in 1956, not 1099. Godefroi would have died for 857 years? Les dossiers’s Secrets has been proven a fraud. It was planted by Plantard, an anti-Semite and had a track record for fraud. The genealogical tables and lists of the Priory’s grandmasters was a lie exposed in the nineties’ by books and even BBC documentaries.
FICTION: Opus Dei is a secret, power-hungry organization of monks within the Roman Catholic Church which has done everything, even murder, to cover up the secret that Mary Magdalene married Jesus and bore children by Him. The Holy Grail is the seed of Jesus, Mary’s offspring and descendants from His bloodline.
FACT: Opus Dei does exist in the Roman Catholic Church but there are no monks in it. This club consists of mostly mainstream Roman Catholics and has less than 3% of its population as priests. The Opus Dei has 83, 000 members in 60 countries and conduct open services for growth in holiness. The Roman Catholic Church has asked Sony to put a disclaimer about the fallacies in the upcoming movie.
How factual can a story be when it is based on frauds and lies? Brown weaves and intertwines parts of flawed, alternate history to bring forth a conspiracy theory with a plot that holds no water.
Above all these, Brown questions the integrity of the Bible as the Word of God and if Jesus was God.
He puts his faith in gnostic gospels, which were written by heretics 200 to 300 over years after Jesus died, over Biblical records, which were written by Jesus’s closest disciples 20 to 60 years after Jesus died.
To show you why doing this is dumb, I will quote verses from the gnostic gospel of thomas.
simon peter said to them: "let mary go forth from among us for women are not worthy of the life." jesus said: "Behold, i shall lead her that i may make her male in order that she may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of god."
Would you put your faith in something so ridiculous? If we put this in conjunction with Brown's theory that Jesus married Mary, would it not have been simpler if Jesus just married a guy, say Simon Peter? And if Jesus did marry Mary, they could not have children since Mary became male. Where's the Holy Grail now? I feel dumb even to try reasoning this way.
This is a chauvinistic gospel, not the true gospel. This gospel preaches that if you are male, you are saved. Jesus died for nothing. I could not write this gospel even if I had an I.Q. of 60.
Judging by its popularity, we can honestly say that this present society is shallow in knowledge, being easily deceived by an intricate plot of opinions rather than a framework of fact. While historians and researchers immediately sense something is amiss, the typical reader is drawn in circles into a realm of opinion in which truth does not matter.
This is why Christians must study the Word of God, that their faith might not be shaken. Also, we must be willing to go deeper into good knowledge like history. One day, there will be no historian or researcher either brave enough or desiring to speak up for the truth.
Conspiracy theories have always been popular but one historian says there is also an increasing willingness to believe in stories that place blame on someone else. To be able to rewrite history and erase our mistakes seem to be more important than studying and researching the truth.
You can blame Jesus if you want. It is not His fault that life is not good for you but He died for you 2000 years anyway. But I suggest you understand the grace that He has shown us and the path to a more fulfilling life.
My Church is holding the second part about cracking the Da Vinci Code this Saturday at 2pm to 4:30pm at Bukit Timah. If you are interested in hearing the truth, I invite you to come. My number is +6597933465.
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