| The Da Vinci Code is a murder mystery suspense novel taking place in Why the Big Deal? While most murder, mystery novels would not cause much of a stir, the difference here is about the claims in the very first pages of this book. Prior to the prologue, the book makes a claim of fact. Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code claims these facts. Does Dan Brown believe the facts? Dan Brown was interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show, who asked, “How much of this is based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred?” Brown responded, “Absolutely all of it. Obviously Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies—all of that is historical fact. The Da Vinci Code Plot. The Da Vinci Code begins with the death of Jacques Sauniere, curator of the Louvre in After escaping from police, they begin a journey searching for meaning behind her grandfather’s final message, racing to find “Secret documents” before the Catholic Church destroys them. While hiding in the Louvre, before their escape, Robert Langdon explains to Sophie about Leonardo Da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, how he was secretly part of an organization The Priory of Sion is a secret organization responsible for preserving the truth about the “Real Jesus.” (Page 113). The Church wanted to eliminate the “Sacred Feminine” the Goddess aspect, and maintain a patriarchal system (Page 46,116). Professor Langdon informs Sophie, But Leonardo Da Vinci in his artwork preserved the “Sacred Feminine” or Goddess worship (Page 113). Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Boticelli were all Grand Masters in the Priory of Sion they were responsible for preserving the “True” identity of Jesus to be released in the future (Page 113). During their escapes from the museum, Professor Langdon explains to Sophie about the so-called “Holy Grail” documents, the Sangreal, found under the Temple-Mount by Godefroi de Bouillon in 1099 when the Crusaders conquered These documents Brown claims reveal the “Holy Grail” is not a chalice cup used at the last supper but Mary Magdalene herself, who preserved Jesus’ royal family line before he died on the cross. The organization founded by succeeding knights known as the “Knights Templar” was given unlimited powers by Popes, and they lived in Solomon’s Stables under the Brown claims they found thousands of documents proving Jesus’ real identity and his relationship with Mary Magdalene, these documents made them very powerful, to the point where the Pope Clement V and “The Bible is a product of man my dear. Not God” (Page 231). “More then 80 gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a few were chosen” (Page 231). “Fortunately for historians…Some of the gospels that They leave the Teabing’s Estate and head toward Langdon calms her and explains…“Hieros Gamos…it means sacred marriage. Physical union with the female remained the sole means...man...can achieve gnosis.” (Pages 308-309). Teabing, Sophie and Professor Langdon arrive in “The New Testament is based on fabrications…every faith is…based on fabrications…Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth…Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical” (Pages 341-342). The Story behind the Story of Brown’s assault on Christianity in the novel, The Da Vinci Code raises several questions that need to be answered. 1. Is the book accurate? The Book is filled with historical and factual errors. Here are just a few to make the point. If this book is wrong on such minor points why would anybody trust it for eternal issues? · Brown’s Error: The book claims there are 666 panes of glass on the pyramid outside the Louvre. The Museum says there are 673 (Page 21). · Brown’s Error: The book claims the Olympics were held for Venus in 8-year cycles but they were actually held for Zeus in 4-year cycles (Page 36). · Brown’ Error: Mona Lisa is an androgynous portrait representing the fusing of male and Female (Page 120). However, Mona Lisa is a young Florentine woman who in 1495 married the well-known figure, Francesco del Giocondo, and thus came to be known as “La Gioconda.” This is confirmed by the discovery of documentation in · Brown’s Error: Sir Isaac Newton was a secret Goddess Worshipper. Yet it is well known that he was a devout Christian who wrote a commentary on the book of Daniel and Revelation and calculated the physical return of Christ between the years 2000 and 2050. · Brown’s Error: The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950’s and included the Gospels. History clearly show that these scrolls were found in 1948 and there were no Gospels found there. · Brown’s Error: The Gnostic Gospel, The Gospel of Philip was not written in Aramaic as The Da Vinci Code implies but in Coptic, translated from Greek (Page 246). 2. “The Priority of Sion” and the “Les Dossier Secret”. The first point we need to address, is the very foundation of this book, the claim of fact on “Fact” page. The book claims too very important facts. These two facts are the basis behind the whole book. They are the very foundation this book is built upon. First the existence of this secret organization known as the Priory of Sion, an organization dating back to the year 1099 entrusted with keeping the documents about Jesus’ preserved to be released at a later date. Secondly, the discovery of Les Dossier Secret parchments in 1975 at the Bibliotheque Nationale. These documents detail the membership in the Priory of Sion identifying Leonardo ad Vinci, Isaac Newton and others. They are the Grandmasters involved in preserving these secret documents. Dan Brown relies on a 1982 publication, Holy Blood, Holy Grail as the source of information on the Priory of Sion. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail depended on documents provided to them by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semitic Frenchman who was jailed for fraud in 1953. Plantard and three other men started a small social club in 1954 called the Priory of Sion, taking from a nearby mountain. Their club dissolved in 1957, but Plantard held on to the name. He started a second Priory of Sion in the early 1960’s and tried to establish himself as the King of France. Throughout the 1960’s and the 1970’s Plantard created a series of documents “proving” the existence of a bloodline descending from Mary Magdalene, through the kings of France, down to the present day to include – (surprise!) Pierre Plantard. He began using the name Plantard de Saint-Clair, saying the Saint-Clairs were direct descendents of the line of Jesus and Mary. In 1993, Plantard’s name came up in light of a political scandal involving a close friend of then French president Francois Mitternad. Plantard had, in one of his lists of the Priory of Sion, listed Roger-Patrice Pelat as a Grand master. When called before the court to testify, Plantard, under oath, admitted he had made up the whole Priory scheme. The court ordered a search of Plantard’s house, which revealed further documents that proclaimed Plantard to be the true king of The whole basis of The Da Vinci Code is based on a hoax created by Pierre Plantard. At this point, there is really no purpose to continue to a program about The Da Vinci Code because the basis of the Facts has been proven to be entirely false. If we put aside these facts let us now continue to answer the other charges made by Brown’s characters. Professor Langdon and British Royal Historian Leigh Teabing. 3. Were the Gnostic Gospels Part of Christianity? On the acknowledgments page, Dan Brown thanks those who helped him complete this book, one of those mentioned is the Gnostic Society Library. The Da Vinci Code champions the Gnostic Gospels, their view of Christianity, their sexual orgies and claims “Orthodox” Christianity stole Jesus from the original Gnostic followers. What are the Gnostics and the Gnostic Gospels? The word Gnostic is derived from the Greek word Gnosos meaning “To Know”. Gnostics believed that salvation was attained through the attaining knowledge. After Christianity started to spread throughout the Greek and Roman worlds, Pagan ideas and theology began to fall out of favor. Acts 19 is a great example of when people began to burn the sorcery scrolls in public and stopped buying statues of the temple goddess Artemis in about 54 A.D. where Paul was preaching. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. Acts 19:18-20 This scene was repeated throughout the Greek and Roman worlds, one way pagans tried to combat the growing Christian faith was to incorporate Greek pagan mystery rites into Judea-Christian package. We see these warnings to the churches in Revelation, especially The Gnostics took on familiar names and terminology but with much different theology. They believed there was an unknown All-Father, and Mother God. This goddess was referred to as Sophia. They believed all souls originally lived in a spiritual realm of light, the Pleroma, until they were imprisoned in physical bodies on the earth. Flesh and all matter were viewed as intrinsically evil. Gnostic “Salvation” equated liberation of the soul from the body – the freeing of the inner spirit from the confines of matter. Such liberation could only be achieved through “Gnosis” which brought about the detachment from the evil world (similar to Buddhism). To achieve this enlightenment, one needed to know the truth about God, (All-Father), himself and life. Ancient Gnostics preached two gods, a good deity of light and an evil deity of darkness. The good deity (The Principle, or All-Father) was seen as the epitome of love. This God was responsible for creating the other god. This evil god, the demiurge, is the one who created the physical world, He is the God of the Old Testament. This evil God of the Jews, who favored the Jews, seeks to impede human souls from returning to God and returning to the Divine. The good God is utterly removed from the world, he is unknowable. But through sexual intercourse, the bridal chamber, man can return to the Plemoria and become one with the Divine. The All-Father, however, did send a Redeemer – Jesus. But the Gnostic Jesus, unlike the Jesus of the Bible, was not a Savior who died form sins. He was the bringer of “Gnosis”. According to many Gnostics he was a completely spiritual being separate from the flesh, because he was really projecting a phantom body. The mission of the Gnostic Jesus was to: (1) Reveal the truth about our “ The quickest way to have the Gnostic teaching accepted by the masses was to attach the names of Apostles to their writings. Hence the names Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Mary were used to gain acceptance for the Gnostic teachings. The earliest dates for these Gnostic works date from the early 2nd and 3rd century. In December 1945, near the Egyptian town of 4. Who was Mary Magdalene? One particularly troubling theme kept recurring in the [Gnostic] gospels. Mary Magdalene…More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ (The Da Vinci Code, page 244). The Gospel of Philip says that “‘the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, “Why do you love her more than all of us?”’…As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion in those days, literally meant spouse (The Da Vinci Code, page 246). The basis Brown uses for this claim is the Gnostic Gospels, specifically the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Phillip, neither contain any mention of Jesus’ marriage to Mary, nor do any of the Gnostic Gospels. Brown’s argument for Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene tries to infer that Jesus married Mary from a line in the Gospel of Philip. The Da Vinci Code would have us believe the Jesus and Mary Magdalene were participants in these sex-rites of the Gnostics. The Jesus of The Da Vinci Code is the Gnostic Jesus. Mary Magdalene was part of a group of women who were followers of Christ along with the disciples. She was a witness to his resurrection and healing but nowhere in the Gospels is any marriage even hinted at in the slightest. Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of demonic possession, the idea that Mary was the harlot of Luke 7:36-50 is only made because Mary Magdalene is mentioned in Luke chapter 8, following the story of the adulterous women in Luke 7:36-50. But adulterous women of Luke 7 is not noted for demonic possession but for adultery, she is told, “Go and sin no more”, there is no mention of demonic possession, therefore Mary Magdalene is not the same women. Mary was just part of a group that followed Jesus and witnessed his works, death and resurrection. Mary witnessed both the death and resurrection of Christ, and was one of many witnesses. Mary stood along side Jesus’ mother at the cross. She was the first person to see Christ resurrected from the tomb. Mary is seen as part of a group of women that includes Mary the mother of Jesus. Christ ministry was not limited to just men but all people, including women. Mary is a perfect example of the grace of Christ. She was a women possessed by seven demons, who was forgiven and made an integral part of Church. Her name is included in all the Gospels. She is witnesses of the crucifixion and resurrection, as well as the power of spiritual healing. 5. Did Constantine and the Church turn Jesus into a God? The nature of the Messiah was not based on what Peter or the Disciples wanted but what was foretold in the Old Testament, which predated both Peter and the Church. The Council of Nicea 325 A.D. was not a close vote, and was not about the Gnostic Gospels. Our friend Sir Leigh Teabing, the British historian really missed history class. Fact: The Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) was not a close vote, 300 bishops from throughout the Empire arrived to discuss the Arius, teaching that the Son was created, and therefore not God incarnate, the vote was 300 to 2…not close at all. Arius did not believe the Son was mortal but the first of creation. 6. Is the Bible from God? This is charge often made about the Bible, by those who are not familiar with its words, the Bible unlike any other book has the fingerprints of God. We can all proclaim what happened today and what happened yesterday, but we can’t foretell what is coming tomorrow or even a thousand years from now. We are limited by our nature. This is what separates the Bible from any other book written by man, which claims divine authorship. The Bible reveals events thousands of years before they happen as proof of its divine origin. Conclusion on The Da Vinci Code · Salvation is available to those who come to Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. · The Jesus of The Da Vinci Code is the Gnostic Jesus, another Jesus. · The Da Vinci Code claiming to be a novel, is plainly a veiled attack on Christianity. · The book is built on a hoax created by Pierre Plantard, a convicted embezzler, pro-Nazi, anti-Semite. The book is filled with factual and historical errors which are either intentional or irresponsible scholarship. *Condensed from the book “Debunking The Da Vinci Code” by Phil Karayan |
Friday, May 12, 2006
Debunking “The Da Vinci Code”*
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