Da Vinci Deception
By John Boda
D - Deception
"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Eph 5:3
"For I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
II Cor 11:3
All through the Bible we can find patterns of methods and behavior of both God and Satan, which can be very illuminating. One clear pattern of Satan’s method of attacking God and God’s people is threefold:
Of these three methods, it seems his big gun and most powerful is deceiving people.
A - Another Gospel
" I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we preached to you, let him be accursed. “Gal. 1:6-8
This passage clearly states that there is no other gospel but the one clearly taught by the apostles in the Bible. Yet, much of the ideas and story for the Code comes from the many "so called" Gnostic gospels, which clearly teach a contrary message, or another gospel.
The Bible gives a strong warning against adding or taking away from God's established word -
Deut 4:2 & Proverbs 30:5,6
V - Validates prophetic scripture
"Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying,” I am the Christ", and will deceive many"
" Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
"For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Three verses spoken by Jesus in response to questions on what will be the signs of his coming and the end of the age, from Math 24.
I - Illogical reasoning
"..although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened,
professing to be wise, they became fools." Rom. 1:21- 22
One of the many illogical points in the code, is that the established Gospels all promoted Jesus' divinity only and not his humanity, and the many other hidden gospels revealed his true nature as being only human. What is so illogical is that the historical and plain truth is the opposite! The canon Gospels DO clearly show Jesus as divine, especially John, but also greatly show him as human and the Son of Man, much more than the Gnostic writings do. In fact, they almost all focus on his superhuman divine aspects!
N - Nicaea
"Jesus' establishment as the Son of God was officially proposed and voted on by the council of Nicaea". Hold on, You're saying Jesus' divinity was the result of a vote? Yes, a relatively close vote at that".
This is a quote from The Da Vinci Code book - page 233 - of which Brown defends is based on fact and historical accounts.
Fact: The council of Nicaea was held in 318 A.D. NOT to settle if Jesus was divine or not! That was an established and settled fact among nearly all of the church. This council was called to determine how Jesus was divine and also human at the same time.. This was done because of the false teachings being spread by Arius, who taught that Jesus was created by God at some point and became the Son of God. He taught that Jesus was not eternal and equal to God, and began sending letters to churches on the matter.
Fact: Constantine called in over 300 bishops to settle the dispute, and the vote was 316 to 2 ( close vote?) in favor of Jesus being who he stated he was, and who the scriptures say he was - the Son of God, both fully God and fully man.
Fact: These bishops did not invent this theory, revise it, or do anything except AFFIRM what had already been firmly known and established for 300 years!
C - Canon attacked
If you get down to the basics of the whole purpose and intent of the Da Vinci Code, especially with the claims of accurate history and facts presented in it, the basic premise is to directly attack the Canon of scripture.
Canon - is a Biblical term meaning "Measuring stick, rod, or ruler". It means the entire God-given word, that is now sealed and done in it's entirety that we call the Bible.
God's mystery of his will and purpose has been clearly revealed to his Apostles and Prophets - of which is the foundation of the church and house of God, with Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone.
Eph 1:9 / 2:20 / 3:9
I - Ignorance is bliss
(Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it)
"My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...."
Hosea 4:6
God wants us to be informed and aware! The more we know of the integrity of the Bible, the accurate fulfilled prophesies of its claims, and the development of the church, the more we will grow in faith and be immune to any other attacks or deceptions hostile to our faith.
C - Christ de-valued
" Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? I John 2:22
" Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM"
John 8:58
Jesus speaking of himself as God, who also gave this name to Moses in the burning bush.
There are many clear scriptures claiming him as the divine Son of God. The entire universe was created by him, and he is called the ultimate King of Kings and Lord of Lords, anything less is inaccurate.
O - Old philosophy-
Gnosticism - Dualism - Relativism
Feminism -
Brownism is a combination of these and other old isms - many which go back to the dawn of time.
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
II Peter 2:1-3
D - Devil's lie (...did God say)
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. II Cor. 11:3
Paul feared that "as the serpent deceived Eve" that his readers (and us) would be deceived once again.
Question: How did the serpent deceive Eve?
E - Extra Biblical sources
(Gnostic books)
Contrary to Brown, history is very clear that Constantine had nothing to do with the formation of the canon. Most of the scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments were in place and considered chosen by God, by 200 A.D., and even before that were considered scripture by most of the early church. The canon was "sealed" by this time with no other books added. (Except for the Roman Catholic Church adding the Apocrypha.)
We have a clear warning against adding/taking from the Bible!
Deut 4:2 / Prov 30:5,6 / Rev 22:18,19
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Group Questions
1. Is the Bible God's word...or the words of men?
2. Is there such a thing as absolute truth, or is truth relative to each person or situation?
3. Is it important to you whether or not Jesus is truly divine? Who do You say Jesus is?
4. Do you believe the Bible is trustworthy? Why or why not?
5. What is the difference between "spirituality" and "Christianity"?
6. Is it necessary to believe in a literal Satan in order to be a Christian? Do you believe in a real Satan? Why or why not?
7. How convincing is The Da Vinci Code's claim that the Church is a great oppressor of women?
8. Can anyone really know what the Bible really teaches? Can we really know any historical facts, or is it open to debate?
Conclusion
Towards the very end of the movie, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) says to Sophie, “The only thing that matters is what you believe”. This is really the summary and focus of the entire story! Basically, that truth is relative, and there is no absolute truth, whatever you believe is true for you, even if that means re-writing history, which Brown had to do in order to claim any historical facts within the story.
Personally, I would rather pattern my life after another statement made by comic Brad Stine, “Nothing matters but God.” www.bradstine.com
Dan Brown starts off his book with this word in capitol letters – FACT – and then states,
“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate”.
When he was interviewed on Today by Matt Lauer, he was asked if the novel was based on things that actually occurred, Brown replied, “Yes, absolutely all of it”.
Yet every historian and theologian has blasted his claims as outright lies and falsehoods with no shred of evidence on most of his claims!
Conclusions:
- (Highly unlikely as he is very bright and intelligent.)
- (Very likely the case.)
Now the question is why? What is his motive?
James Garlow – M.Div. Th.M. Ph.D. in historical theology says it best;
“If Brown has an agenda, what is it? To destroy, as best he can, the credibility of orthodox Christianity by refuting two themes: the authenticity and reliability of the New Testament and the full divinity of Jesus.” www.jimgarlow.com
If Satan has a signature, or fingerprints, this agenda is it! From attacking the word of God in tempting Eve in Genesis chapter three, to the temptation of Jesus in Luke chapter four, to the ridicule of the Bible and films like this today, his method of attack has not changed.
As I watched the movie, I looked at it more as a joke, in that no one could possibly be serious in any of these claims! He must have written the story as a joke, but very few are getting the punch line, or it seems. It was at this moment during the film that I thought of a passage of scripture which takes on interesting meaning in light of this blockbuster book and movie, and best summarizes and concludes this forum.
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Let us break their chains they say, and throw off their fetters. The One enthroned in heaven laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill”
Psalms 2:1-6 NIV