4/23/2006

Considering the DaVinci Code

We live in a time when it is increasingly difficult to know truth from fiction, reality from image. Anyone with a little computer savvy can reach the world with their message via the Internet. There are websites for every imaginable purpose, blogs where anybody with a theory can make it known, and email that reaches instantly to the far side of the globe.

A crackpot with a good agent can get himself on CNN or FOXNEWS and instantly gain an audience of several million people. Publishing is relatively cheap and easy which allows people with a point of view to take their subject matter to the world.

By the way, I am thankful for the technology that makes the world a smaller place! Efforts to spread the Gospel of Christ are more fruitful in our generation than ever before! Thousands of people are coming to Christ with converts being won even in closed societies! In many cases these converts are being won using the gift of technology, that allow the Gospel to penetrate past border guards and government censors.

However, this abundance of information presents us with some new responsibilities. First of all, it demands that Believers be grounded and discerning - capable of sorting the truth from the error. Second, it requires that we are prepared to present the Gospel in language that is comprehended by people who do not share our culture, worldview, and/or language.

TEXT: But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-17, NIV)
The Message – Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath

A new religion masquerading as ‘modern Christianity,’ claiming to be based in great scholarship, is being sold across Europe and America. Though those who are proclaiming these new ‘truths’ claim to be Christian; in fact, they are not. They take away the supernatural, strip Jesus of His claim to be the Divine Person, God in flesh, and deny that the Resurrection was a literal event. Of course, attempts to ‘explain’ Christianity are nothing new at all.

∙ Thomas Jefferson, one of our nation’s revered founders, believed that the ethical teachings of Jesus were wonderful and deserving of being widely taught. But he found the religious content of the Gospels, the miracles, and the supernatural claims objectionable, so he created the “Jefferson Bible” in which he cut out what he didn’t like.

∙ “The Jesus Seminar” is a group of academics who get together annually to discuss the Gospels and to vote, based on their studies, on what is authentic in the Gospels. The media loves them and nearly every year right around the time of Easter, their assertions to know what is really true about Jesus – which is not much from the Gospels in their opinion - by the way - is rehashed on mainstream TV shows and newspapers.

∙ A former Episcopal bishop of NJ, John Shelby Spong, is one of the best known “Christians” who argue for a new religion, based on Christian ethics, but without the Christian basics. Among the positions he takes are these:

1. The biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.

2. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.

3. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.

4. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.

5. Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.

A novel which has had best-seller status in the world is Dan Brown’s book, The DaVinci Code. Despite being a work of fiction, it has raised questions about Biblical Christianity in many offices, neighborhoods, and family gatherings.

You might asking, “So why are you taking time in this forum to talk about a novel that 40 million or so people have purchased?” I assure you it’s not because I’ve become a literary critic. I’ll be truthful- I have not yet read the book. Many say it is compelling as a story, a novel that draws the reader into the storyline. It’s been on the best-seller lists for more than 6 months. Next month, the novel will be released as a movie, which will increase its influence even more. I don’t advocate censorship or book-burning, so if you’re inclined, read it. Just don’t be gullible.

Though Mr. Brown marketed The DaVinci Code as a novel, on the opening page he states that he is writing about a real conspiracy, about real events, and real places! He writes - “all the descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are accurate.” Using a vivid imagination, with just enough names and places from history to make his story seem true, he challenges the ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many people who lack the skills or knowledge to research this assertion, accept the inaccuracies of the book at face value.

So why do people try to re-write the Bible?

Some do it, I am convinced, for no other reason than greed. The face and story of Jesus are familiar and a lot of people are curious about Him, so why not write a book about Him and hope it makes you rich?

Others challenge the Gospel, and attempt to discover the ‘historical Jesus’ because of their world view shift. About 300 years ago something called “The Enlightenment” swept Europe. It isn’t a bad thing!

Let me explain. For centuries, human beings explained life with myth and story. The mysteries of the world were explained as the work of God. The concept of scientific inquiry, of trying to explore the universe by breaking it down into smaller and smaller parts, observing patterns and systems, principles and laws, just wasn’t mainstream thought. Many felt that all that was true had been revealed by God. Truth was not to be discovered by inquiry. Europe had lived for nearly a thousand years in what we now term, “the Dark Ages,” ruled by fear and superstition. Along with ignorance, came perpetual warfare, terrible diseases, and plagues.

Then the Age of Reason dawned and with it scientific inquiry. From the hard work of the scientists, we learned about many causes of disease, nutrition, and hygiene. However, science and religion came into conflict early on. The Christian church responded to the movement initially with fear, attempting to stamp it out with trials and banned books.

One of the incidents that still embarrasses Christians involves the work of the astronomer and mathematician, Copernicus, who in his studies determined that the earth was not the center of the universe! He proposed that his inquiry had shown that the earth was part of system of planets which orbited around the sun. The response of the Church was a horrified outcry, for it was commonly believed that the Bible presented a view of the universe which made Earth the center of it. Today, we are amazed that there was an outcry about such a thing. Almost no one believes in a flat earth or that this globe is the center of the universe today, and Christianity still stands!

Incidents like that caused ever more people to doubt the authority of the Bible. And, over time science replaced the Scripture in terms of being a source of authority and/or truth. Indeed, the Bible was subjected to so-called higher criticism and many came to view it as a collection of legends and myths from which we in the Western world draw our common culture. While many are willing to accept the ethical teaching of the Bible, the majority of Americans reject the supernatural elements of the Bible.

Questions such as these echo in the minds of many –

Does the Bible teach us the origins of the universe?

Does the Bible reveal to us the ultimate facts of being right with God?

Does the Bible teaches us about God, His character and His nature,

about what is right and wrong,

about sin and righteousness, and

about the way to become God’s child?

Are the Gospels true or are they the equivalent of legends and myths, with a small kernel of truth

surrounded by additions made later to turn Jesus into a God?

The diminished respect for the Bible, yes, the lack of real knowledge of what is said on its pages, causes many people to assume that they know what is true before they open the Bible. So they take their ‘truth’ and force that onto the Scripture, making the sacred record fit their pre-conceptions and assumptions.

This is what Dan Brown has done in his book.

So what’s the book about and why do so many people think it is revealing some new truth about the identity of Jesus?

The DaVinci Code follows Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religion, and Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist in the French Federal Police as they investigate the murder of Sophie’s grandfather. They are drawn into the company of a secret society called the Priory of Sion - a group dedicated to goddess worship.

As they continue their inquiry, they piece together a new version of Christianity in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and left her pregnant when he was crucified. Jesus wanted Mary Magdalene to head up his new religion, but Peter launched a campaign to ruin Mary’s reputation, making her a prostitute. She fled with her child to France, where the Priory of Sion was created to keep her and Jesus’ child safe. Along the way, the story has the Roman emperor calling a council to declare Jesus is the Son of God, assembling the gospels to support his position, determining the course of Christianity for the next 1600 years! Down through history various luminaries, including Leonardo DaVinci, became part of the secret society, planting clues about the ‘truth’ in their works. Hence the title the DaVinci Code.

Here’s a short video that outlines the major factual inaccuracies in the novel. (VIDEO)

http://viewers.316networks.com/ASX_Files/NAMB_-_The_DaVinci_Code_VOD_300k.asx

Is any of this really important to you and me?

YES!

We must not allow this book, nor the other Christ-denying books, in their intellectual pretensions, to destroy our faith. And, we must be prepared, as Peter instructs - “to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.”

Christianity is about restoring the relationship of the created with their Creator. Central to our faith is the identity of Jesus Christ. If, Jesus was just a man, a Teacher who left us a great code of ethics, then we have no real hope of Heaven beyond our own wish fulfillment!

Our central source of Truth is the Scriptures, the Bible, which tells us God’s story.

We who hold the historic views of Christianity need not shrink from the challenges of those who are trying to rewrite history. We need not lose our faith, nor abandon our hope in Christ.

So, I want to explore the issues that are touched on by Brown’s book.

Next week, I want to talk about the trustworthiness of the Scripture, how the Bible came to us, and why faith in the Holy Book is sustainable.

In additional messages, I plan to talk about the Bible’s story of humanity and the reasons why we can hold onto the message of Jesus Christ without apology in this era.

Believer, we cannot just shrug our shoulders and say, “well, the Bible is true for me. I believe it.”

We cannot let our children be taken in by half-truths and deceptions because we are too lazy to defend the truth, to be students of the Scripture.

I want to leave you with this word which Paul wrote first to Timothy....

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands....

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." (2 Timothy 1:7, 12-14, NIV)

Amen.

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