“The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown contains a fascinating blend of fact and fiction from art, history, mathematics and theology, all woven into a fast-paced murder mystery. Even though it’s a work of fiction, Brown uses all this to lead the reader to a shocking conclusion about Jesus Christ and the validity of the Christian faith. Half truths make the best lies, however, because they contain an element of believability that makes the inaccurate and even the deceitful seem to be true as well. This is especially true if you desire a story to be true, for the simple reason that it is human nature to readily accept any information that supports your position and just as readily reject information that opposes it.
So how does one get to the truth? By studying both sides of an issue with an open mind and open heart, relying on one’s own experience and not the opinion of someone else with a bias or agenda. The Da Vinci Code raises many fascinating issues, but for anyone who has come to know the Christ of the gospels it also has many very troubling contradictions.
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It claims that the Bible was rewritten to suppress women. If so, why is it the men who are universally shown to be the ones who are spiritually blind, traitors and cowards while the woman are the closest to Christ? Even in the account of the resurrection, it is the women disciples who Christ appears to first while the men are disbelieving. Why is that?
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If the Catholic Church tried to suppress women, why would it elevate the Virgin Mother Mary to a role that surpasses the status that Jesus himself gave to her in the Gospels?
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If Jesus wasn’t resurrected from the dead, why would every one of his disciples maintain Him to be the living resurrected Christ, the Messiah, all the way to their deaths as martyrs? Why would the men who knew Jesus best give up their lives for something they knew to be a lie?
And now we have the Gospel of Judas with its revisionist agenda. If Judas hung himself in shame before the crucifixion at the realization that he had betrayed the Messiah, as recorded in the other gospels, how could he write a gospel of any worth when he, of all the disciples, least understood Christ before committing suicide and wasn’t there to experience the critical events that happened after his suicide? Why should the Gospel of Judas, written in 180 AD, have more credibility than the other gospels that were written more than 100 years earlier?
These are just a few of the many, many questions that need to be answered if you want the truth. Before you accept anything in The Da Vinci Code as true, you owe it to yourself to read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to have your own understanding of what in it is consistent with the gospels and what in it is a ridiculous and deceitful attempt to take away your own reason to seek truth, and to seek God.
My life has been changed by Jesus Christ, not the one who had babies with Mary Magdalene and helped Dan Brown sell novels, but the living Savior sent by God to show us His love and a different way to live in His truth. I invite you to explore this site to see the other side, and to see why 2,000 years from now Christ will still be changing lives with the experience of spiritual rebirth when Dan Brown’s novels have all been recycled.
Everyone who goes on a journey brings back snapshots to share with others. This site shares snapshots from a different type of journey, a spiritual journey, and are my snapshots of God. To see a bit of where I’ve been, just click HERE. For more information specifically on errors, inconsistencies and false assumptions in The Da Vinci Code, try these sites:
Enjoy your journey, and don’t let Dan or anyone else tell you that the trip isn’t worth the view.
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Words of Jesus Christ in John 8:32 (NIV)
“As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Words of Jesus Christ in Luke 11:27-28 (NIV)”
“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
Matt 27:3-5 (NIV)”
“Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.'”
Words of Jesus Christ in John 3:3-8 (NIV)”