Published in the Lompoc Record
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Faith in the Public Square
Cracking the Code -- the Da Vinci Code, That Is!
Three years on the bestseller lists, now a major motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is a can’t miss block-buster. This mystery-thriller takes on the Roman Catholic Church, Opus Dei, and Christianity in general, while mixing in the Knights Templar, Masons, Gnosticism, the Holy Grail, and famous works of art. The book and its conspiratorial claims have drawn a great crowd of fans and elicited a considerable industry of critical responses.
As a piece of literature, The Da Vinci Code doesn’t rank with Steinbeck or Updike, but something about the storyline is intriguing. The story centers on a secret that if exposed would rock Christianity to its very foundations. The secretive "anti-Catholic" Priory of Sion guards this explosive secret, which a conservative Roman Catholic group – Opus Dei – is willing to kill in order to keep it secret. The secret? The Holy Grail of legend isn’t a chalice, it’s a child born of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Why is it so popular? Possibly it’s the conspiracy theory that drives the plot or the feminist angle. There’s the recent interest in Gnosticism – consider the release of The Gospel of Judas. Then there’s the allegation that Jesus was a human just like us, who enjoyed sex and wanted to be married. Maybe it’s a reflection of ongoing interest in the goddess and "New Age" spirituality.
As fiction, The Da Vinci Code poses little threat to the Christian faith. But, Brown claims that the book is based on fact, something many of his readers accept at face value. Unfortunately, the book depends on such discredited books as Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and Brown demonstrates no understanding of modern biblical scholarship or the underlying facts of Gnosticism. There is also the misrepresentation of Opus Dei that is problematic. But perhaps there’s a silver lining – maybe the book will stir a renewed interest in the history and interpretation of the Bible at a time of growing biblical illiteracy.
The book raises important questions, though its answers are flawed at best. Uppermost might be the question of Jesus’ humanity. While the church affirms the full humanity of Jesus, it also affirms his full divinity. Too often the humanity gets lost in the divinity, but Brown’s turn to Gnosticism won’t provide the necessary counterbalance. If anything, the Jesus of Gnosticism was even more divine than the Jesus of the canonical gospels. Gnosticism also divorced Jesus from his Jewish context, offering a version of Christianity that was distinctly anti-Semitic.
As for Mary Magdalene, she figures prominently in both canonical and Gnostic gospels, but never as Jesus’ wife. She was, even in the canonical gospels, a significant disciple of Jesus. Could Jesus have been married? There’s no reason why not – except that there isn’t any evidence he was, especially since he was an itinerant preacher.
Then there is the issue of the church’s suppression of the women. There is truth to this charge, but Christianity isn’t unique in this. Though there has been great change, many parts of the Christian community continue to treat women as second class citizens. If the book stirs us to a discussion of the role of women in church and society, then it has done the church a good service.
Finally, there is the question of how the Bible came to be. Since it didn’t fall from heaven, how did Christians decide what was authoritative and what was not? It wasn’t, as Brown suggests, the work of Constantine. Constantine can be blamed for a lot of things, but he didn’t have a role in choosing the books of the bible in an effort to create a divine Jesus. Truth be told, the four gospels date from the latter half of the 1st century, a half-century before the Gnostic gospels, with which Brown is enamored, started appearing. Still, the question of how the Bible came to be is worthy of careful study in our churches.
Although Dan Brown got his facts wrong, it’ll probably be a movie that should be seen. Then, we should have a conversation about the questions it raises concerning the history and message of the Christian faith – I’m willing, if you’re willing.
Dr. Bob Cornwall is Pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Lompoc, CA (http://www.lompocdisciples.org/). He may be contacted at lompocdisciples@impulse.net or at First Christian Church, P.O. Box 1056, Lompoc, CA 93438.
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Comments
The reviews have come in on the movie and their not good. I'm not surprised that the reviews consider it a bore -- the reason the book sold so well isn't its suspense. There are a lot more suspenseful novels than this -- its the "alternate spirituality" that drives it. But its still worth having the conversation.
Why?
To condition people into believing that one day the “heir” will make himself known to the world. The movie tells us (a few times) that the "heir" will make himself know to the world.
I bet that “heir” is none other than the antichrist.
Luciferian world emerging…Wake up America!
Leaders tell us there will be a one world Government:
“By the end of this decade (2000 AD) we will live under the first One
World Government that has ever existed in the society of nations … a government with absolute authority to decide the basic issues of human survival. One world government is inevitable.” Pope John Paul II quoted by Malachi Martin in the book “The Keys of This Blood”
“In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn’t such a great idea after all.” Strobe Talbot, President Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State, as quoted in Time, July 20th, l992.
This “new world” is Luciferian based:
Those promoting the New World Order, global society, want Christianity removed to make way for people to accept Lucifer:
“Fundamental Bible-believing people do not have the right to indoctrinate their children in their religious beliefs because we, the state, are preparing them for the year 2000, when America will be part of a one-world global society and their children will not fit in.” –Nebraska State Senator Peter Hoagland, speaking on radio in 1983.
How do you prepare people for this coming one-world global society?
“To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.” - Brock Adams, Director UN Health Organization
How would one enter this new society?
“No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.” David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations
The Bible predicted and warned us about this a couple thousand years ago:
Rev 13:16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(666)
Did you know the technology to do this is here and ready?
“Is there a number or mark planned for the hand or forehead in a new cashless society? YES, and I have seen the machines that are now ready to put it into operation.” Ralph NaderThis technology is being used in Europe. People are already buying with RFID (radio frequency identification chips) implanted in their hands/arms.
What is so wrong with this?
Revelation 14 warns us:9And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
This Luciferian initiation, that David Spangler, UN, speaks of could very well be the mark of the beast, the Bible warns us about. And the mark of this man…who will it be? Could he emerge from the following?:
“We do not want another committee, we have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all the people and to lift us up out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and whether he be God or devil, we will receive him.” -Paul-Henri Spaak,The first president of the United Nations General Assembly, who was also a prime minister of Belgium and one of the early planners of the European Common Market, as well as a secretary-general of NATO.
“I believe that if the people of this nation fully understood what Congress has done to them over the last 49 years, they would move on Washington; they would not wait for an election….It adds up to a preconceived plan to destroy the economic and social independence of the United States!” –George W. Malone, U.S. Senator (Nevada), speaking before Congress in1957.
“Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States.
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it” ~ Albert Einstein