Delving into
Will it change western religion as we know it?—
or will it strengthen Christian faith?
Dan Brown has caused a tsunami in religious and secular society with his best seller and Hollywood production, The Da Vinci Code. The novel is a blend of suspense, mystery and drama —it touches on polemical events from Christian history and combines with code breaking in a complex scheme at the Louvre in France. Thus the story develops—immersed in obscurity and controversy.
Was Christ's divinity a result of a voting session at the Council of Nicaea?
What makes the book controversial?—Brown gives the reader a surreal flashback into history, searching out key religious events such as the Council of Nicaea of 325 AD, and a secret society-- the Priory of Sion. But there are other baffling aspects to the book-- provoking enough to make one wonder or question what is truth concerning Jesus and the bible. His array of information on religious issues is surprising and unexpected. The book asserts that almost everything taught by Christianity on Christ is false—that his divinity was the result of a voting process at the Council of Nicaea….. and the New Testament bible as we know it today-- specifically the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John-- were collated by Constantine, emperor of Rome. It goes on to say that other gospels out of a total of 80 were suppressed --supposedly because some of these would have put Jesus in a bad light. All this is explained as a political power play on the part of Constantine—in order to solidify his authority by using Jesus as his key player. But there’s more---the book envisions Mary Magdalene as the figure to the right of Jesus in the famous Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci—not just envisions her as participating in Jesus’ Last Supper… but in his life as a pair-- as married.
At this point the reader will probably want to double check Dan’s introduction…"Did he say it was fiction-- fact—or what?”--because unlike a novel or fiction, this writing portends to use certain historical events to cast doubt on the basic tenets of Christian belief and faith.— The story comes across as a true rendering of information and knowledge… but then flows into a subtle account of real history and distorted history— combines with a secret association whose historical origin lies amidst a twilight zone of partial truths, reality—and non truths. Those who read the book may conclude that what they are reading is factual and true. Nevertheless, one is left with a feeling of uncertainty as to the validity of crucial points in the book.
Let’s examine some important aspects of the historical and religious pieces of this intricate mystery and the theological implications surrounding The Da Vinci Code.
The first council of Nicaea established to confront Arius' doctrines doctrines against Christ
The divinity of Jesus as the Son of God was also an accepted tenet of Christian faith, prior to the meeting of 325 AD.
The real purpose for the bishops calling the first Council of Nicaea was to solve the problems that surfaced from the Arius hypothesis on Jesus. It was Arius who considered Jesus a mortal, not Jesus' followers. Arius had been in opposition to the fundamental aspects of Christian faith since early in the 3rd century. His claim was that Jesus was a creature, a mere mortal, liable to fall, etc. It’s interesting to note that Arius came from Egypt where pagan religions were flourishing—the cult of Sol Invictus being the main one. This latter one worshiped the sun… considered as the Lord of the Roman Empire. The intolerance and jealousy from pagan worshipers stirred up conflict against the early Christians. This was made evident by the religious persecution leveled on Christians residing in Egypt.
300 bishops meet to vote to establish a new statement of faith
The religious turmoil within the Roman Empire brought on by Arius' deviations from Christian doctrine—-made imperative the need of a formalized document that would describe revealed doctrine more accurately (doctrine of Christian beliefs and faith practiced as far back as AD 60 with the book of Mark [1]) – and particularly the need for clarification of Jesus as the Son of God, as consubstantial or of the same substance as the Father. A vote was taken by the 300 bishops at the Council of Nicaea in favor of the new statement of faith, termed the Nicene Creed. But as such, there was no instance where the bishops were suddenly inspired to vote in Jesus as a divine entity, as if it had just dawned on them that he was no ordinary human, but the true and supernatural Son of God. I reiterate, at this time Jesus' divinity was already an accepted belief and so was belief in the resurrection. And though at that moment in history, Christian belief in the resurrection had not yet been formulated in writing, it can be traced to within two years of that very event (2).
Concerning Arius, the Council voted unanimously against him and had his doctrine condemned-- he was banished from the Roman Empire at Constantine’s command. This was the second time Arius was sent into exile—-the first was when Alexander (319 AD) also condemned and exiled him with the same charge of trying to prop up doctrine against the divinity of Jesus.
The Priory of Sion—proof of Jesus Christ’s royal bloodline through Mary Magdalene— or fabrication?
In The Da Vinci Code introduction, Brown inserts a page of information on the secret society mentioned in his book--The Priory of Sion and the Dossiers Secrets—referring to these as fact. This alleged Priory is supposed to have been a secret society set up in the 11th century. According to the narrative, its purpose was to preserve a secret having to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. The story claims that in 1975, certain documents or parchments were discovered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, known as the Dossiers Secrets (3). The DVC lists the dignified members who purportedly belonged to the association…. Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci.
The documents found at the Paris library seemed to support the original story that took place in Rennes-le-Chateau, Paris—this story [Later shown to be a fabrication of Plantard, as well as the Dossiers Secrets (4)] was published in a book by Pierre Plantard, titled L’Or de Rennes (“Rennes’ Gold”) in 1967. However—in real life-- it was later discovered that it was not the librarians (as narrated in the DVC) but the associates of Plantard who found the documents in the library-- the same ones who planted the forged documents to begin with. Plantard’s book is about a buried treasure that was supposedly uncovered by Father Berenger Sauntiere at the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in 1885 (5). The treasure was to Sauntiere more valuable than gold…. for according to the story, he had found antique documents that sustained an old southern France legend assuming that Jesus Christ did not rise to heaven --- but that he had escaped to France with his wife, Mary Magdalene. (Although after the Roman torture and excruciating crucifixion and death on the cross—seems it would have been quite difficult to drag around with a woman all the way to France [6]). The author explains that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children and had initiated a dynasty called the Merovingian Kings of France. Here Plantard gives his supposed meaning of the Grail Legends, the Holy Grail—that it’s the holy blood of Jesus Christ running through the veins of Merovingians (7). In the end Plantard expanded his story saying that he was the designer of the mystery Priory, as well as the last descendent of the Merovingians and that the blood of Christ was now in his veins. All seems quite astonishing and presented as factual….however; it’s now been established that the Priory of Sion is a fabrication of Plantard’s imagination.
Massimo Introvigne, director for the Center of Studies of New Religions for Cesnur, considers the Priory a forgery. He states the following: No reference to the Priory of Sion as an organization (led during the course of its existence by many famous people, including Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519) protecting the Merovingians and their legitimate claims to the throne of France against the Carolingians and further usurpers is recorded in history before the fabrication of the 1967 documents. The Priory of Sion itself was founded in 1956 by the key architect of the 1967 forgery, Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), but with different aims and by-laws. And no reference that the Merovigians protected by the Priory of Sion and mentioned in the 1967 documents are the physical descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene ever appeared in print before the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. (CESNUR - Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne www.cesnur.org--Dan Brown and the London Court Case: After Many Bogus Conspiracies, A Real One Finally Surfaces)
Dan Brown and his story eventually faced a court case in London where he had to defend himself against authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh of Holy Blood and Holy Grail, for plagiarism. Brown won the case but in the final ruling, the judge confirmed the Priory of Sion a hoax (8).
(1)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 10
(2)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 12
(3)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org
(4)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org
(5)- Priory of Sion…. Forged documents—Wikipedia
(6)- Case for Christ—Lee Strobel—pg. 62-70
(7)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ or Will the real Priory of Sion please stand up? Cesnur—www.cesnur.org
(8)- Cesnur- Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne—ww.cesnur.org—Dan Brown and the London Court Case- - Judge Confirms the Priory of Sion is a Hoax {http://www.cesnur.org/cgi-bin/swish.cgi?query=Dan+Brown+court+case}
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Ben Fighter is a full time member of the Family International
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