LEARNING TO SHARE YOUR FAITH
THE DA VINCI CODE

During the month of June Rev. Kelso focused on the issues raised by the book and film "The Da Vinci Code". As both have proved popular he seeks to expose the lies promoted therein and to show the truth about these issues from a Biblical perspective.

The teachings were based around video presentations with a summing up of the major points at the end of each. For that reason each talk was less than five minutes and teh first was unfortunately not recorded. Therefore the three talks have been combined into one MP3.

NOTES TO ACCOMPANY THE TALK ON "THE DA VINCI CODE"

Has the Bible been corrupted? 11th June

"FACT. All descriptions of art work, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." Dan Brown. Author, The Da Vinci Code. "One of the many qualities that makes the Da Vinci Code unique is the factual nature of the story"

Comment: Here is the damage done. People read this novel believing it to be true. But the supposed facts are untrue.

Da Vinci Code: "About 80 Gospels were considered for the New Testament".

Fact: There are only 15-18 Gospels. The four we have: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were chosen because they were head and shoulders above the others. They were unique, coherent, eyewitness accounts of Christ. By contrast, the other supposed Gospels, called Gnostic Gospels, were not historical or coherent and couldn't possibly have been written by supposed apostles because they date from 250-350 AD. They were rejected by the Church.

Da Vinci Code: "The Bible is a product of men. It evolved."

Fact: Modern day textual criticism and archaeology have proved that what we have in our hands today is as close to the original as possible. The coherence of all the books of the Bible is unique in literature.

Da Vinci Code: "The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great."

Fact: Constantine had nothing to do with fixing the Canon of Scripture. It was fixed by the time he was born and most of it accepted by c.130 AD. The criterion which came to prevail was APOSTOLICITY . Unless a book could be shown to come from the pen of an apostle or have the authority of an apostle behind it, it was rejected. That's why the Gnostic Gospels were rejected. They were written over a century too late to be written by the people they name. As we refute The Da Vinci Code we need to remember 1Timothy 4:1 and 2Timothy 3:14-17

Was Jesus just a man? 18th June 06

The Da Vinci Code:

• Jesus was not the Son of God
• He was a mortal prophet
• The emperor Constantine proposed a motion to upgrade Jesus to a deity in the Council of Nicea in 325 AD
• Constantine's motive was to give power to the Church.

Response:

• Constantine did not propose such a motion at Nicea. The debate was over whether Jesus was the same substance as the Father and this was agreed, from which we get the Nicene Creed.
• The Gospels and writings of Paul affirm Jesus as God
• The Roman governor Pliny records in 112 AD that Christians honoured Christ as God: e.g. Ignatius, Justin Martys, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Polycarp.
• Jesus' teaching, His miracles, His character, His fulfillment of prophecy, His Resurrection and Ascension all underline His Deity.
• The message of the early church was "Jesus is Lord who rose from the dead!" Those early disciples were willing to give their lives for this belief. Myths do not make martyrs.
• The Gospel accounts are truthful, not embellished. Take the women. They were the first witnesses to the Resurrection. But in Jesus' day women had no standing. Take the Resurrection accounts. Jesus gave physical evidence to His disciples - eating bread, fish, showing them His hands and side.
• The Gospels, Acts and Epistles make it clear that the earliest Christians believed Jesus to be both fully God and fully man. It was only when others tried to deny this that the Church had to formulate its belief and this happened from the 2nd Century - 5th Century. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD came the pronouncement. "Christ, truly God and truly man, like us in all things except sin"
• The truth is that Jesus did die for our sins, that He did rise from the dead and ascend to Heaven, and He did send the Holy Spirit to empower those first disciples to be His witnesses.

The Marys Jesus loved 25th June 06

The Da Vinci Code states: "The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record. Mary Magdalene was Jesus' companion. As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word "companion" meant "spouse". The Gospel of Mary reveals that Mary Magdalene was given instructions by Jesus on how to carry on His Church. The Church has always been anti-women. "

Response:

1. There is no historical record of Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene. Even the Gnostic Gospels are silent over this. If Jesus was married then Paul would have referred to Jesus in 1Corinthians 1:5.
2. No Aramaic word for "companion" means "spouse".
3. The Gospel of Mary has nothing to do with church leadership. It is about metaphysical powers and the forms they take to conquer the soul.
4. Jesus was not anti-women. He turned the society upside down by affirming women.
5. He appeared first to women after the Resurrection.
6. He allowed Mary of Bethany to sit at His feet to learn, unheard of in His day.
7. He allowed women to travel with Him in His ministry.
8. The Marys that Jesus loved in the Gospels were His mother Mary, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. There was never anything inappropriate in His relationships with women or, to be sure, the Pharisees would have pounced on Him.
9. The Da Vinci Code has given us an opportunity to look at the facts and what we have here in the Gospels is God's truth about who Jesus is and why He came.

The Da Vinci Code is yet another ploy of the enemy to discredit Jesus, the Bible and the Church.