The Da Vinci Code and the Holy Grail
The Da Vinci Code, a best selling novel, has gained much attention in recent days. The line consists of medieval theories, legends and traditions woven into a postmodern thriller novel with political background.
The novel also makes some very serious direct attacks against the Christian faith. Let me emphasize the word "novel" because it is clearly a work of fiction and not fact.
Any serious scholar that the book under review draws the conclusion that it is mere speculation based on very limited evidence. Uninformed reader, however, are deceived by this book and some people even promote it as truth. It is therefore necessary to counter their mistakes.
The plot of the book focuses on the unproven assumption that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a son who became part of French royalty. This story was allegedly suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries.
The book also argues that the Holy Grail is the chalice that was used at the Last Supper, but rather the body of Mary Magdalene. I should note that the Bible does not use the term "Holy Grail" and much less defined as the chalice used in the first holy communion at the Last Supper. Empowerment for the cup was made much later in the legends developed in medieval times.
The novel also blasphemously deny the deity (divinity) of Christ. It is argued that the doctrine of the deity of Christ did not originate with Christ himself, but was later introduced Constantine and asked the Council of Nicea in 325 AD to enforce it.
It is also stated in The Da Vinci Code that Christ was deified as part of an attempt to assert male dominance and suppress goddess worship. Feminist victimization is an important underlying theme of this book and an important political subtext. It's called The Da Vinci Code because Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), supposedly, was a believer and propagator of Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus rumor.
The New Testament records that Jesus said to be openly divine. (See John 5:23, 8:58, 10:30). The Apostles, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also claims that Jesus was and is divine. Is equal with God the Father. (See John 1:1,14, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:6-8.)
Only Jesus as God in the flesh is capable of dying for the sins of all people. The early church leaders who came after the apostles continued to teach the deity of Christ. To say or imply that other persons or Constantine invented the doctrine of the deity of Christ, to promote a patriarchal system is as ridiculous as it is anti-historical.
Christ came to die for the sins of all people. He, in His great love and mercy, took to himself the punishment due to all people for our sins. The name "Emmanuel," a title of Christ, means "God with us."
Part of the reason The Da Vinci Code denies the divinity of Christ is to be based on the Gnostic Gospel of buttress their claims. A large number of manuscripts of the Gnostic Gospels were found in an earthen jar in Nag Hammadi Egypt in 1945.
Among the group of Nag Hamadi manuscripts is called the Gospel of Thomas, and the so-called Gospel of Philip. Since these manuscripts are dated from 150 AD to the third or fourth centuries, no scholar, even the most liberal, regards them as actually has been written by Philip Thomas and the New Testament.
Dr. Erwin Lutz of Moody Church, Chicago, Illinois, writes about the Gnostic Gospel: "The Gnostic Gospels are not historical or even anti-historical, since they contain little narrative and have no sense of chronology. Disregard the belief that God wants us to come in the flesh … These documents make no pretense of actually overlap with the canonical gospels. Many are filled with garbled quotations from the New Testament, along with many sayings fools who put in the mouth of Jesus "(page 9 of Dr. Lutz Rumors the booklet about Jesus: The Jesus of The Da Vinci Code).
Sandra Miesel, writing in the journal Crisis Catholic states in the Da Vinci Code "Blasphemy is delivered in a soft voice."
The claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene is fetched speculation, unsupported biblical and ironically very little support, even in the medieval legend and tradition. Those who deny the divinity of Christ to commit the sin of blasphemy and separated from Christ. I pray that people will not be fooled by The Da Vinci Code.
