The “Da Vinci Code” Debate
The book “The Da Vinci Code” by author Dan Brown is one of the most popular books written in the past few years with over forty million copies sold. The book is FICTION but presented as FACT. In the next few weeks a movie will be released based on this book. It is important that people are aware that the book is full of deception.
Does anyone take his ideas seriously? Yes they do. This is partly due to the way the book is written. One of the first words one encounters in The Da Vinci Code, in bold uppercase letters, is the word “FACT.” A little later Brown writes, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” The average reader (even some who call themselves Christians) will assume the statement is true. But it’s not.
Satan’s question to Eve in the Garden of Eden was “Did God really say?” This has been Satan’s ploy since creation. The “Da Vinci Code” is nothing new. In the book “The Da Vinci Code” the author Dan Brown writes: “The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. . . . The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great”. This is a half-truth much like Satan’s question to Eve.
From the very beginning Satan has attacked the Word of God. Jesus proved the importance of God’s Word by using it to defeat Satan in the wilderness. Remember, each time Jesus was tempted He said “it is written” and quoted Scripture to overcome Satan’s temptation. This truth is spelled out in Psalm 119 when the Word of God says if we will hide Scripture in our hearts we will not sin against God.
The Bible plays a central role in Christianity, therefore to question Scripture’s historic validity bears tremendous implications. Brown claims that Constantine commissioned men to manipulate existing texts. This is false. The process by which the Bible formed was one that took time it was not collated at any one time. Brown overlooks the fact that the human process of canonization had progressed for centuries before Nicea. The early church had definite criteria that had to be met for a book to be included in the New Testament. A book had to be ancient, written close to the time of Jesus. It had to be written either by an apostle or a companion of an apostle. It had to be consistent with the orthodox understanding of the faith. And it had to be widely recognized and accepted by the church. Books that didn’t meet these criteria weren’t included in the New Testament
The Old Testament canon had been forming for centuries. Jesus and the apostles already recognized the authority of the Old Testament writings that existed in their time, as illustrated by the following verses:
“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
“You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness to me” (John 5:39).
“From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
It is well documented that the Old Testament was completed approximately 400 years before Christ and the last book of the New Testament before 100 AD. In the first century the apostles and their associates wrote the books of the New Testament, which were passed down to succeeding generations of Christians and read in the churches.
Jesus prayed “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17) Our faith comes by hearing and the hearing by the “Word of God” (Rom 10:17).
Jesus said Satan and his followers are out to kill, steal and destroy, but He came that we might have life, more abundant. The goal of the Da Vinci Code is an attempt by a man to set aside the one true God and make himself God. Romans 1:31 addresses this issue when it states “They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (nlt)”
Author: Charles King - Four Soils Ministry
