A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE DA VINCI CODE

1
A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TOTHE DA VINCI CODE

• BIBLICAL CLAIMS
• Dr. Tim Johnson
• NASHOTAH HOUSE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

2
INTRODUCTIONS

• THOSE NOT IN ATTENDANCE LAST WEEK
• --NAME
• --OCCUPATION
• --HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT
• THE COURSE?

3
CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE

• 1 PETER 315-17
• BUT IN YOUR HEARTS REGARD CHRIST THE
• LORD AS HOLY, ALWAYS BEING PREPARED TO
• MAKE A DEFENSE TO ANYONE WHO ASKS YOU
• FOR A REASON FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU
• YET DO IT WITH GENTLENESS AND RESPECT, HAVING A
• GOOD CONSCIENCE, SO THAT, WHEN YOU ARE
• SLANDERED, THOSE WHO REVILE YOUR GOOD BEHAVIOR
• IN CHRIST MAY BE PUT TO SHAME.
• --ESV

4
CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE

• KEY PRINCIPLES
• BE PREPARED
• CHRISTIANITY OFFERS HOPE
• HOW WE PROCLAIM IT IS IMPORTANT
• --WITH GENTLENESS
• --WITH RESPECT
• --SERVES AS A WITNESS

5
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Da Vinci Code
• The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not
  of God.
• --Da Vinci Code, 231
• the New Testament is false
• testimonyevery faith in the world is based
• on fabrication.
• --Da Vinci Code, 341

6
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Christian Response
• 2 TIMOTHY 316
• ALL SCRIPTURE IS BREATHED OUT BY GOD AND
  PROFITABLE FOR TEACHING FOR REPROOF, FOR
  CORRECTION, AND FOR TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
• --ESV

7
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Christian Response
• 2 PETER 121
• FOR NO PROPHECY WAS EVER PRODUCED
• BY THE WILL OF MAN, BUT MEN SPOKE
• FROM GOD AS THEY WERE CARRIED
• ALONG BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• --ESV

8
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• ANGLICAN CATECHISM
• Q Why do we call the Holy Scriptures the
• Word of God?
• A We call them the word of God because God
• inspired their human authors and because God
  still
• speaks to us through the Bible.

9
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• ANGLICAN ARTICLES OF RELIGION
• ARTICLE VI.
• OF THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
• FOR SALVATION
• Holy Scripture containeth all things
• necessary to salvation

10
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Orthodox Principles
• God-breathed, not a human invention.
• Useful for
• --Teaching
• --REPROOF
• --CORRECTION
• --Training in righteousness
• Sufficient for Salvation.

11
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Da Vinci Code
• History has never had a definitive
• version of the book.
• --Da Vinci Code, 231

12
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

• Christian Response
• No book has been copied more carefully over the
  millennia than the Bible.
• Some 24,000 MSS, part or whole, exist today and
  testify to its importance.
• Isaiah Scroll at Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls)
• The ½ truth.

13
SPEAKING OF QUMRAN

• Da Vinci Code
• The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in
• the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the
  Judean desert.
• --Da Vinci Code, 234
• There are photocopies of the Nag Hamadi and
  Dead Sea ScrollsThe earliest Christian
  records.
• --Da Vinci Code, 245

14
SPEAKING OF QUMRAN

• Christian Response
• The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in either the
  Winter of 1946 or the Spring of 1947.
• The Community was an apocalyptic Jewish group,
  perhaps monastic in nature.
• The scrolls date from 250 BC to 70 AD.
• No New Testament or Christian MSS found.
• See Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls
  in English.

15
DONT FORGET.

• Da Vinci Code
• All descriptions of artwork,
• architecture, documents, and secret
• rituals in this novel are accurate.
• --Da Vinci Code, Fact Page

16
QUMRAN MOVIE

• 30-MINUTE MOVIE ON
• THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

17
BREAK

• PLEASE TAKE A
• 20-MINUTE BREAK
• HELP YOURSELF TO SNACKS AND BEVERAGES UPSTAIRS

18
ORIGINAL SIN

• Da Vinci Code
• It was man, not God, who created the
• concept of original sin, whereby Eve tasted
  of the apple and caused the downfall of the
  human race.
• --Da Vinci Code, 238

19
ORIGINAL SIN

• Christian Response
• Apple? The Hebrew reads fruit of the tree.
• Two ½ truths
• --Original Sin is not a biblical term
• --Genesis 312the woman whom you
• gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the
  tree, and I ate.

20
ORIGINAL SIN

• ANGLICAN CATECHISM
• Q What is sin?
• A Sin is the seeking of our own will
• instead of the will of God, thus
• distorting our relationship with God, with
• other people, and with all creation.

21
ORIGINAL SIN

• Christian Response
• Theologically speaking, humanity is
• responsible for and participates in
• original sin, but humans did not create the
• concept for political or ecclesiastical
• purposes as intimated in The Da Vinci Code.

22
HOUSE OF BENJAMIN

• Da Vinci Code
• Mary Magdalenewas of the House of
• Benjaminof royal descent, who was, recast
  as a whore in order to erase evidence of her
  powerful family ties.
• Da Vinci Code, 248-249

23
HOUSE OF BENJAMIN

• Christian Response
• Benjamin was the youngest of Jacobs 12 sons
• The name of one of the 12 regions in ancient
  Israel located north of Jerusalem, see map.

24
(No Transcript)
25
HOUSE OF BENJAMIN

• Christian Response
• Israels first king, Saul, was a Benjaminite (1
  Samuel 921).
• Many associate this tribe with the Northern
  tribes.
• Northern Kingdom falls in 722 BC

26
HOUSE OF BENJAMIN

• Christian Response
• Northern Kingdom is never restored.
• Benjamin actually sided with Judah during the
  Division (1 Kings 1221).
• The Apostle Paul was from Benjamin, never claimed
  royal descent (Romans 111).
• Complete fabrication

27
Q

• Da Vinci Code
• Also rumored to be part of the treasure is
• the legendary Q Documenta manuscript
• that even the Vatican admits they believe
• exists. Allegedly, it is a book of Jesus
• teachings, possibly written in His own hand.
• --Da Vinci Code, 256

28
Q

• Christian Response
• Q is a hypothetical document that scholars
  think Matthew and Luke used to write their
  gospels.
• Seeks to solve The Synoptic Problem.
• Most scholars, including Roman Catholic scholars,
  acknowledge it could have existed, but no
  physical evidence exists.

29
Q

• Christian Response
• No reputable scholar believes Jesus penned
  this not even on the internet!
• Evidence from Church Fathers supports a different
  theory to explain the problem.
• See Raymond Brown, An Introduction to the New
  Testament, 116-122, for a balanced overview of
  the issue.

30
SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Da Vinci Code
• Langdons Jewish students always looked
• flabbergasted when he first told them that
• the early Jewish tradition involved ritualistic
• sex. In the Temple, no less.
• --Da Vinci Code, 309

31
SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Christian Response
• No American novel is complete without some sex.
• If Langdon were a real person, he might have been
  stoned to death for suggesting something so
  sacrilegious!

32
SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Christian Response
• No evidence for such a claim, not even in 1 or 2
  Maccabees during the abomination of desolation.
  (175 BC - 143 BC)

33
MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Da Vinci Code
• Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies
  in Solomons Temple housed not only God but also
  his powerful female equal, Shekinah. Men
  seeking spiritual wholeness came to the Temple to
  visit priestessesor hieroduleswith whom they
  made love and experienced the divine through
  physical union.
• --Da Vinci Code, 309

34
MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Christian Response
• Where do I start.?
• The Holy of Holies was the innermost room of the
  Tabernacle and both of the Temples (960 BC and
  516 BC).
• Only the High Priest entered but once a year
  during Yom Kippur.

35
MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Solomons Temple A Rendering

36
MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Christian Response
• Shekinah is a Hebrew noun derived from the verb,
  shakan (Nk), which means to dwell.
• The word shekinah is not found in either the OT
  or the NT and connotes dwelling.
• It is of post-biblical origin having been used in
  the Targums and Rabbinic literature and means
  that which dwells.

37
MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE

• Christian Response
• The concept of Shekinah is prevalent in the
  Bible, however (1 Kings 810).
• All known noun forms have grammatical gender of
  masculine.

38
EVEN MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE!

• Da Vinci Code
• The Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH
• the sacred name of Godin fact derived from
  Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between
  the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for
  Eve, Havah.
• --Da Vinci Code, 309

39
EVEN MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE!

• Christian Response
• Oh my
• The four consonants together, YHWH is called the
  tetragrammaton, see Exodus 314 regarding the
  burning bush.
• Jehovah is derived from YHWH, sort of, not the
  reverse.

40
EVEN MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE!

• Christian Response
• Jehovah is an artificial name made up of the
  tetragrammaton, YHWH, and the vowels in Adonai.
• YaHoWaiH Jahovaih Jehovah
• This word represents a hypothetical way of
  pronouncing the tetragrammaton
• There is no fusion of two words.

41
EVEN MORE SEX IN THE TEMPLE!

• Christian Response
• The etymology of YHWH is based on the Hebrew
  word, hyh (Haya), which means being, or
  existence.
• YHWH connotes, the one who is. His name is
  ontologically-based, not sexually contrived.

42
NEXT WEEK

• Dr. Donald Rappe
• Mount Mary College
• Who Was Mary Magdalene
• Offers a biblical and extra-biblical portrait of
  Mary of Magdala