Christianity and The DaVinci Code

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Christianity and The DaVinci Code

• By Katelyn Cannella

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What is Christianity?

• Based on the Old Testament and teachings of Jesus
  in the New Testament.
• Jesus is the savior the son of God who is one
  and the same with God.

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• Brown claims
• Almost everything our fathers
• taught us about Christ is false.

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Why dont Christians believe Brown?

• The lack of support for his theories
• The factual information contained in the
  Scriptures
• Their faith in the divinity of Christ

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Minor Details

• Brown got many small ideas in the novel
  incorrect. So what would lead a reader to
  believe he got anything else right?
• Brown manipulates historical events to present a
  negative and controversial image of the Church.

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Browns Bold Beliefs

• Roman Emperor Constantine proclaimed Jesus
  divinity and created the New Testament
• Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a
  daughter together
• Leonardo DaVinci left clues to all of this in his
  artwork

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Gnosticism

• A diverse set of ideas and doctrines that became
  popular during the 2nd and 3rd centuries

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The Gnostic Gospels

• Texts that include secret poems and myths
• Very different from the New Testament.
• Brown uses these to support his theory that Jesus
  was married to Mary Magdalene.

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Shortcomings

• Dated back to at least 100-150 years after the
  crucifixion!
• The Gospel of Phillip is 2 centuries removed from
  Jesus time.
• Nowhere in the Gnostic Gospels does it actually
  say that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene or
  that they had a child.

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The Bible A Reliable Source

• The Old Testament can be dated back to the 1st
  Century!
• The New Testament tells the story of Jesus at the
  time of Jesus!

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Lack of Evidence

• The New Testament is made up of books written by
  the men closest to Jesus.
• Nowhere in the Bible is the idea of Jesus having
  a wife mentioned.

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Jesus Divinity According to Brown

• Emperor Constantine decides to unify Rome under
  Christianity in 325 A.D.
• He calls the Council of Nicaea where it is
  decided by a relatively close vote that Jesus
  is divine.
• Constantine creates a new Bible which omitted
  gospels that referred to Jesus as a human, and
  not divine.
• THIS VERSION IS INCORRECT!

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The Council of Nicaea

• 318 bishops met to discuss many aspects of the
  religion.
• They created the Nicene Creed.
• The bishops voted to make Jesus divinity an
  official and universal belief.
• Only 2 of 318 bishops refused to sign the Nicene
  Creed.

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Jesus Was Divine, Before the Council Met

• For 2.5 centuries before the Council of Nicaea,
  the nearly universal opinion was that Christ was
  divine.
• Constantine could not have rewritten the
  Scriptures to make Jesus divine.
• Christians would notice the change in doctrine!
• There is no evidence that the content of the New
  Testament was even discussed at the Council.

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The Last Supper
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The Evidence

• To the right of Jesus, what most people believe
  to be the disciple John is actually Mary
  Magdalene
• The absence of a chalice on the table

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The Disciple John

• If it were Mary Magdalene in the painting, then
  where is the disciple John?
• John clearly looks feminine, but this is
  consistent with DaVincis other illustrations of
  him.

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The Chalice

• The painting doesnt depict Jesus breaking the
  bread and sharing the wine.
• It captures the moment when Jesus reveals to the
  disciples that one of them will betray Him.
• If the chalice were present in the painting, it
  would be misplaced!

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CaptivatingNovel

• Accurate
• Historical
• Account