Convinced by Da Vinci

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Convinced by Da Vinci?

• Why is this thriller winning hearts
• and minds around the world?

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• A body is found
• A clue is left
• A series of cryptic
• puzzles is solved
• A religion is
• rediscovered
• A family is reunited
• The world could be a
• different place

Image sources either public domain, believed to
be fair use for critical commentary or
available on request.
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Problems for me with the novel
Religious history Constantine shaped the New
Testament Constantine declared Jesus
divine The other gospels and Dead Sea Scrolls
hold the truth about Jesus Jesus was married to
Mary Magdalene Secret societies hide the truth
about religion
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Constantine shaped the New Testament
Teabing Constantine commissioned and financed a
new Bible, which omitted those Gospels that spoke
of Christs human traits and embellished those
that made him godlike. The earlier gospels were
outlawed, gathered up and burned (p.234) Fact
Constantine aided the bishops and experts of the
time in their decisions. Fact Their decisions
were based on current practice in the churches.
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Constantine declared Jesus divine
My dear, Teabing declared, until that
moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His
followers as a mortal prophet a great and
powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal.
(p.233)
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Constantine declared Jesus divine

• Not true
• There was enormous discussion of Jesus divinity
  before Constantine.
• Three famous church figures who explored Jesus
  divinity were Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen. Even
  Pliny, a Roman governor.
• But the earliest and best place to look isthe
  pages of the New Testament. (E.g. John 11-14
  Colossians 115-20 1 Corinthians 86)
• The Council of Nicea (325 AD) affirmed and
  matured the earlier discussion. The vote was not
  close, but was 2-298.

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The other gospels and Dead Sea Scrolls hold the
truth about Jesus
The Dead Sea Scrolls are NOT about Jesus. The
Gnostic Gospels were written in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries (except possibly The Gospel of
Thomas). Dan Browns historian Leigh Teabing
makes  Mistakes about dates and figures (e.g.
Dead Sea Scrolls date, number of Gospel
manuscripts) .  Mistakes about content (e.g.
they arent feminist, see end of Gospel of
Thomas).  Mistakes about genre (they are not
historical narratives).  Mistakes about
significance (they had peripheral influence).
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Dates these Gospels were written
Mark 40-70 AD Matthew 40-90 AD Luke
50-90 AD John 60-90 AD
Thomas 50-140 AD Mary 120-180 AD Judas 130-170
AD Philip 180-250 AD
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Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene
The Gospel of Philip (180-250 AD) There were
three who always walked with the lord Mary his
mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who
was called his companion. His sister and his
mother and his companion were each a Mary
(599-10) And the companion of the Saviour is
Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than
all the disciples and used to kiss her often on
her mouth. The rest of the disciples were
offended by it and expressed disapproval. They
said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all
of us?' The Saviour answered and said to them,
'Why do I not love you like her?' (6331-6411)
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Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene
The Gospel of Philip (180-250 AD) And the
companion of the Mary Magdalene her more than
the disciples kiss her on her The rest of
They said to him, Why do you love her more than
all of us? The saviour answered and said to
them, Why do I not love you like her?
(6331-6411)
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Leonardo Da Vincis The Last Supper
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Detail of John/Mary Magdalene
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Leonardo Da Vincis The Last Supper
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Secret societies hide the truth about religion
How much truth can be hidden? What is the
Priory of Sion?
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Pierre Plantard and the Priory of Sion mystery
Berenger Sauniere
Pierre Plantard
The legend The facts The fakes
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Do we care?

• History and fiction
• Dont try to trick me!
• FACT!

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The Da Vinci Code

• is packed with wild speculations

• is not fair with the history of Christianity

• makes far too much of symbols and makes wild
  guesses about the meaning of artworks

But it is exciting and attractive!
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My hope
That the Jesus found in the biblical Gospels will
seem even more exciting and attractive and you
will want to discover who he is.
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Sadly
the Church has sometimes hidden the truth from
people.
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Sadly
the church has sometimes demonized sex and been
ashamed of this wonderful gift from God.
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Jesus and Sex
Early in the morning he came again to the
temple. All the people came to him and he sat
down and began to teach them. The scribes and the
Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in
adultery and making her stand before all of
them, they said to him, Teacher, this woman was
caught in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such
women. Now what do you say? They said this to
test him, so that they might have some charge to
bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with
his finger on the ground. When they kept on
questioning him, he straightened up and said to
them, Let anyone among you who is without sin be
the first to throw a stone at her. And once
again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
When they heard it, they went away, one by one,
beginning with the elders and Jesus was left
alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus straightened up and said to her, Woman,
where are they? Has no one condemned you?
She said, No one, sir. And Jesus said,
Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from
now on do not sin again. (John 8.2-11)
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Sadly
the church has sometimes been a masculine-only
place, where women are second-rate citizens,
ignored or oppressed.
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The power of the female and her ability to
produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a
threat to the predominantly male church, and so
the sacred feminine was demonized and called
unclean Woman, once the sacred giver of life,
was now the enemy. (p.238)
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Early Christianity and women
 Jesus loved and honoured women Accepted women
as disciples Defended women against
exploitation First appeared to women and
trusted them with the usually male task of
witnessing Women were amongst the leadership of
early churches Even Saint Paul had female
co-workers  Yet, lets admit it, the Bible
doesnt sit squarely with many current cultural
views on gender
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Sadly
we have not always presented the truth as we
understand it in an exciting, attractive and
believable way.
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Come and See
Have you written off the biblical Jesus without
having actually met him? Have you written off
the Church of Jesus without ever really tasting
it?
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