Rev Bill

Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code has been a book of contriversy since it’s publication, and with the the upcoming release of the movie on May 19 the controversy rages even more strongly.

The book makes the claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children – and that the Catholic Church knew about this but chose to suppress the facts so the Church could be more male dominated. The book contends that some groups, such as the Priority of Sion, have kept “the truth” of the marriage and offspring of Jesus and Mary from being forgotten through signs in art — such as the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci (thus the name of the book).

First of all, I must say that the book was “a good read” for those who love murder / mystery novels (as I do).

That being said, I do not believe the claims of the book to be the truth that Dan Brown believes they are.

Brown tries to prove his thesis of the Church cover up of the marriage and offspring of Jesus and Mary by going back to the Council of Nicea in 325. Brown contends that it was at this Council that the belief in the divinty of Jesus was accepted as truth — and the “fact” (as Brown would have the reader belive) of Jesus‘ marriage to, and offspring by, Mary Magdalene , was officially suppressed. While it is true the Council of Nicea was called to help develop a statement about what the Church believed about the divinity of Christ as a way to refute what some, such as the teacher Arius, were teaching, the belief about the divinity of Christ was already accepted as the norm for Christian belief, and the belief of the marriage between Jesus and Mary was never seriously considered.

I beleive the problem with the book, and movie, is that it will convince some that the Church tries to cover up the truth and lead them further away from following Jesus. Some will think:

“If the Church can not be trusted on this, then neither can the Bible as we have it now — or any teachings of the Church.”

This is a mistake – - and I think Chritians need to know all they can about the truth of the matter. Actually, the book and release of the movie can be turned into an opportunity for evangelism as the truths about Jesus can be spread as answers to the fiction Dan Brown and others are spreading.

There are several things I would encourage Christians to do:

1. Read The Da Vinci Code. It’s hard to know what you are refuting if you have not read the book itself!

2. Read good books that present the Church’s views on the book. The Da Vinci Code: Fact Or Fiction
and other books are informative and help readers discern the truth behind Brown’s claims.

So — I hope Christians will use this as an opportunity to spread the truth about Christ!

Any ideas on this subject?

What other good resurces would you suggest?

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.