Do you know what the biggest danger of this controversy over the Da Vinci Code is?
It is the fact it is causing division among Christians. You know that old saying, A house divided cannot stand. We have two camps, so to speak on this controversy. Those who say if you are a "true" Christian you will protest this movie and not see it." And those who say there is nothing wrong with it at all it's just a movie and fiction.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I agree this "fiction" is causing a certain amount of harm to the Christian beliefs, but only to those who are not grounded in their faith and the Truth of God's word, and those who are looking for another excuse to reject Jesus. But I also believe we can use this as a way to bring about dialoge with those who have seen this movie or read the book.
Know your enemy I say. As a Christian we should be well aware that as long as the world has existed the "enemy" has been trying to decieve people into believing there is no God or that the word of God is nothing more than a fable.
If we as believers refuse to learn as much as we can about the falsehood others are believing, how are we to honestly have the ability to show them the truth? In order to show someone the truth you have to be able to show them why what they believe is NOT the truth. To make a case for the truth by dispelling through evidence falsehood.
The biggest harm though is like I said, the divison it is causing among Christians. Jesus said that by our love for one another the world will know Him. That through this love between the believers we will be known as Christians.
"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-36
When fellow believers backbite and criticise each other it gives unbelievers even more excuse to say.."see they're lives are no different than mine..I'm just as good as they are". We're suppose to be loving of one another, not judging someone's faith by OUR standards, but God's.
"1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things....10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.....
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.....
14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. .......
19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another......
21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin." Romans 14
So insteading of attacking each other, which is exactly what we SHOULDN'T be doing, keep in mind each has their own opinion and each of us will give account to God for their own life.
Below are some questions and answers on certain points of fiction in this movie and book.
Q: “Did Jesus choose Mary Magdalene to lead the early church?”
A: In short, no. Two historical documents—the Gospel of Mary and the writings of Hippolytus—form the flimsy basis of the argument that Mary Magdalene had an extremely elevated status among Christ’s followers, but two problems derail this evidence:
The documents in question aren’t historically reliable. Historians agree that the Gospel of Mary was probably written in the 2nd century by someone other than Mary. And archaeological findings suggest that the quote The Da Vinci Code attributes to Hippolytus in the 3rd century doesn’t appear in any manuscripts until the 10th century.
The documents are misinterpreted. The Gospel of Mary suggests only that Mary was “the disciple Jesus loved.” Erroneous as that theory is, it never suggests that she was to lead the church. And Hippolytus merely includes Mary in a group of women who observed the risen Christ and who proclaimed the message of the resurrection (which was the heart of Hippolytus’s message, conveniently ignored by The Da Vinci Code and those who support the theories.)
Q: Did Constantine commission the destruction of the Gnostic gospels to hide evidence of the human attributes of Christ?
A: Actually, the Gnostic gospels did quite the opposite. They were spiritual allegories that usually downplayed and often denied the humanity of Jesus.
They are comparable to an ancient version of The Da Vinci Code—fictional accounts attributed to historically significant characters in order to convey a heretical religious or philosophical agenda.
And the Council of Nicaea was an effort to reach consensus on existing church beliefs, not to eradicate the truth or invent new ideas. Within the church, a man named Arius had introduced the new argument that Jesus was not divine, and this deviation from the previously accepted doctrine was shot down.
Q: Was the New Testament altered throughout history?
A: The New Testament is without a doubt one of the most well-preserved ancient collections in history. All of the books were written either by eye witnesses to the events described (namely, the apostles) or men in close contact with eye witnesses. And all 27 books of the New Testament were quoted by early church fathers within a relatively short time of their writing.
Basically, the New Testament was written by people who had been in close contact with Christ Himself, and they were accepted as true by eye witnesses as well as the following generation of believers. Considering the nature of the claims made in the New Testament, its wide acceptance gives remarkable credibility to its truth.
Since the New Testament books were so publicly recognized, they also would have been next to impossible to alter or destroy.
The Da Vinci Code Controversy: Ten Facts You Should Know.
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