The Da Vinci Code. Where Did the Bible Come From? Part II. CA209 LESSON 02 of 08

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1 The Da Vinci Code CA209 LESSON 02 of 08 Our Daily Bread Christian University This course was developed by Christian University & Our Daily Bread Ministries. Mart De Haan: I ve found over the years that the question of how the Bible was collected has always raised concerns. The process by which the Bible was collected has always raised questions. Anything touched by human hands is likely to be polluted by human agendas and therefore subject to bias. What I ve found, however, is that there is compelling evidence within the Bible of a God who, down through the ages, has overruled the corrupting influence of human history to keep His message before us. Yet if the evidence of the Bible s predictions, historical roots, eyewitness accounts, wisdom, and manuscript evidence are not kept in mind, then it is easy to create the kind of alternative view that The Da Vinci Code describes. The Da Vinci Code: Man created [the Bible] as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book. Dr. Paul L. Maier: The claim is made in The Da Vinci Code that the gospel evolved, as it were, and therefore changed in the process. Very often the argument is used even by Islam to the present day that our Scriptures are no longer reliable because they change; copious errors have intruded and so then you have the errors built on the errors, and so forth, very much like that party game; twenty people in a circle whisper something; by the time you hear it at the other end, it doesn t resemble what you said in the first place. That does not hold water when it comes to the biblical documents, because the very opposite is taking place with the scriptural documents. The Scriptures are getting closer and closer to the original writings than ever before, because of two thousand years of excellent biblical scholarship, because of the evidence we now have from archeology and the other texts, which enable us to find and fine tune any slight variations in the text. 1 of 5

2 This is the thrilling thing about the Dead Sea Scrolls in There is a complete scroll of Isaiah there, which is far and away the oldest manuscript evidence scholars ever had. The oldest manuscript we had of the Old Testament is from the Masoretic Text in 1006 A.D. Now the golden opportunity of comparing manuscript transmission before the age of printing, 1,250 years worth because now the manuscript of Isaiah, 250 years old in Jesus day, can be compared with the Masoretic Text in 1006: 99.9 percent the same. So that argument holds absolutely no water. Rather than evolving, you re going to have the opposite taking place of an ever more faithful view of the original texts. Mart De Haan: One of the reasons The Da Vinci Code has caught on is that many of us now realize that history is not always about what actually happened but rather what those who recorded it want us to believe. Dan Brown [author, The Da Vinci Code]: Since the beginning of recorded time, history has been written by the winners.... Many historians now believe (as do I) that in gauging the historical accuracy of a given concept, we should first ask ourselves a far deeper question: How historically accurate is history itself? [Dan Brown s FAQ Web site s answer to the question: Some of the history in this novel contradicts what I learned in school. What should I believe? ] Mart De Haan: How historically accurate is history? That question is important. But it s even more important, then, to remember that the writers of the New Testament were not writing from a position of political power and advantage. The first disciples were instead common fishermen who spoke and wrote accounts for which many of them were willing to die. Jimmy De Young [at a Galilee harbor]: Fishermen today still fish the waters of the Sea of Galilee. And even here in this little protected harbor, the fishing village in the northern Galilee, you can see that the anchored boats are awaiting the time to fish this evening. Very similar to the way it was in Bible times, two thousand years ago in the times of Jesus Christ, when humble fishermen would fish these waters. I can think of four young men who would fish these waters, two sets of brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, nicknamed the sons of thunder. Then there was Peter and Andrew. Four young men who would follow Jesus Christ. Not only fishermen, fishing these shores of the Sea of Galilee, but fishers of men. And men that Jesus would select to 2 of 5

3 send His message to the world. Mart De Haan: And these common ordinary fishermen ended up meeting a Man who changed their lives. They ended up with a faith that was anchored in the Jewish Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. And yet what they saw with their own eyes, what they heard, led these common men to give their lives, which in turn changed the lives of others. As the word went out, that One came who had the power of the Messiah, and the character of a man like no one on these shores had ever seen before. And so, according to the New Testament, the followers of Jesus wrote the works and words of God. And as they wrote, they did so not merely in their own strength, but by the Spirit of the God who supernaturally revealed Himself in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. By contrast, The Da Vinci Code presents as historical fact a number of popular myths and conspiracy theories that are better fiction than history. The fiction includes Constantine s supposed suppression of goddess worship by the first-century church, the quest for the Holy Grail, Jesus alleged marriage to Mary Magdalene, and a hidden code in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Dr. Paul L. Maier: When you re dealing with fiction, very often people complain, Well, chill out; it s fiction after all. Well, OK, let s take a fictional book from World War II of which there are hundreds, OK? Now, in fiction or historical fiction, your main characters are fictional usually, and everybody knows that whatever episodes you generate for them are fictional. But the background is supposed to be authentic, that gives it credibility. OK, in the background, the World War II novels would never suggest that Hitler didn t lose the war. But what Dan Brown has done is fictionalize both the foreground and the background. Here s the equivalent of what Dan Brown has done in The Da Vinci Code: Hitler won World War II, and he put Winston Churchill on trial in London and Roosevelt on trial in Washington, D.C. It s that bad, it really is. Richard Abanes: I wanted to start reading the volume with no preconceived ideas, no sacred cows. I wanted to give the book a chance to enlighten me. So I read it with an open mind, and then 3 of 5

4 as I came across each piece of history that was being discussed in The Da Vinci Code, I looked it up; I researched it; I found more documents dealing with these very things. And that s when I started realizing there was a serious, serious problem with the history that was presented in it. And as I looked more into it, I started seeing that whether it was dealing with Christianity, or with Jesus Christ, or the early church, or even with things like the Olympics, astrology, the origin of various different other spiritualities, many times it was completely wrong. Mart De Haan: The Da Vinci Code is fiction. Its historical claims are misleading. Yet so many readers are wondering whether anything they read in the New Testament is trustworthy. It s ironic that a cleverly written novel can raise so many questions about biblical events that are far more supportable than the novel itself. Richard Abanes: We don t know what the motives of the author are. We do know that what he s written is inaccurate. Now this may be because he simply doesn t know the truth. It may be because he has some kind of religious agenda. I simply don t know, and I don t think anybody can know something like that. And it s not important. What s important is what are the facts and looking at those facts and then as Christians being able to lovingly and gently, as representatives of Christ, share the truth with people who maybe are being confused by it. Mart De Haan: Confusion and controversy about Christ is not new. Jesus polarized His own neighbors by doing miracles and then claiming to be One to which all the Jewish Scriptures pointed. Luke 24:27 (NIV) And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Mart De Haan: So who then can you believe? The Bible s view of Christ, or those who say that the Bible was hijacked by political interests? Well, as we ve seen today, there is no evidence that the Bible was rewritten by Constantine or any other political leader. What is clear is that long before Constantine legalized faith in Christ, people were dying for their claim that Jesus had come in fulfillment of prophecy, that He had died to be a sacrifice for our sins, and that He rose again from the dead to prove it. 4 of 5

5 If God revealed Himself in Christ, then the One orchestrating the pages of the Bible was not Constantine, but the One who did miracles, walked on water, and rose from the dead to show Himself alive to common men who once fished these waters. Jimmy De Young [at a Galilee harbor]: From the waters of the Sea of Galilee, to the waters of the Aegean Sea, John, the humble, common fisherman here in the Galilee, a follower of Jesus Christ, who would become the apostle John he d travel to Asia Minor and there pastor a church. But it was from that church, the Roman emperor would exile him to the Isle of Patmos. A time of persecution. It was on the Isle of Patmos, on those shores of that little island in the Aegean Sea, that John the apostle who d received the message, the last words from Jesus Christ to him. The last words to the church. The last words to the entire world. Mart De Haan: And the book of Revelation is important, not only because it is the last book of the Bible. But because in many ways it gives us a picture of how the Bible itself has come to us. Like the waves on a lake, one after another. One after another until they hit the shore. And that s really a picture of the Bible. Not some secret story of knowledge hidden away somewhere. But a story that begins with Genesis, moves through the whole Old Testament, with the predictions of a coming Messiah. Then leading to a Man who literally walked the shores of this lake, fulfilling those predictions. Doing miracles before common fishermen. Convincing them that He was the Son of God. He voluntarily gave His life and then arose from the dead to prove it. He s the One who gave us the book of Revelation. He s also the One who is the Living Word. The Living Word of God whose authority is rooted in the Scriptures, which, in turn, point to Him who is the Source of our hope and our confidence. The very life of all who trust Him. 2 Timothy 3:16 17 (NKJV) In the words of Paul the apostle: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Mart De Haan: The Bible offers to equip us to live meaningful lives. If you ve never read the Bible, the all-time best seller, then please do so. Start with the Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament that present the life and teachings of Jesus. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 5 of 5