Cracking the Code

A Look at the Da Vinci Code from a Christian persperctive.


On May 19 the world will be exposed to a new look at the formation of the church and the person of Jesus Christ. Many will be deceived into thinking that Jesus Christ was much less than a God figure and that the church is just one big conspiracy and cover-up.

Of course I’m talking about the release of the movie “The Da Vinci Code” based on the best selling novel by Dan Brown. His book has already sold over four million copies and has been translated into several languages and now the movie will bring his message to a whole new audience.

The Code
The Da Vinci Code is described as a complex tale of intrigue and conspiracy. I follows a Harvard professor of religious symbology and a cryptologist for the French version of the FBI as they investigate a mysterious murder and find themselves in the middle of the ancient quest for the Holy Grail. The story is fiction but Brown contends the book is historically accurate and therein lies the problem.

While being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show, Brown was asked, “How much of this is based on reality?” He replied, “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, Robert Langdon (the book’s main character) is fictional, but all the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies – all of that is historical fact.”

Keep in mind that Dan Brown is not a theologian or a church historian. He mixes more fiction than fact in his novel. His theories draw heavily on alternative views of the historic Jesus such as the Gnostic Gospels and the work of the Jesus Seminar. The bible warns against this in II Timothy.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. II Timothy 4:3-4

The Deception
Millions will be deceived when this movie releases because they will think they are watching something on historical fact and the reality is that the movie and the book are nothing but fiction.

The premise of The Da Vinci Code is simple: Jesus was not divine and the church is lying. As people walk away from the movie or when they put down the book they would have been told that Jesus was not divine, that he married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her. You will also discover that it was Jesus’ desire that Mary be the head of the church and that the church has been covering these secrets up, at all cost, for centuries.

This is again addressed in the bible in I Timothy.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. I Timothy 4:7

You cannot learn theology from a novel and unfortunately that is what many people are doing with this book. The danger is for those people who are “seeking” the truth about God and Jesus Christ. They are under the assumption that what they are reading and watching are historically accurate and it helps them form their view of Jesus and the church.

For anyone who has knowledge of Christian history The Da Vinci Code will leave you scratching your head.

The Answers
There are too many errors in the Da Vinci Code for it to be accepted as historical fact. Here are a few of the errors that I came across.

* The pagan religion Wicca was invented during World War II and has no relics.

* Constantine never commissioned a new Bible.

* Brown claims that Paris was founded by the Merovignan royal family; the city was actually founded by Celtic Gauls called the Parisii in the third century BC.

* He claims that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire but that didn’t happen until Theodosius in the late fourth century.

* Brown says that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1950’s (page 234. They were actually found in 1947. He also refers to these scrolls as among “the earliest Christian records” (page 245). These scrolls are Jewish, with nothing Christian in them.

*He says that “Jewish decorum” would have forbidden “a Jewish man to be unmarried” (page 245). This just isn’t true. The Essene community that stored the Dead Sea scrolls was made up of unmarried male celibates.

* Brown states that Jesus was not considered divine until the Council of Nicea (page 233). This is not true either. The Old Testament makes it abundantly clear that He was divine and the early church fathers attested to this fact as well, years before this council even met.

* He also states that the divinity of Jesus was established by a “relatively close vote” at Nicea (page 233). But only two of more than 300 church leaders voted against the creed, that is a long way away from a close vote.

* It also says on page 341 that, “Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith – acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.” It should be noted that Christianity is a religion in and of history. Archeology has verified the bible’s accuracy and reliability over and over. To date, over 25,000 sites have been discovered which establish the accuracy of innumerable details in the bible.

* Brown actually gets the most important name in the book wrong. Leonardo Da Vinci was not, is not, called Da Vinci. Da Vinci means “from Vinci.” Art history books, dissertations, librarians, scholars – none of them refer to the artist as Da Vinci, but Leonardo. As Welborn notes, calling him Da Vinci is really like referring to Jesus as “Of Nazareth.” Getting the name of the central character wrong is enough to douse anyone’s inner spark.

If you are a person who is seeking the truth about Jesus Christ, God and the church then you need to know that the answers are found in the bible and Christian literature not in fiction.

The Reaction
Should Christians read The Da Vinci Code and see the movie? Yes, because this movie is an amazing opportunity for the church to step up and respond. As believers and defenders of our faith in Jesus Christ we should look for non-confraternal ways to reach out to people and show them the difference that a relationship with Jesus Christ can make in their lives. This book and movie will give Christians everywhere the opportunity to talk with people about the real Jesus. I just pray that they make the most of that opportunity.

15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. I Peter 3:15