Truth versus Fiction In The Da Vinci Code

“So dark the con of Brown”

 

 

 

Compiled by

 

Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

 

 

 

The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 36,000,000 copies and has been translated into 44 languages. Sony‘s Columbia Pictures purchased the movie rights for $6,000,000. On May 19,2006 it will be released as a major motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks.

 

 

 

Dan Brown in the “The Da Vinci Code” states, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents,

 

and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”

 

The Da Vinci Code, page 2

 

 

 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

 

 

Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel in their book, “The Da Vinci Hoax” state that they have five major concerns about “The Da Vinci Code.”

 

 

 

 

 

What follows is a condensation of information from several books, web sites and pamphlets concerning false information contained in “The Da Vinci Code” and various Christian’s responses to this misinformation, lies and deceptions.

 

 

 

Truth versus Fiction in the Da Vinci Code

 

 

FICTION

 

Opus Dei: Opus Dei is a secret organization. Members of Opus Dei include monks. One of the main characters “Silas” is supposedly an Opus Dei monk who has the job of assassinating others in order to obtain information about the location of the “holy grail.”

 

 

TRUTH

 

Opus Dei: Opus Dei is Latin for “work of God.” It is not a secret organization. It is an official Roman Catholic institution. St. Josemaria Escriva, a Spanish priest, founded opus Dei in 1928. Its central purpose is to help ordinary people seek holiness in their everyday activities, especially work. Only about 2-3% of Opus Dei are clergy. There are no monks in Opus Dei and therefore there is no such thing as an Opus Dei monastery. A few members of Opus Dei are known as numeraries who choose to the calling of celibacy in order that they can be totally dedicated to serve the Church. They do not take vows, wear any sort of religious clothing of any kind, sleep on straw mats or spend long hours praying or practicing corporal mortification. They actually work in regular secular professions.

 

 

FICTION

 

Symbology: An academic discipline dedicated to the study of symbols within society that have specific meanings related to the beliefs of that culture or society. Often these symbols are related to religious beliefs passed down through cultures. One of the main characters “Robert Langdon” is a professor of symbology at Harvard University.

 

 

TRUTH

 

Symbology: While various societies and cultures use symbols in various aspects of life there is no academic discipline known as “symbology.” Harvard University has no department of symbology.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, and painter. He was a “worshiper of Nature’s divine order.” He was a genius for his day. Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion. He is known for his famous paintings such as “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa.” He received “hundreds” of commissions from the Vatican in which he hid secret codes concerning the “holy grail” and produced an enormous amount of artistic work. He also kept notebooks that were written backwards so they could only be read in a mirror thus enabling him to hide secret information that he wished to protect from others concerning information about the “holy grail.” The Da Vinci Code promotes the idea that Leonardo da Vinci wrote in this way to hide the secret of the Holy Grail. The book and movie also promotes the idea that Leonardo was a “flamboyant homosexual.”

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, and painter. There is no evidence whatsoever he worshipped the divine order of nature. He was a genius for his day. There is no evidence that Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion. The only papers known to promote this idea were written by Pierre Plantard in 1960 who founded a “new” Priory of Sion and wrote numerous articles for the “National Enquirer” in an attempt to validate his own claim to fame. None of these papers are considered truthful in any degree whatsoever. Leonardo is known for his famous paintings such as “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa.” He received only one commission from the Vatican and painted only 17 paintings with 4 of these unfinished. He also kept notebooks that were written backwards so they could only be read in a mirror. Some think that he did this to protect his inventions and ideas from being stolen by competitors. He is also known for his numerous inventions and designs, some of which foretold of technological advances that would not be achieved for centuries after his death. We know nothing of Leonardo’s sexual preference but there was only one recorded incident of sodomy in his youth that was dismissed.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Mona Lisa: The “Mona Lisa” is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in drag.  It is a painting filled with hidden messages and codes about the glories of androgyny. The name “Mona Lisa” refers to Amon and Isis as a clue from Da Vinci to the divine union of male and female goddesses. (The Da Vinci Code, pages120-121)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Mona Lisa: Leonardo da Vinci never called this painting the “Mona Lisa.” He called it “La Gioconda.” The title “Mona Lisa” comes from Giorgio Vasari’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci, published thirty-one years after his death. The woman in the painting is identified by Vasari as Lisa, the wife of a wealthy Florentine businessman, Francesco del Giocondo. The name “Mona Lisa” was not commonly used to refer to the painting until long after Leonardo’s death in the 19^th century. No reputable art scholar believes that the “Mona Lisa” is a self-portrait of Leonardo in drag or is a coded message.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Painting of The Last Supper: “The Last Supper” is another of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings that has many hidden clues about the truth of the “holy grail” which was Mary, Jesus wife. She is seated next to

 

Jesus at His right hand and this is validated because of her feminine appearance. There are only 13 cups at the table and no “chalice” thus illustrating that the “holy grail” is not the “chalice” that Jesus drank from at the last supper, but Mary his wife. “There was no chalice in the painting. No Holy Grail.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 236) “both the Bible and our standard Grail Legend celebrate this moment as the definitive arrival of the Holy Grail. Oddly, Da Vinci appears to have forgotten to paint the Cup of Christ.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 236)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Painting of The Last Supper: “The Last Supper” is Leonardo da Vinci’s portrayal of the moment of his announcement of the one who would betray Him as you can see the astonished looks on the faces of the disciples. Peter can be seen bending over to ask John to ask Jesus whom He was talking about (John 13:21-24). Brash Peter holds a knife to represent his usual response and there is a study sketch Leonardo made for Peter’s right arm that supports this. It contains no hidden codes or truth about the “holy grail.” Leonardo’s own personal notes about the painting identify the person sitting on Jesus’ right as John the disciple. The Bible also identifies this disciple as John (John 13:21-25). In this period of art history young men who were students of a master were portrayed with feminine characteristics but this in no way was intended to communicate that they were women or homosexual. Portrayals of the Last Supper by other artists of the same period also show a beardless John sitting right next to Jesus. Florentine artists of the time traditionally depicted the disciple John in this way. If you examine the “Last Supper” you will notice that there are 13 cups, one for each disciple and one for Jesus. There is no missing chalice. It would not be historically accurate for the lifestyle and income of Jesus and His disciples to have a jewel encrusted gold chalice sitting on the table at the last supper. In “The Da Vinci Code,” Teabing treats the painting of The Last Supper as if it were a photograph of the actual event, as though Leonardo had been there and knew every detail of the historical event itself. It is an artistic interpretation painted more than a thousand years later.

 

Jesus was not married to Mary and there is no evidence He was married to anyone at all.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Knights Templar: This was a military order that conquered Jerusalem during the First Crusade. They were established by a secret group known as the Priory of Sion in 1099. They excavated the Temple Mount (the hill on which the temple of Jerusalem had stood until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans) and found evidence of the “holy grail,” that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus and had a child that would continue the bloodline for a new kingdom of rulers on earth. The Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion threatened to reveal the evidence it had that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and blackmailed the “Vatican.” In response the “Vatican” engineered a vast plot to annihilate the Templars in a single night.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Knights Templar: The Knights Templar was the largest and most powerful of the military orders that arose during the Crusades. They were founded in 1118 for the purpose of helping the newly re-conquered Holy Land maintain its defenses against the Muslim forces that sought to retake it. They were powerful because they were heavily involved in the entire political and financial infrastructure of the re-conquered Holy Land and later with much of Europe as well. There is no evidence that the Priory of Sion was related in anyway to the Knights Templar, but the Knights Templar did build the St. Mary’s church in which the Priory of Sion Priests served. There is no evidence that the Knights Templar did any excavations on the Temple Mount (the hill on which the temple of Jerusalem had stood until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans). It is true that the Knights Templar were cruelly persecuted and eventually suppressed, but Philip IV, king of France and enemy of the Pope, carried out this persecution. The Templars refused to help finance a war Philip IV wanted to wage. The 54 Knights Templars that were executed in France were killed because King Philip, not the Pope, wanted them dead. The “Vatican” of today did not even exist during this time of history. The land that the “Vatican” resides on now was a swampland during the time of the Templars.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Divinity of Jesus: Nobody believed that Jesus was divine until after the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325.

 

The Council of Nicea was influenced by Constantine and the Vatican to make up the belief that Jesus was the divine Son of God in an attempt to promote a “male-dominant” religion and squash any beliefs of “Goddess worship.”  “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…Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicea. A relatively close vote at that.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 233) “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 235) The Council of Nicea was a political power move on their part and was to lead people to believe that Jesus was divine so that they could use Jesus’ influence to solidify their own power base. The vote at the Council of Nicea was very close but Constantine got his way and removed any beliefs of  the “sacred feminine” from the teachings of Jesus.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Divinity of Jesus: Jesus was considered both fully human and fully divine in the early history of the church and hundreds of years before the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. More than 250 years before the Council of Nicea Jesus had already been recognized as the “Son of God” in the writings of the New Testament. Paul’s letters refer to Jesus as the “Son of God” 17 times. The New Testament as a whole refers to Jesus as “God’s Son” more than 100 times. It was commonly accepted by devout Christians in the first century church as basic to the Christian faith that Jesus was both fully man and fully divine. Early church fathers over 150 years before the Council of Nicea had written of the accepted belief that Jesus was the “Son of God.” Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus are just a few who wrote of such established doctrine.

 

FICTION

 

The Priory of Sion: A secret group set up by the Knights Templar in 1099. They excavated the Temple Mount (the hill on which the temple of Jerusalem had stood until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans). Here they stumbled upon the records that told the truth that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. After Jesus’ death (there was no resurrection of Jesus) Mary bore a child and went to France, where she founded the bloodline that eventually became the line of French kings called the Merovingians. Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo were members of this secret organization as was Leonardo da Vinci. The proof for such membership comes from the writings called, “Les Dossieres Secrets.” The head of the Priory of Sion is called “grand master.”

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Priory of Sion: This was a group of priests who served in the church named St. Mary’s that was built by the Western European Crusaders in 1099. These priests were called “Prieure de Notre Dame de Sion (the Priory of our Lady of Sion). They did not excavate the Temple Mount (the hill on which the temple of Jerusalem had stood until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans). Therefore they found no evidence of Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus. The legend of Mary bearing Jesus’ child, traveling to France and starting the Merovingian line of French kings has been refuted long ago and is regarded as fiction by most Europeans. The priests remained here until 1217 when St. Mary’s was destroyed by the Islamic re-conquest of Jerusalem. The priests then withdrew to Sicily but eventually ceased to exist in 1617 when they joined the Jesuits. This makes it very difficult for Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo to be members and casts a large amount of doubt that Leonardo da Vinci was a member either. There is no evidence that the true Priory of Sion had any connections with Leonardo da Vinci. Much of the evidence for such speculations comes from the writings of Pierre Plantard, a French anti-Semitic lunatic who founded a “new” Priory of Sion in 1956. He wrote numerous articles for the National Enquirer linking his secret society to the medieval Priory of Sion. The writings called, “Les Dossieres Secrets” are not regarded as genuine because it has been found that they were printed on the same printing press that Pierre Plantard printed much of his writings. There is no evidence that the true, original Priory of Sion had any connections with the Priory of Sion that Pierre Plantard began in 1956. The original Priory of Sion did not have any “grand masters” because the head of the “priory” was called “prior” not “grand master.”

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Olympic Symbols: The Olympics were originally on an eight-year cycle as a tribute to Venus. The pentacle was almost the symbol chosen for the Olympics, and the five rings as the Olympic symbol was a last minute modification.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Olympic Symbols: Historical sources make it clear that the Olympic Games were a tribute to Zeus, not Venus. This fact is so indisputable that anyone claiming to be an historian who asserts otherwise should be embarrassed. The Olympic rings are a modern symbol designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 and adopted in 1920. This Olympic symbol of the five rings was meant to represent the five continents, considering North and South America as one.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Sangreal Documents: Literally “holy blood.” Sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene holds documents detailing the bloodline of Jesus. (The Da Vinci Code, page 257)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Sangreal Documents: No such documents are found in early church writings or any other credible source texts.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Paganism, Goddess Worship (Worship of the Sacred Feminine): All pagans celebrated the “sacred feminine.” Goddess worship was a universal practice of all pagans worldwide. Christianity removed and replaced worship of the “sacred feminine” and replaced it with an all-male God. Jesus attempted to return to the worship of the “sacred feminine” by marrying Mary of Magdalene and establishing the Church to her and through her by forming a royal bloodline through their child.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Paganism, Goddess Worship (Worship of the Sacred Feminine): Paganism is essentially the

 

worship of creatures instead of the Creator. Pre-Christian paganism was seeking God, although in

 

error; post-Christian paganism is seeking a substitute for God. Goddess worship was prevalent in the ancient world but it was not universal. Some pagans worshiped goddesses; some worshiped no gods at all and regarded belief in gods as ignorant superstition; some worshiped one God; some honored a huge pantheon of gods. Some made no distinction between earthly creatures and gods, while others clearly understood that earthly creatures were merely representations of spiritual realities. Some pagans were philosophers who looked at gods as abstractions, while others practiced mystery cults devoted solely to masculine deities, feminine deities, or animal totems. Some believed in magic, others in science, and many in both. Basically “all” pagans had only one thing in common: they weren’t Christians or Jews. The idea that worship of the “sacred feminine” was universally practiced throughout the pre-Christian pagan world is a lie. Jesus’ ministry on earth was to redeem mankind from their sins and establish His Kingdom. He accomplished this through His death on the cross, resurrection from the grave and His eventual return to claim His true bride, His Church. His Kingdom is not of this earth but is spiritual. He did not wed Mary Magdalene nor have any children by her.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Jewish Celibacy: Celibacy was condemned and looked down upon by the Jews and therefore Jesus had to have been married to be accepted and respected among His people. This is why he took Mary Magdalene for His wife. “The social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned…If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for his unnatural state of bachelorhood.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 245)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Jewish Celibacy: Celibacy was not condemned in ancient Jewish culture. Being married and having children was a normal cpractice, but in certain circumstances celibacy was regarded with tremendous respect. The prophet Jeremiah was ommanded by God to abstain from marriage, and no one accused him of being “un-Jewish” for this (Jeremiah 16). A Jewish group in the time of Jesus known as the Essenes practiced celibacy and were highly respected for this pious practice by others in the Jewish world. John the Baptist appears to have been a celibate. Paul advocated celibacy as a religious ideal for those who wished to be dedicated to the Lord (1 Corinthians 7). Jesus’ twelve disciples were all adult Jewish males, yet in the four earliest Gospels, not once is their marital status directly noted or remarked on. Only Simon Peter has some hints at being married (1 Corinthians 9:5).

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Merovingian Bloodline: A bloodline resulting from the intermarrying of the descendants of Christ and French royal blood. (The Da Vinci Code, page 257)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Merovingian Bloodline: A Frankish dynasty ruling from the 3^rd to 8^th century. No records of a merged bloodline exist. Pierre Plantard forged such documents.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Constantine: Constantine worked with the Vatican and used the Council of Nicea to eradicate the true gospel of Christ, the worship of the “sacred feminine.” They purged any Gnostic scriptures from being considered for inclusion in the Bible. They made up the belief in Jesus as the divine Son of God in an attempt to promote a “male-dominant” religion and squash any beliefs of “Goddess worship.” Constantine commissioned fifty Bibles to be published, which reflected this new doctrine endorsed by him, and the Vatican. Constantine changed the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople to further control the religious doctrine and beliefs of the church. Constantine was baptized under protest on his deathbed. “He was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest…” (The Da Vinci Code, page 232).

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Constantine: Constantine was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity in A.D. 313 through the Edict of Milan. This did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire, it simply declared that Christian worship should be tolerated for the first time. Until his reign, Christians had been subject to sporadic persecution, culminating in a catastrophic and deadly empire-wide program under his predecessor, Diocletian. Before a crucial battle, Constantine reportedly had a vision in which he was shown the sign of the cross in the sky and told by an inner voice, “By this sign, conquer.” Constantine ordered the image of a cross be placed on the shields of his troops and went on to win the battle. Concluding that the God of Christianity had helped him, he subsequently issued the Edict of Toleration at Milan. Constantine desired that his kingdom be unified and therefore desired for peace among his subjects in as many aspects as possible. Religion was one concern. When heretics and Christians disagreed about the nature of Jesus, Constantine commanded the bishops to meet to formulate summarize the doctrinal beliefs of the Christians regarding Jesus. This meeting was called the Council of Nicea and it had nothing to do with deciding the canon of Scripture or with changing Jesus from a “mortal prophet” into God. In A.D. 325, Constantine commissioned fifty copies of the Bible to be made in order to promote Christian worship in the churches of the capital. But he did not commission a “new” Bible. He did not decide for the Church, which books were to be included in the New Testament. The four gospels had already become accepted as Scripture by A.D. 200 and the following New Testament books before the end of the 200s long before the Council of Nicea convened. The fifty Bibles Constantine commissioned did not omit or embellish any of the accepted gospels. The Vatican did not exist in Constantine’s day. The location of the Vatican today was a swamp in Constantine’s day. The Vatican was not established until 800 years after Constantine’s death. Constantine changed the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople because Rome was declining in political power. Credible historians do not doubt the sincerity of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Constantine was not baptized under protest on his deathbed. He was baptized as a Christian willingly convicted that it was an act of obedience to Christ’s example.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Council of Nicea: The Council of Nicea was convened in A.D. 325 to by Constantine to eradicate the true gospel of Christ, the worship of the “sacred feminine.” They purged any Gnostic scriptures from being considered for inclusion in the Bible. Over 80 original gospels were in existence but only 4 were approved. They made up the belief in Jesus as the divine Son of God in an attempt to promote a “male-dominant” religion and squash any beliefs of “Goddess worship.”  “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…Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicea. A relatively close vote at that.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 233) It was a political power move on their part and was to lead people to believe that Jesus was divine so that they could use Jesus’ influence to solidify their own power base. The vote at the Council of Nicea was very close but Constantine got his way and removed any beliefs of  the “sacred feminine” from the teachings of Jesus.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Council of Nicea: The Council of Nicea was convened in A.D. 325 to record the consensus of Christian beliefs regarding Christ at this time to stand against those promoting false beliefs. Various heretics, Arius for one, were causing discord within the empire of Constantine. Constantine wished for this to be resolved so that peace could be restored. The Council of Nicea did not convene to dictate doctrine or make up new doctrine or even to decide which gospels to include in scripture. Its purpose was to vote on what was perceived as already accepted doctrine within Christianity concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. In other words they were to state and record what Christians had already decided upon as accepted Christian doctrine. This would help refute those who were attempting to pervert the true gospel of who Christ was. There is no historical evidence that the Council of Nicea discussed the Gnostic gospels or anything pertaining to the canon of scripture.

 

            More than 250 years before the Council of Nicea Jesus had already been recognized as the “Son of God” in the writings of the New Testament. Paul’s letters refer to Jesus as the “Son of God” 17 times. The New Testament as a whole refer to Jesus as the “God’s Son” more than 100 times. Early church fathers over 150 years before the Council of Nicea had written of the accepted belief that Jesus was the “Son of God.” Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus are just a few who wrote of such established doctrine.             The result of the Council was the Nicene Creed that summarized the basics of Christian beliefs. The vote on these beliefs was not a close vote at all. More than 99% of the bishops at the Council of Nicea voted that the Nicene Creed represented the beliefs of all those who considered themselves true Christians at this time in history. Twenty rulings were issued at Nicea and not one of them refers to the canon of scripture (New Testament Documents). Those bishops who were present at the Council of Nicea were not there to establish a power base. They were dedicated Christians who had endured tortures and hardship because of their faith. They were there as dedicated Christians to document what the Christian church already believed, practiced and taught as truth. In A.D. 367 Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, first listed the books of the New Testament that Christians had been using since the first century. It was in A.D. 393 that the Synod of Hippo simply recorded the books that had already been universally accepted by the church as scripture.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Gnostic Gospels: The Gnostic gospels were scrolls  written in Aramaic, which were found near the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt in the 1950s. They were a collection of over 80 documents. They were very reliable documents that reflected the true teachings concerning Jesus and His efforts to establish a church on earth worshipping the true “sacred feminine.” Unfortunately Constantine and the Vatican used the Council of Nicea to purge them from consideration in the Bible. This removed the truth concerning the real intentions of Jesus’ ministry. The Gnostics recorded the earliest Christian documents reflecting “true Christianity.” (The Da Vinci Code, pages 234-235)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Gnostic Gospels: The Gnostic gospels are scrolls written in Coptic, a late form of ancient Egyptian, which were found near the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. They are actually 4^th century translations of earlier Greek writings from the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries A.D. They consist of about forty-five  texts that represent one of the largest collections of Gnostic writings, of which only 5 are called gospels. These writings are considered to have been written in the second and third centuries, while the New Testament scriptures were written within the first century while many eyewitnesses were still alive. Individuals who were involved in “gnosticism” wrote the Gnostic gospels. These Gnostic gospels were written hundreds of years after the life of Jesus and were attempts to use various information in Christianity to promote “gnosticism.” An example of this is the titles to many of the writings such as; “The acts of John,” “The Apocalypse of Peter,” “The gospel of Thomas,” and “The gospel of Philip.” Names of apostles were used to bring veracity to the false beliefs of Gnosticism. Gnosticism believes matter is evil and salvation is received through the realization of inner secret knowledge. Therefore many scriptures within the Gnostic writings portray Jesus as phantom-like in appearance at times or that He did not really die on the cross.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Painting of Madonna of the Rocks: Leonardo horrified church officials by filling the painting with ‘explosive and disturbing details. The painting was a canvas that was five feet tall.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Painting of Madonna of the Rocks: There are no historical records that Leonardo horrified any church officials over the appearance of this painting. The painting is not a canvas and is actually six and a half feet tall.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Study of Science: Science was considered heresy by the church and there was always tension between those involved in church leadership and those who pursued science as an interest and a career.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Study of Science: Science was not considered heresy: The Church was a generous patron of the sciences and reason. Many famous philosophical giants of the time were active in the Church, such as Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Augustine, Copernicus and others. The main reason the sciences rose to prominence in Europe was because the church encouraged and endorsed reason as a way of thinking.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Dead Sea Scrolls were among the earliest of Christian records that have been found. They were found in the 1950s at Qumran in the Judean desert. “found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 234) “some of the gospels Constantine attempted to eradicate.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 234)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Dead Sea Scrolls were Jewish documents of the Old Testament and do not mention Jesus Christ. They were the library of an ascetic Jewish group called the Essenes who were not associated with Christianity. The Dead Sea Scrolls  were found in the winter of 1946-1947 at Qumran.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Bible: “The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven…The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it 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.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 231) Constantine and the Vatican worked together in the Council of Nicea to approve only those gospels that they wanted to insure that they would remain in power. All other documents were destroyed. “Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike.” (The Da Vinci Code page 234).

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Bible: Christianity has always recognized and understood that humans were used by God to write and record what God inspired them to. The Bible is God’s Word communicated through Godly men. The inspiration of God is illustrated in 1 Timothy 3:15 where it states that the Bible was “God-breathed.” The Bible is like Jesus Christ, fully human and yet fully divine. The human writers made full use of their own freedom, creativity, and writing style to communicate God’s message to their audience. God communicated His thoughts and will precisely through each human author’s own particular personality, freedom, and skills. The New Testament is by far the most reliable texts we have from the ancient world. We have over 5,000 manuscript copies of the New Testament in whole or in part. These manuscript copies have been verified by scholars to be 99.5% accurate when compared to the New Testament we use today. These manuscripts are extremely close in date to the originals. The New Testament was written within the first century A.D., and we have copies of some of the New Testament within the first few decades after they were composed. The standard for deciding which New Testament documents were God inspired was three-fold. First the documents had to be rooted in “apostolic teachings.” They were written either by one of the apostles themselves or by a disciple or coworker of an apostle. Secondly they had to be “universally accepted” by all Christians. In other words they had to be applicable to and revered by Christians throughout the world. Thirdly any documents under consideration had to be considered “orthodox,” meaning they were in harmony with the teachings of the apostles.             The Bible was written over a 1500-year span by more than 40 different authors from every walk of life. It was written in many different places and under various circumstances and situations. It was written on 3 different continents, not just tumultuous times. Parts of the Bible are historical, but other parts are poetry, proverbs, personal correspondence, memoirs, satire, biography, autobiography, law, prophecy, parable, and allegory. The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures were collected and recognized long before Constantine, possibly as early as the fourth century B.C. and certainly no later than 150 B.C. The books of the Old Testament were collected and translated into Greek more than a hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Constantine did not commission a new Bible, he commissioned 50 Bibles to published for church use. He did not influence in anyway their content.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Witch Persecutions: Christianity after Constantine embarked on a bloody campaign to crush and oppress both women and the sacred feminine, resulting in the murder of 5,000,000 witches.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Witch Persecutions: Christianity after Constantine did not embark on a bloody campaign to crush and oppress both women and the sacred feminine, resulting in the murder of 5,000,000 witches. The best estimates are that between 30,000 and 50,000 witches of both sexes were killed in witch persecutions, mainly in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. That means these persecutions took place about a thousand years after Constantine and had no connection with him whatsoever. Nor do they have any connection with the Vatican, not to some sort of systematic Church-wide program of the persecution of women. In 75% of Catholic Europe there were no witch persecutions at all. The majority of persecutions that did occur were local events and, as such, were not organized by the pope. Some of the most virulent witch persecutions took place in Protestant Europe and colonial America where the command of the papacy was not accepted.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Jewish Temple Worship: Because the Jews believed that their androgynous god had both a male and female counterpart. Because the Holy of Holies housed the female part of god “Shekinah” they would go to their the temple to worship this “sacred feminine” representation of god. Therefore this justified the temple prostitution that took place within the Jewish faith. “Temple housed not only God, but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 309)

 

Hieros Gamos was a practice of the priests and other religious Jews to achieve a closer relationship with God. “Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis – knowledge of the divine.” (The Da Vinci Code, page308)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Jewish Temple Worship: The Jews unequivocally supported the worship of and allegiance to one God, Yahweh. The Ancient orthodox Jews would have abhorred the thought of YHWH, the one true God over all creation, having a female counterpart like so many of the pagan deities. “Shekinah” was never used in ancient Judaism to describe a female goddess. It referred instead to the manifestation of YHWH’s presence on the earth. Though not found in the Bible, “Shekinah” was a theological term used by ancient Jewish rabbis to describe God’s glory dwelling in the tabernacle or Temple. The idea that YHWH was a male deity and “Shekinah” a female deity that the Jews worshipped is completely unfounded. Regarding the idea that Shekinah refers to a female equivalent of Yahweh, Professor Darrell Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary states that the idea that a male (Yahweh) and female (Shekinah) counterpart exists with God “is simple fabrication.” Shekinah is a “term referring to the ‘glory of God.’” There were times when some Jews fell away from God and practiced temple prostitution but this was not condoned by God nor a true belief of the Jewish faith. This was a sin that took place when various Jews rebelled against God and began practicing pagan religions of the cultures that surrounded them. To claim that a perversion and sinful practice of some rebellious individuals represents the mainline faith of the people of Israel is not only in error it is an insult to God’s chosen people and to God. The Bible warns against worship with temple prostitutes, Hieros Gamos. (I Corinthians 6:12-20)

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Paganism and Christianity:  The Da Vinci Code implies that Christianity borrowed from paganism in its development as a religion. “Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras, called the Son of God and the Light of the World was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity’s weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans.” The Da Vinci Code page 232

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Paganism and Christianity: As Christianity became popular in the first few centuries after the resurrection of Jesus many pagan religions were copying Christianity and borrowing from it rather than the other way around. Mithraism did exist but their god Mithras was not called the Son of God or Light of the World. The Mithraic scholar Richard Gordon says unequivocally that there is “no death, burial, and resurrection of Mithras. None.” Mithraism did not gain a foothold in the Roman Empire until after A.D. 100 and this is verified by the research of M.J. Vermaseran a specialist in the cult of Mithra. Dr. Erwin Lutzer states, “The cult of Mithras was continually evolving, adapting itself to the needs of a particular group or culture.” There is no record of the newborn Krishna receiving any gifts at birth.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

The Sabbath Day: “‘Originally,’ Langdon said, ‘Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagans’ veneration day of the sun.’” The Da Vinci Code page 2332-233.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

The Sabbath Day: Long before the end of the first century Luke recorded, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” Acts 20:7      Paul referred to collecting an offering on the first day of the week in 1 Corinthians 16:2. John in the book of Revelation records that the first day of the week had come to be called ‘The Lord’s Day’ by Christians to distinguish it from the Sabbath. Justin Martyr one of the early church fathers wrote, “And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together to one place of all those who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits.”

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Pentacle: The pentacle symbolizes Venus – “the goddess of female sexual love and beauty.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 36)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Pentacle: Authoritative sources state that there exists no single interpretation of the pentacle and its origins. Even within Wicca, the neo-pagan religion to which the pentacle is central, there is no agreed-upon, universal meaning. Kerr Cuhulian, a spokesman for Wicca, has said “There seems to have been no single tradition concerning their meaning and use, and in many contexts they seem simply to have been decorative.” Pythagoras (B.C. 570-495), the Greek mathematician, interpreted it to mean ‘health.’ Empedocles (B.C. 490-430) used it to symbolize spirit, earth, air, fire and water. Even modern neopagans use it to represent spirituality over materialism. There are no scholarly sources that interpret the pentacle as representing the sacred feminine.

 

FICTION

 

Jehovah God: The Jews believed that YHWH had a “powerful feminine equal” name “Shekinah.” Therefore the Jews believed in a male and female deity. “Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple housed not only God but also his powerful female equal, Shekinah…The Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH – the sacred name of God – in fact derived from Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve – Havah.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 309)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Jehovah God: One of the major characteristics of Judaism that set it apart from all the other religions of the ancient Near East was the fact that it had a strong monotheistic (One God) emphasis. Many of the pagan religions surrounding Israel had male and female gods paired up. Ancient orthodox Jews would have abhorred the thought of YHWH, the one true God over all creation, having a female counterpart like so many of the pagan deities. “Shekinah” was never used in ancient Judaism to describe a female goddess. It referred instead to the manifestation of YHWH’s presence on the earth. Though not found in the Bible, “Shekinah” was a theological term used by ancient Jewish rabbis to describe God’s glory dwelling in the tabernacle or Temple. The idea that YHWH was a male deity and “Shekinah” a female deity that the Jews worshipped is completely unfounded. Regarding the idea that Shekinah refers to a female equivalent of Yahweh, Professor Darrell Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary states that the idea that a male (Yahweh) and female (Shekinah) counterpart exists with God “is simple fabrication.” Shekinah is a “term referring to the ‘glory of God.’” Likewise fabricated is the statement that Yahweh came from the word Jehovah. This is exactly backwards. The ancient written Hebrew had no vowels. So the ‘original’ covenant name of God was written with four letters: yod, hey, vay, and hey. But Jewish scribes, inserting the vowels from ‘adonai,’ the Hebrew word for ‘Lord,’ between those four letters produced a pronounceable name for God: Yahowah. When that word was Latinized, around A.D. 1270, the Y changed to a J and the W to a V. Thus, the name Jehovah entered into usage…but in exactly the opposite order as what you read in the Da Vinci Code. The statement that the name Jehovah was supposedly a union between the masculine Jah and the ‘pre-Hebraic’ name for Eve – Havah – is a joke. ‘Havah’ was, in fact, the actual Hebrew name given to Adam’s wife; there’s nothing ‘pre-Hebraic’ about it. The word means ‘life,’ because she was called ‘the mother of all the living.’

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Louvre Glass Pyramid: President Mitterrand explicitly demanded that 666 panes of glass be placed in the glass pyramid at the Louvre.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Louvre Glass Pyramid: The number of panes of glass of this pyramid is actually 673.

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Women in the Church: “Early Christian church ‘conned’ the world by propagating lies that devalued the female.” (The Da Vinci Code, page124)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Women in the Church: Christianity valued women more than Roman Culture or Jewish tradition. (Galatians 3:28, 1 Peter 3:7, Romans 16:1,2)

 

 

 

FICTION

 

Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene was not just a disciple of Jesus, she was also married to Him and bore a child by Him as well. She was meant to be the central  figure through which Jesus’ church on earth was to be established. This power was given to her by Christ and resided in the bloodline that they spawned together.  Mary was to be the one who ruled the church on earth and her child to be the heir to such a kingdom. “According to these unaltered gospels, it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church. It was Mary Magdalene…Jesus was the original feminist. He intended for the future of His Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 248) The Vatican attempted to defame her character by portraying her as a prostitute. Those in power, Constantine and the Vatican, also manipulated the content of the Bible so that she would be reduced to simply a woman disciple of Jesus so that the male-dominated church could retain their power. The Gnostic “Gospel of Philip” written in Aramaic uses the word “companion” to describe Mary’s relationship with Jesus. “Companion” in Aramaic means “spouse.” The Gnostic “Gospel of Philip” also states that Jesus loved Mary Magdalene more than all the other disciples and “used to kiss her often on her mouth.” “I won’t bore you with the countless references to Jesus and Magdalene’s union. That has been explored ad nauseam by modern historians.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 247) “Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father. My dear, Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. She was the womb that bore the lineage, and the vine from which the sacred fruit sprang forth.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 249) “(Jesus) Intended for the future of His Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene.” (The Da Vinci Code, page 248) The Da Vinci Code implies that because Mary was also of royal descent like Jesus that they could form a potent political union with the potential of making a legitimate claim to the throne and restoring the line of kings as it was under Solomon. It is implied that proof of this is found in the “Sangreal documents” and “tens of thousands of pages of information” contained “in four enormous trunks” along with evidence that “is chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians.” (The Da Vinci Code, pages 248,249,253,256)

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene is introduced in the gospel of Luke as a follower of Jesus who had seven demons cast out of her. She became part of a group of women who provided for Christ and the apostles out of their own means and traveled with them during their ministry (Luke 8:1-3). She followed Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and was present at key moments surrounding His death and resurrection. She was a witness to Christ’s crucifixion on Calvary (Matthew 27:61), and she was the first witness to His resurrection (Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1-10, John 20:11-18). The Bible nowhere describes Mary’s past in detail or says she was a prostitute. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus. There is no reference anywhere in scripture or even in the Gnostic material that indicates that Jesus desired to make Mary rule His Church. The Gnostic “Gospel of Philip” was not written in Aramaic but Coptic and the word “companion” is actually a Greek term “koinonos” and it simply indicates one whom another has fellowship with and covers a broad range of relationships. The Gnostic “Gospel of Philip” does not say Jesus “used to kiss Mary Magdalene on her mouth.” The actual manuscript of the “Gospel of Philip” that was found is not complete but fragmented, and it does not say where Jesus kissed her nor how often. He could have kissed her on the hand or forehead. On page 253 in “The Da Vinci Code” Teabing talks about ‘exhaustive detail’ and ‘scores of historians’ who know all about the marriage of Jesus and Mary…and he lists four ‘history books.’ None of the authors of these books have a history degree! Dr. Paul Maier, who has apparently spent his whole academic career researching ancient history, says: “In sober fact, Jesus never wed anyone, but for years sensationalizing scholars and their novelistic popularizers have played the role of doting mothers trying to marry off an eligible son. Now, if there were even one spark of evidence from antiquity that Jesus even may have gotten married, then as a historian, I would have to weigh this evidence against the total absence of such information in either Scripture or the early church traditions. But there is no such spark – not a scintilla of evidence – anywhere in historical sources. Even where one might expect to find such claims in the bizarre, second-century, apocryphal gospels…there is no reference that Jesus ever got married.” Dr. Maier goes on to say, “there is no record whatsoever of Mary’s tribal affiliation.” There is no genealogy of Mary Magdalene given anywhere.