THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DA VINCI CODE

June 2006 article by Mark Williams

I’m sure you are all aware of the recent release of the controversial film the Da Vinci Code. The film is based on a novel by an American thriller writer Dan Brown which since being published in 2003 has sold 25 million copies worldwide, so it is sure to be a box office smash this year.

The Da Vinci Code tells the story of how two experts try to unravel a series of religious secrets. It begins when a curator is found murdered inside the Louvre Museum, with a cryptic message beside his body. A cryptologist discovers that the solution lies hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa, hence the title of the book. They then crack the codes and reveal the curator was a member of a shadowy society, the The Priory of Sion. The two try to discover the secret surrounding the Holy Grail being kept by the Priory of Sion and face a race against time against Catholic group Opus Dei to reveal the truth behind the Grail.

But what does this matter to us I hear you say? Well when reading in newspaper articles and seeing comments made by different religious leaders on this film saying such things as, “gratuitously insults Jesus Christ”, “fanciful themes and deliberate untruths,” “deliberately presents fiction as fact,” I felt I would see exactly what is being claimed.

The Da Vinci Code presents a strange mixture of three elements:

1. The idea that Christianity has suppressed the real truth about Jesus Christ, and that he was married to Mary Magdelene, had children by her and has descendants living today.
2. The ancient Christian heresy of Gnosticism with its ideas of hidden wisdom.
3. The pagan worship of the great mother goddess.

1. Dan Brown, the book’s author, has made use of ideas which have been floating around for several decades which he claims are true. The basic idea is that the New Testament is false, and that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdelene and had children by her, descendants of whom are still alive today. These ideas come from a book entitled The Holy Grail, written by three men none of which are scholars. In their book they claim to have discovered the existence of a secret society called the Priory of Sion which is dedicated to preserving this secret knowledge. There is also reference to the Holy Grail, supposedly the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, which was brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and carefully preserved by his descendants.

The Priory of Sion supposedly has very ancient documents proving all this, and the actual bones of Mary Magdelene and is dedicated to keeping them safe, ready to reveal to the world some day.

2. Gnosticism was originally thought to be just a heretical branch of Christianity that flourished in the second and third centuries, particularly in the Middle East. It is now generally accepted that it existed as a separate religion, but some Christians took in Gnostic ideas and developed ‘Gnostic Christianity’.

The name comes from the Greek gnosis, meaning ‘knowledge’, and it is called this because it promised its believers hidden knowledge and wisdom. Material things, the body in particular, were regarded as inherently evil, therefore the bodily resurrection of Christ was denied as well as the future resurrection of believers. This led to some saying that, if the body was evil anyway you could do what you liked to in it.

Gnostic ideas seem to have troubled the first-century ecclesias. (Timothy 6:20, 21).

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to trust, avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

Paul seems to be referring to the coming of Gnostic ideas. There were also those at Ephesus, where Timothy was, who denied the resurrection, (2 Timothy 2:18).

Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul severely condemns immoral behaviour in the ecclesia (Ephesians 5:3-6).

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

3. The final element of strange religious ideas in the Da Vinci Code is that of a mother goddess religion. This arises from the supposed prominent role of Mary Magdelene in church as the wife of Jesus. The mother goddess religion was, it is claimed, part of original Christianity but suppressed in the fourth century by a male-dominated religion. This does not add up with the idea that the Gnostic Gospels found in fragmentary form in the Nag Hammadi are the original Gospels. Scholars have studied these writings, found in Egyptian desert, and say that they are in fact the writings of some Gnostics which practised asceticism, even forbidding marriage. This is something else found in the epistles Timothy which refer to this (1 Timothy 4:3).

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

In conclusion, the Da Vinci Code presents a strange mixture of ideas about Jesus Christ and the Bible which sadly many find attractive in this age. Due to the film’s claims to be factually based it has led people astray, giving them an excuse to reject the authority of the Bible. I’m sure that from these revelations it is clear to see that the Da Vinci Code is not factually based and will be seen by most people as a work of fiction.