Dinvince Code

Many people have written accounts about the events that took place in the past. They used as their source of material the reports circulating among us from the early disciples and other eyewitnesses of what God has done in fulfillment of his promises. Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you. The Da Vinci Code is not just a thriller written for entertainment; instead, it's somewhat of a journal chronicling Dan Brown's spiritual journey and as the plot of the book unfolds, it casts significant doubt on the veracity of Christianity.

I chose this topic for personal reasons - primarily as an exploration of my own faith and my own ideas about religion. I believe that one of the reasons the book has become controversial is that religion is a very hard thing to discuss in quantitative terms. If you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as immutable historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify heavenly concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the fact that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries.

"Dan Brown says in an interview: the secret I reveal [in the book] is one that has been whispered for centuries . . . My sincere hope is that The Da Vinci Code, in addition to entertaining people, will serve as an open door for readers to begin their own explorations....the secret I reveal [in the book] is one that has been whispered for centuries....My sincere hope is that The Da Vinci Code, in addition to entertaining people, will serve as an open door for readers to begin their own explorations."

Now I am going to put the Old Testament to the test to see if it has credibility to be the trustworthy document that it claims. "Religion, if it is worth believing, must be based on facts. Yes, there is room for faith, but unless it is faith in facts, faith is not only useless but destructive....The Bible cannot afford to have historical errors. We are encouraged to believe its doctrines because of the reliability of its history . . .In fact, the reliability of the earthly matters gives us confidence in the reliability of the heavenly matters that are beyond the realm of human investigation....The bottom line is that the Bible has to be reliable about the things of this earth if we are to believe it about the things of heaven. We cannot let the biblical writers off the hook, making excuses for their failures. In their case, even a few minor errors would be fatal to the whole document." Erwin Lutzer: Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, 65-66

"The Bible is a product of man...not of God....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." Dan Brown The Da Vinci Code, 231

"The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950's hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms. Of course, the Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. And why wouldn't they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda--to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base." Dan Brown The Da Vinci Code, 234.

Dan Brown's accusations against the Bibles validity have been proven wrong in every occasion. In the book of genesis "Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land." Genesis 19:24-25 "Evidence points to earthquake activity, and that the various layers of the earth were disrupted and hurled high into the air. Bitumen is plentiful there, and an accurate description would be thatbe that brimstone (bituminous pitch) was hurled down on those cities that had rejected God. There is evidence that the layers of sedimentary rock have been molded together by intense heat. Evidence of such burning has been found on the top of Jebel Usdum (Mt. Sodom)." Josh McDowell: The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, 95.

Again in Joshua "Then the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On