TOPIC

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Artwork Description

“All descriptions of artwork, …are accurate,” (p.1) 666 panes of glass in Louvre pyramid. (p.21)

Mona Lisa “refers to Amon and Isis as a clue from Da Vinci to the divine union of male and female goddesses.” (p.120-121)

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Madonna of the Rocks is a 5ft. tall canvas (p.131)

Referenced artwork exists, but descriptions are not always accurate. 673 panes of glass in Louvre pyramid.

If Da Vinci had a name for the painting, it was not recorded. Not called “Mona Lisa” (i.e. Madam Lisa) until 19^th Century.

Madonna of the Rocks is 6.5’ tall painted on wood.

Bible

“The Bible is the product of man… Not of God.” (p.231)

“Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times.” (p.231)

“History has never had a definitive version of the book.” (p.231)

Definitive OT for over 2,000 years. Last book written around 450 B.C. Dead Sea Scrolls are one evidence that little has changed since before the time of Christ due to meticulous copying rules.

Earliest manuscripts of NT books closer to original dates and in for greater quantities than any other historical documents from that time period.

Most of the canon of the NT was already listed by 2^nd century church fathers and widely used by churches during that period.

Coptic Scrolls

Found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, near Cairo, Egypt.

“In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms.” (p.234)

Texts are 6^th Century Coptic translations of earlier Greek works from the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries A.D.

Do not discuss the Holy Grail.

Emphasize the divinity of Christ not his humanity.

Dead Sea Scrolls

“… found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean dessert.” (p.234)

“… some of the gospels Constantine attempted to eradicate…” (p.284)

Some 800 documents discovered beginning in 1947 in a series of eleven caves near Qumran on the Dead Sea.

Included all of the OT except for the book of Esther.

Date from the 3^rd century B.C. to the 1^st century A.D.

No confirmed NT documents found among the texts.

TOPIC

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Deity of Christ

Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” (p.235)

Prior to the Council of Nicaea, “Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet.” (p.233)

Jesus’ deity was established by “a relatively close vote.” (p.233)

Early sources profession deity of Jesus.

§ Jesus was crucified for claiming to be God.

§ NT gospels over 200 years before Nicaea (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

§ Writing of early church leaders (e.g. Paul Clement, Hippolytus).

§ Contemporary non-Christian historians (e.g. Josephus, Pliny)

Vote not on Jesus’ deity, but on the nature of His deity. The vote was reported as 300 to 2.

Emperor Constantine

“commissioned and financed a new Bible.” (p.234)

§ Promoting deity of Christ.

§ Suppressing the role of women.

Made Christianity the official religion instead of Sun worship. (p.232)

Majority of NT accepted 100 years before Constantine.

Excluded “gospels focus on the deity of Jesus and de-emphasize his humanity.

Rome did not have an official religion under Constantine.

Edict of Milan in A.D. 313 simply declared that Christian worship was to be tolerated.

Female Role In Church

“Early Christian church ‘conned’ the world by propagating lies that devalued the female.” (p.124)

Constantine… converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity…” (p.124)

Christianity valued females more than Roman culture or Jewish tradition. NT teaching on women: “In Christ, there is no male or female” (Gal. 3:28); “fellow heir of the grace of life” (I Pet. 3:7);

“fellow workers for the Lord” (e.g. Rom. 16:1 & 2)

“All the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed.” Margaret Mead.

Gnostics

The Gnostics recorded the earliest Christian documents reflecting “true Christianity.” (p.234, 245)

Derived from Greek “gnosis” which means knowledge. According to Gnostic teaching:

§ Salvation comes through secret knowledge of Christ’s teaching, not through His death and resurrection.

§ Matter is evil while spirit is good.

§ Jesus could be God or man but not both.

TOPIC

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Goddess Worship

Early Jews worshiped a male and a female deity. (p.309)

“Temple housed not only God, but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah.” (p.309)

Jehovah is a combination of masculine Jah and Havah, the pre-Hebraic name for Eve. (p.309)

Worship of female deities (or any other deities) was clearly against the earliest recorded Jewish laws (the Torah).

Study of ancient texts confirms “shekinah” means “glory.”

YHWH; ancient Hebrew name for God (unwritten vowels in ancient Hebrew). Later Jewish scribes added vowels from the word for Lord “adonai”. To create “Jehovah”.

Gospels

More than eighty original gospels (histories of Jesus life and message). (p.231)

Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic Gospels from Nag Hammadi are “the earliest Christian records.” (p.245)

Original, accurate gospels omitted from Bible. (p.234)

Most generous count of extra-biblical documents us around sixty; of these, only 5 are considered gospels.

No NT writings have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Nag Hammadi documents written after NT books.

Excluded “gospels” written in 2^nd/3^rd centuries vs. NT gospels written in the 1st century.

Hieros Gamos

“Physical union with the female renamed the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis knowledge of the divines. (p.308)

Gnostic traditions carried on by the Priory of Sion includes pagan goddess worship and ritual sexual activity.

NT warns against worship with temple prostitutes. Paul states, “…your bodies are members of Christ’s body? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!” (1 Cor. 6:15-16)

NT church warned against temple prostitutes. (I Cor. 6:12-20)

Holy Grail

“The Holy Grail is not a thing. It is, in fact… a person (i.e. Mary Magdalene) (p.236)

She was the carrier of the royal bloodline and thus, the Holy Grail. (p.249)

Refers to the cup Jesus and his disciples drink from at the Last Supper.

According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea used the same cup to catch the blood of Christ at the cross.

Holy Grail is a legend with no place in mission/message of the church. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Catholic Church ignored the legend completely.

TOPIC

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Jesus’ Child

A daughter, Sarah, by Mary Magdalene. (p.255)

Royal bloodline chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians. (p.255)

Merger of the royal bloodlines of House of Benjamin (Mary) and House of David (Jesus). (p.248, 249)

Mary and Sarah protected by Jews in France because they were considered to be royalty. (p.255)

Not addressed by any legitimate historians.

No genealogy of Mary Magdalene exists.

Even if she were of the tribe of Benjamin, Jews only place Messianic significance on the lineage of King David.

Jesus’ lineage was not generally respected by the Jews in Jerusalem; why would Jews elsewhere treat his wife and daughter as royalty?

Knights Templar

Created by Priory of Sion as its military arm. (p.158)

Possessed sacred relics and secrets recovered from the Holy Land. (p.159)

Destroyed by the Pope to seize their treasure along with the Sangreal Documents. (p.159, 160)

Founded about A.D. 1118.

Purpose: to protect Holy Land pilgrims.

Obtained wealth from pilgrims; invented modern banking.

Arrested by King Philip in 1314 to appropriate their money.

“The Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci

Feminine facial characteristics of the person on Jesus’ right hand and the V shape formed with this person indicate that this was Mary Magdalene. (p.243-245)

Da Vinci’s notes indicate the people are the 12 disciples. John was commonly painted with feminine facial features by Florentine artists to reflect their belief that he was the youngest disciple.

Mary Magdalene – church leader

“(Jesus)” intended for the future of His Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene.” (p.248)

This assertion was based on a passage from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. (p.247-248)

No evidence in any early church documents of a special leadership role for Mary Magdalene.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is not from the Nag Hammadi and earliest fragments are from 3^rd to 5^th centuries. It does not state she is to lead the church.

Mary Magdalene – marriage

Gnostic gospels describe a marriage relationship with Jesus. (p.246)

Their union “has been explored ad nauseam by modern historians.” (p.247)

As a Jewish man, Jesus would be married. (p.245)

Written hundreds of years after Jesus’ death with very spiritualized style. A few passages indicates a close relationship but not in the context of marriage.

No credible historians support this position.

Essences and church leaders were single, but were admired by others in their community.

Merovingian bloodline

A bloodline resulting from the inter-marrying of the descendants of Christ and French royal blood. (p.257)

See discussion on “Jesus Child”.

A Frankish dynasty ruling from the 3^rd to the 8^th century. No historical record suggests any claim to such a merged bloodline. Pierre Plantard forged documents recording the survival of the Merovingian line. (see “Priory of Sion”)

TOPIC

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Nag Hammadi

Site where the Ceptic Scrolls were discovered in 1945(p. 234, 245)

A location near Cairo, Egypt, where 52 papyrus texts were found in 1945. Often referred to as the “Gnostic Gospels.” Only five were actually gospels.

Merean Council

Called by Constantine to consolidate power. (p.233).

Created new canon supporting Jesus’ deity and had other writings destroyed. (p.233, 234)

Called by Constantine to resolve theological questions about nature of Christ. Twenty rulings were issued at Merean and not one of them refers to the canon (ie. list of NT Books).

Opus Dei

Fanatical Catholic organization plotting in destroy all evidence of the true Holy Grail. (throughout book, including p.1 & 288)

Organization of devote Roman Catholics.

97% laypeople, no monks.

Critics claim they brainwash and coerce.

http://www.opusdei.org/ NOT A SECRET!

Paganism and Christianity

Pre-Christian god Mithras has a similar death and resurrection story. (p.232) Constantine shifted the day of worship to Sunday to coincide with the pagan veneration of the sun. (p.232, 233)

Christianity pre-dates Mithras worship.

No Mithraic legend of death, burial and resurrection.

Sunday worship began over 250 years, before Constantine.

Priory of Sion

Founded in 1099 to protect the true secret of the Holy Grail. (p.2)

Grand masters included Newton, Botticelli, Da Vinci (p.1, 113)

Registered with French government in 1956 by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semite with a criminal record for fraud.

“Historical documents” forged and planted in the French National Library.

The ORDER of Zion is an organization that has been around since the middle ages. But the PRIORY of Sion is a brand new group that was just out for fun.

In 1956, four guys decided to have some fun, and created their own little group called the “Priory of Sion” (Prieure du Sion). They named it after a nearby mountain with that name. As was required by law, they filed papers to create their group. The French Government listed them as a known organization in 1956 as a result.

The president at the time was André Bonhomme, and another member was Pierre Plantard. In 1996, Andre told the BBC: “The Priory of Sion doesn’t exist anymore. We were never involved in any activities of a political nature. It was four friends who came together to have fun. We called ourselves the Priory of Sion because there was a mountain by the same name close-by. I haven’t seen Pierre Plantard in over 20 years and I don’t know what he’s up to but he always had a great imagination. I don’t know why people try to make such a big thing out of nothing.”

Sangreal Documents

Sang Real – literally “holy blood” (p.160-161)

Sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene holds documents detailing bloodline of Jesus. (p.257)

No such documents were mentioned in the writings of the early church or any other credible source.