University News

Reviewing and Refuting The Da Vinci Code
Knofel Staton

What is it? A novel, which has been on the New York Time's best selling list since 2003, translated into 40 different languages, and is being sold in 150 different countries.

What kind of book is it? It is the second fictional novel of a trilogy by Dan Brown, who is presently working on the third one, which will be about a secret brotherhood. In a June 9th, 2003 NBC interview with Matt Lauer, Brown credited his wife, Blythe, an art historian, as a major inspiration for this book, which he dedicated it to her.

Who are the main characters? There are three fictional characters: (1) Robert Langdon, a supposed Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University. (2) Leigh Teaburg, a supposed expert historian of religions and ancient documents. (3) Sophie, a supposed cryptologist granddaughter of the man murdered at the beginning of the book.

About the main characters. None of them ever existed. These people with expert credentials were created for this fast moving fictional novel in the same manner other authors of fiction create unreal people for their novels. A symbologist is a person who specializes in interpreting symbols, for instance a person who describes the meaning of a cross as a symbol in Christianity. For the record, Harvard University does not have a department of symbology. A cryptologist is a person who creates secret codes as well as deciphers codes others created.

The plot. The book begins with the murder of the fourth and last person who knew the location of the Holy Grail, thought to be the cup Jesus used when He initiated the Lord's Supper. Before he died, he left cryptic clues for his granddaughter, Sophie. The story moves fast, but it is not as focused on finding the killer as it is in bringing Sophie up to date about the nature of Christianity and about the identity of the Holy Grail.

The development. Sophie travels with Professor Langdon, who is on the run because the police suspect him as the murderer. While traveling with Sophie, he talks about the nature of Christianity. He eventually takes Sophie to meet the historian, Teaburg. Sophie learns from these two experts that everything she was taught about Jesus, the Bible and Christianity is wrong.

The main thesis of the book is not as much about catching the murderer or finding the Holy Grail, as it is in denying the integrity of the Bible, the divinity of Christ, and the nature of Christianity. The author, Brown, puts his words into the mouths of the Harvard Professor Langdon and the world-renowned historian Teaburg. In this book, Brown spreads his own religious beliefs through the extremely well written, ingenious delivery system of a fictitious mystery novel, which reads as if every statement is factual, is based upon solid evidence, and has been well known, acknowledged, and affirmed by scholars and historians around the world.

Brown's intention is clearly to captivate the minds and commitment of non-believers against the Church and also of Christians who have little knowledge about the supporting historical reasons that under gird their faith.

This is a masterpiece in fictional writing; therefore, it is very effective in catching the attention of and captivating the minds of millions. BUT NEARLY EVERY STATEMENT ABOUT JESUS, EARLY CHRISTIANS, THE BIBLE, AND NON-BIBLICAL DOCUMENTS IS AS UNREAL AS ARE THE PEOPLE IN THE BOOK.

I will now expose and refute many of the false statements in the book.

1. Brown's book credits many of his "facts" about Christianity from such documents as the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, The Dead Seas Scrolls are Jewish documents dealing with the Old Testament, and do not even mention Christ nor any of the "facts" Brown suggests.
2. The book claims there are thousands of other ancient documents that refer to Christianity. Brown is referring to the Gnostic writings, which he said through his fictional characters "were the earliest Christian records" (266). However, the earliest Gnostic documents were written beginning in the second century and continued being written into the fourth century. These were written to contradict the teachings of Christianity. Gnosticism was a philosophical position that developed into a religion competitive against Christianity. Gnostics believed that any god is divine, but anything material is evil; thus, nothing divine could ever mix with anything material. Therefore, the Christian God could not have created a material world nor could it/He live in a human body, such as in Jesus' body. There were two sects of Gnosticism: (1) Docetic Gnosticism, which taught that Jesus just "seemed" to have come in a physical body. He was a mirage in the minds of Christians. (2) Cerinthic Gnosticism taught that a divine god created different levels of beings; however, one of the lowest ones created that was not divine created the world, and Jesus came from this non-divine created being. Much of the content of the documents called "Gospels" were really "gossips." For instance, The Gospel of Thomas is supposed to be 114 actual sayings of Jesus. Here are a few of them.
• The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live (4).
• Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human (7).
• During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive (10).
• No matter where you are, you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven & earth came into being (11).
• If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits (14).
• Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child of a whore (105).
• Simon Peter said to them, "May Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven (114).
3. Brown's book suggests that Christians borrowed and used symbols and terms from mystery religions, such as "Son of God" and "Light of the World." However, there were no mystery religions before or during the first century of the Christianity. A.D. Nock, world-renowned scholar of antiquity from Harvard, many years ago published the definitive work that proves mystery religions did not develop until many years after those terms were popular in Christianity. In fact, there were no mystery religions prior to the second century, and some were developed close to one hundred years after Christ. In order to hook Christians and those interested in Christianity, both mystery religions and Gnosticism borrowed terms from Christianity that were already popular in Christian teachings and conversations. Before mystery religions and Gnosticism existed those terms were scattered throughout the New Testament. For instance, God called Jesus His Son (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). The Gospel of John referred to Jesus as God's Son (3:16). Jesus referred to himself as God's Son (John 17:1). The Captain of those who crucified Jesus said, "Surely he was the Son of God" (Matthew 17:54). Paul referred to Jesus as God's Son (Romans 8:29 and so on). Before mystery religions or Gnosticism existed, the New Testament referred to Jesus as the Light of the World (John 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:6). Gnostic writings and mystery religions also copied many other words and terms that were popular in Christian teaching, such as savior, redemption, knowledge, darkness, salvation; and even titled many of its writings, "Gospel" with names of popular Christian leaders, such as Peter, Philip, Barnabas, and others. Those tactics were baits hiding the hook inside for people to turn away from Christ.
4. Brown claims he drew much of his evidence that degrades Christianity from The Priory of Sion's documents, with the following statements about that source:
• Brown's book states it was a European secret society founded in 1099 (Fact page, and 171). However, from the Free Encyclopedia, the Priory of Sion was created in 1956 by Frenchman Pierre Plantard, and the documents were a hoax. According to the BBC prior to this hoax Plantard was tried on December 17, 1953, found guilty, and sentenced for another fraud.
• Brown's book claims numerous parchments were found that belonged to the Priory of Sion from which the "expert" characters (Langdon and Teaburg) drew some their evidences against Christianity. However, Plantard himself wrote those pseudo documents on parchments made to look like ancient writings, and hid some of them among the books in Paris' main library. When they were discovered, Paris' major newspaper reported it as an important find; however, experts in documents concluded these were fraudulent works. In 1993, Judge Tierry Jean-Pierre ordered a search of Plantard's house, which revealed many other forged documents. Under oath Plantard confessed he made everything up, and he was ordered to cease all activity related to the Priory of Sion. He lived in obscurity and died on February 3, 2000.
• Brown's book claims that in 1519 Leonardo de Vinci was a member of the Priory of Sion and was its Grand Master (122). However, According to the BBC there is no evidence that The Priory of Sion ever existed before the 1950's. Likewise, there is no historical evidence that Leonardo was a member of anything even similar to The Priory, including being a member of a secret pagan cult as Brown's book stated (122).
5. Brown's book claims "history has never had a definitive version of the Bible" (254). However, by the time Jesus came the Old Testament had long been recognized and honored as Scripture. (See it being referred to as Scripture in such places as Matthew 21:42; 22:29; 26:54; Luke 24:27, 32, 45; Acts 17:2; Acts 18:24,28; Romans 1:2; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 15; 3,4). Within a few years after Paul was executed his writings were referred to as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). During the second century all 27 books of the New Testament were being widely circulated and affirmed as Scripture by eyewitnesses to the events of Jesus and/or the first recipients of letters from Paul, John, and others.
6. Brown's book claims that thousands of ancient documents are scientific evidences that the New Testament is false testimony (369). However, the only documents cited are either forged documents or gnostic documents, which were written for the purpose of eliminating Christianity. Nearly all of those documents were no longer being circulated by the end of the fourth century, because people knew they were filled with unhistorical and statements that were not provable. That's why the Gnostic documents rather quickly dropped out of circulation and use. They were eventually not available to anyone until being found in mid-1940 near Nag Hammadi, an Egyptian village.
7. Brown's book claims that gnostic writings were the earliest Christian records (266). However, the earliest one was written about 100 years after Christ lived and at least 50 years after the last New Testament book was written.
8. Brown's book claims that more than 80 gospels were considered for the New Testament, yet only Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were chosen (251). However, there were never 80 "gospels" that were circulated during any historical period. The Gnostic "Gospels" were not acceptable because of their fanciful created content that could not be verified by eyewitnesses, such as stories that little boy Jesus, who would turn playmates into birds and make them fly away when they didn't play the way He wanted. People knew they were forged with fictitious content.
9. Brown's book claims New Testament books were altered and cannot be trusted. However, all of them were written when eyewitnesses were still alive who could and did testify to the truth of what Jesus said and did, and to the truth of the content of Paul's writings. By the end of the second century there were thousands of copies widely scattered over the world, all of which were nearly identical. It would have been literally impossible to alter them into any systematic Bible.
10. Brown's book claims the 4th century pagan Roman Emperor Constantine chose the books in the Bible by financing a new Bible (254). However, Constantine did not finance a new Bible. In fact, He became a Christian with the Bible that had been circulated for centuries.
11. Brown's book claims the gospels eliminated the human traits of Jesus' life in order to artificially turn him into a divine person (254 and 264). However, our four gospels did not eliminate Jesus' human traits. He was born of a woman, "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people" (Luke 2:52), was tempted by the devil, was baptized, hungered, thirsted, got tired, slept, prayed, wept, made friends, got angry, spit, physically died and so on.
12. Brown's book claims that Christians worshipped on only the Sabbath-Saturday, but in the 4th century Constantine changed the day to Sunday (252). However, early Christians worshipped on both Saturday and Sunday depending upon their personal choices. Some worshipped on Saturday as a carry-over from having been raised a Jew, and some worshipped on Sunday as a remembrance of the day Jesus rose from the dead. Selecting which day did not matter in early Christianity (Romans 14:5-8 and Colossians 2:16-17). Christians in Corinth worshipped on Sunday, "On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income. . ." (1 Corinthians 16:2). On one of his travels, Paul stayed longer in Ephesians in order to have the Lord's Supper with Christians on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). John wrote that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day (Revelation 1:10). Constantine had nothing to do with choosing the day of worship for the Church.
13. Brown's book states that until the Nicaea Council in 325, "Jesus was viewed by His followers as only a mortal prophet, not as the Son of God-not divine." The book claims that the term "Son of God" was the result of a vote at the Council. The book also claims that it was the Roman Emperor who turned Jesus into divinity (253). However, Jesus was affirmed as God's Son at the beginning of His life by being conceived from the Spirit of God instead of from a man's sperm. Jesus' divinity was not dreamed up during the 4th century (see # 3 above). Jesus' divinity was a reality upon which Christians were willing to be executed and were. Look at these statements about His divinity:
    
    • John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Now read verse 14, "The Word became flesh. . ."
    • He was the co-creator of the world, "He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
    • In Him was life and the life was the light of men" (John 1:2-4).
    • In Colossians 1: 15-16, "He is the image of the invisible God . . .For by him all things were created . . .
    • In Hebrews 1:3, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his being."
    • In Hebrews 1:8, "About the Son, God says, 'Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever." The Father called Jesus, "God."
    • In 1 John 5:20, "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."
    • Jesus said, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father" (John 14:9); and, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).
    • Little wonder when Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus, He proclaimed, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).

    Through the centuries church leaders consistently affirmed the divinity of Jesus. For instance, Ignatius wrote, "Jesus, our God" (AD 110). Tatian, "God was born in the form of a man" (AD 176). Clement of Alexandria, "Jesus alone is both God and man (AD 210). The list of those affirming Jesus' divinity extends into the 21st century, because there is no reason to teach otherwise. The council of Nicaea voted, but not to create Jesus' divinity as something new, but to affirm the divinity that had been acknowledged for 300 years. That vote was to stop a debate between two positions. One person, Arius, was teaching that Jesus was only human and not divine (and he had some followers--Arians), while others were teaching what had always been taught, which is that God visited earth in the humanity of Jesus-the God-Man. Brown's book claimed the vote for Jesus' divinity was close (233); However, only 2 people out of over 300 voted with Arius with one of the two being Arius himself.

14. Brown's book repeatedly claims that the Bible cannot be trusted. However, the biblical content lends itself to total trustworthiness. Biblical writers would not have known centuries before science discovered it that laughter was good medicine (Proverbs 17:22), that what we see is made out of what cannot be seen [atoms] (Hebrews 11:3), that air has weight (Job 28:25), nor that life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). Names of people were prophesied decades before they were born, and minute details about the destruction of cities decades before it happened, and so on. Those kinds of content could not have happened by accident any more than my watch could have come together without a watch maker or that there could have been an explosion at the print shop of the Los Angeles Times and the flying letters came together in organized sentences to produce today's paper.
15. Brown's book claims that Leonardo was a homosexual and was anti-Christian (50). However, there is no historical evidence to support those statements.
16. Brown's book claims Leonardo included hidden symbolic meanings in his paintings to thumb his nose at the Church (50). However, Brown's book reads into those paintings what no interview with Leonardo disclosed. For instance Brown claims the following about the two most famous Leonardo's paintings:
• According to Brown's book in the Mona Lisa painting she has a smile on her face because she is keeping a secret (109). Brown's book asserts that the secret is that Mona Lisa is not a woman, but is androgynous [the Greek word for man and the Greek word for woman put into one word to describe a being who has both male and female genitals]. Brown's book claims the name "Mona" came from "Amon", a male prostitute, and that "Lisa" came from the goddess Isis who was really known as "L'isa. So Leonardo fused male and female into one (121-122). However, there is no historical evidence supporting that Leonardo painted Mona Lisa as a female-male. That is reading into a painting something the artist never suggested. He is not here to defend that interpretation of his work, for he died in 1519.
• Brown's book claims that in the Last Supper painting the person on the immediate right side of Jesus is the woman, Mary Magdalene, because of the flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom (263). Brown's book claims, "The Last Supper is really a tribute to the sacred feminine you will ever see." ". . .with symbols hidden in places you would never imagine" (103-104). However, while it would not be inappropriate for Mary to have been there, the text records that Jesus arrived with the Twelve (Mark 14:17). It seems rather doubtful that she was there before they arrived or that she came afterwards without being recorded. However, the Last Supper painting is just that-a painting, not a photograph, and it was painted approximately 1,430 years after the upper room event. An artist is free to paint whatever he wants and for whatever reason; however this is not an accurate view of the Last Supper for many reasons, one of which is that Jesus and the Twelve did not sit, but reclined at a table (Matthew 26:20), which was the custom in those days. People reclined around a very low table with a cushion for one elbow while eating with the other hand. There is no reason to believe this is an accurate portrayal of the Last Supper, and certainly the person who might have sat to the immediate right of Jesus did not communicate or even hint at what Brown's book suggests it does, which we will see next.
17. Brown's book claims that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a daughter named Sarah with Christ's bloodline still existing. Brown's book develops this claim in the following ways:
• Brown's book claims that "According to Jewish custom celibacy was condemned in Judaism" so Jesus had to be married (265). However, there is not one piece of evidence in Jewish literature that condemns celibacy-from either the Old Testament, Rabbinic Commentaries, The Mishnah, the Talmud and other literature. In fact, some Jewish men became eunuchs in order to enhance celibacy.
• Brown's book claims that Jesus' marriage is "a matter of historical record" (264). However, there are no historical records from the Bible, from Josephus, or from secular literature that even hints that Jesus was ever married to a woman.
• Brown's book claims, "The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair" (264). However, those "shouts" come from fictitiously seeing hidden secrets in the painting, such as the person to Jesus' immediate right is not just any woman, but is Mary Magdalene who is joined to Jesus at the hip. The way she leans to the left leaves a large V space between Jesus and Mary. According to Brown's book, "The V was a symbol of the woman's womb" (257-58) and in the painting proves Jesus and Mary were married. Also the book claims there is a hidden letter "M" in the painting to signal that Mary was at the table (265). However, after studying the painting carefully, I have yet to find that letter. But if I do, is it an intentional "M?" And if so, for what reason? And why would there be an "M" when the painter did not speak English? Brown's book states that the Holy Grail-the cup-is not on the table, because there is a single cup, but many glasses (256). It also states that the Holy Grail is not a cup, but is a person-a woman, who is Mary Magdalene, and that "Christ himself made that claim" (262). However, no such claim existed. The ideal of a Holy Grail is a created fantasy that dates back to around the 12th century without any historical evidence that such an item was given special emphasis by the church.
• Brown's book quotes a statement from the Gospel of Philip as evidence Jesus was married. However, The Gospel of Philip was written over two hundred years after Jesus lived and is an unreliable source of historical accuracy. It was one of the many Gnostic writings done to discredit Jesus and to contradict Christianity. Here is the quote from the Gospel of Philip as it appears in Brown's book: And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" (266). However, there are significant errors in Brown's printed quote, such as the fact that the word "often" does not appear in the Gospel of Philip parchment. The parchment has several damaged areas with words missing including what Jesus kissed; however, Brown's book inserted the word "mouth." We don't know what word the original included. It was probably the cheek, because kissing the cheek was the normal kiss of greeting in that day, as it still is in many cultures today. Judas greeted Jesus with a kiss (Mark 14:45). Paul wrote that Christians should greet one another with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26). Peter also wrote for Christians to greet each other with a kiss of love (1 Peter 5:14). When the elders of the church at Ephesus realized they would never see Paul again, they kissed him before he departed (Acts 20:37). It would be unlikely for Jesus not to have kissed many people He greeted. That statement in the Gospel of Philip is not evidence that Jesus had any kind of relationship with Mary beyond what He had with other followers. The quote from the apostles about Jesus loving her more than they is not supported by any eyewitness accounts of Jesus.
• Brown's book claims that the word "companion" in the above quote meant "spouse" and supported that claim with, "as any Aramaic Scholar will tell you" (266). However, the Gospel of Philip was not written in Aramaic, but in Coptic. The Coptic word for "companion" in that manuscript was drawn from the well-known Greek word for fellowship-koinonia. Koinonia described the sharing kind of bonding partnership Christians enjoyed with one another and with the triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to which early Christians continually devoted themselves (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 2:9; Philippians 2:1; Philemon 1:6; 1 John 1:3,6,7). Mary Magdalene certainly enjoyed fellowship with Jesus, as did all of His followers.
18. Brown's book claims that in order to turn Jesus into a divine being, the gospels had to eliminate the earthly aspects of his life (see my first response in #11 above); and, "Unfortunately, for the early editors, one particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels, Mary Magdalene. More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ" (264). However, there is no gospel that included Mary's marriage to Jesus as a recurring theme, let alone even mentioning it once. Jewish scholars would have known about it and would have included it in some of their writings, but did not. Jewish scholars have identified over 400 prophesies in the Old Testament about the details of the promised Messiah, but not one included a marriage; however, many are significantly minor details that run from His birth to His resurrection even that He would speak in parables centuries before that was a method of teaching in any culture. Mary Magdalene appears several times in the gospels. She was called "Magdalene" to identify her from several other Mary's in the gospels. "Magdalene" identified her with her hometown, Magdala.
    
    She is mentioned a dozen times in the gospels. Jesus drove seven demons out of her and cured her from other infirmities (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). She traveled with Jesus along with the Twelve and other women, one of whom was married to Cuza (Luke 8:2). Along with other women, she followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem to minister to his needs (Matthew 27:56). She watched the crucifixion from a distance (Mark 15:40). She then stood near the cross with other women, one of whom was the wife of Clopas (John 19:25). She located the tomb with the other Mary (Matthew 27:61). She went to the tomb with the other Mary to bring spices (Matthew 28:1; John 20:1); Mark 16:9). She ran to tell Peter and others that the tomb was empty (John 20:2). She went back to the tomb (John 20:11). She was the first person to see the risen Lord, but did not recognize Him at first (John 20: 13-15). Jesus addressed her, "Mary" (John 20:16). She responded, "Rabboni," which means Teacher (John 20:16). Jesus commanded her to go tell others He had risen, which she did (John 20:17-18). Did you notice that a couple of texts recorded the marriage of other women who were traveling with Mary and who were at the cross with her, but not Mary's marriage? The angel at the tomb addressed her as "Woman" not as "Jesus' wife"? That Jesus first addressed her at the tomb also as "Woman", not as "My wife." Mary addressed Jesus at the tomb as "Teacher" not as "my husband"? And isn't it interesting that from the cross Jesus committed the care of His mother, Mary, to one of His apostles, but not the care of Mary Magdalene? The marriage of Jesus to Mary is a 9th century myth with absolutely no historical support. There would be no need to cover up Jesus' marriage to Mary, if He were married to her.
19. While Brown's book includes no historical evidence Jesus was married to Mary, Jesus was indeed "married." However, Brown's book identified the wrong bride, for the bride of Christ is the Church as revealed in 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:21-23, and the anticipated wedding banquet in Revelation 19:9-10. Had Jesus been married to a woman we would have seen a reference to it in Ephesians 5:21-23. He would have been a marvelous model for men married to women today; however, no such marriage of Jesus to a woman existed.
20. Brown's book claims that Christianity demonized women (123) and eliminated women leaders (134-5). However, the Bible stands firm against any culture that lowers the value of women from being made in the image and likeness of God as were men (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 5:1-2). The Christian's Bible makes it clear that God elevated women in many different ways. See the following examples:
    • God inspired women prophets in the Old Testament.
    • Women saved the nation of Israel when midwives disobeyed the Egyptian king's decree to kill newborn boys and when Moses' mother who saved him.
    • Deborah led the whole nation of Israel as its God-chosen religious, civic and military leader.
    • Queen Esther, who at the risk of being executed, interceded to save the nation).
    • Two Old Testament books are named after women (Ruth and Esther); that Proverbs 31 elevates the woman to excellence.
    • Women were female prophets in the New Testament Church.
    • Women were among the 120 who continued their commitment to Jesus between His death and return to heaven (Acts 1).
    • The Christian era would be marked by the Holy Spirit inspiring women to preach, as well as men (Acts 2:17-18).
    • Women were persecuted as well as men, and when Christians were scattered, preached as did men (Acts 8:2-4).
    • The Church in Philippi started from a women's prayer meeting (Acts 16:13-15).
    • Philip had four daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:8-9).
    • Leading women were converted on Paul's travels.
    • Every time Paul mentioned a woman in his greeting in Romans 16, he bragged about her; and so on. The Bible elevated women above cultural norms of that day and above cultural norms in many countries today.
21. Brown's book claims the Church published Malleus Maleficarum (translated The Witches Hammer), which is about the danger of freethinking women with instructions for the clergy to torture and destroy them. Consequently, according to Brown's book the Church burned at the stake five million women during the Witch's hunt era (125). However, the Church did not publish that document, but instead published documents which rejected its contents. Likewise, it was not the Church, but the civic government that ordered the execution of witches. However, during the Inquisition established by Pope Luciusus in 1184, the church held many trials of heretics from which 20,000 to 50,000 (not five million) people were burned at the stake with at least 20% of them being men. The Inquisition was a terrible sin committed by the church, which was not covered up in church history. But even though the Church committed them, those kinds of actions and reactions were not and are not the nature of Christianity that models Christ's character.
22. Brown's book claims that originally the church viewed sex as a way to commune directly with God; that sex is "a mystical spiritual act in which one can find the spark of divinity that man can only achieve with the sacred feminine"; and affirmed "Orgasm as prayer" (334); and that "intercourse was the act through which male and female experienced God." The book claims "The ancients believed that the male was spiritually incomplete until he had carnal knowledge of the sacred feminine. Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis-knowledge of the divine . . .sex rites had been considered man's only bridge from earth to heaven. By communing with woman, man could achieve a climactic instant when his mind went totally blank and he could see God" (335). The book also claims that eventually the church demonized sex by recasting it as disgusting and sinful (336). However, the church elevated sex to God's created design of male and female with intercourse as one of God's first commands. The church beautified sex within the context of marriage, placing guardrails around it to keep it as an expression of love, care, pleasure, and sharing sex as a way to protect each spouse from the degradation of the devil's schemes. Finally, the church through Scripture presented sex as a God-given gift, and is an environment for each spouse to express verbal admirations to each other's body and to the sex act itself (Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 4:1; Genesis 18:12; Genesis 24:66; Genesis 26:8; Song of Solomon; 1 Corinthians 7:1-9). Spirituality and sexuality go together, but not as a way to commune with God through sacred prostitutes and/or with others outside of marriage. People commune with God through His Word, prayer; connection the Spirit, with Jesus, with the Father, and with other Christians. They "continually devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). Brown's book describes the philosophy behind the pagan worship practices of intercourse with temple prostitutes in the temple of the goddess of love, Aphrodite, located outside the city of Corinth, but it does not describe practices of the church.
23. Brown's book claims "Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple housed not only God but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah. Men seeking spiritual wholeness came to the Temple to visit priestesses-or hierodule-with whom they made love and experienced the divine through physical union" (336). However, nothing could be farther from the truth in Judaism. The Holy of Holies was so sacred that only one person could enter-the high priest-and on only one day a year-the Day of Atonement. "Shekinah" was a word used by Jews to describe the glorious splendor of the presence of God and of His word.
24. Brown's book claims the sexual orientation of God is seen in "YHWH-the sacred name for God-derived from Jehovah, an androgynous, physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah"; consequently, that makes God a male-female being. However, the name Jehovah from YHWH does not appear in the Bible, but was a word created in the 13th century. God has no gender.
25. Brown's book claims that the end of the world is a misconception. Instead, the book asserts that the "End of Days" refers to the period of time which started with Christ's birth and lasted two thousand years. Brown's book characterizes that age as the time "man must be told what to do by higher powers, because man is incapable of thinking for himself. Hence it has been a time of fervent religion." But according to Brown's book that age ended with the recent passing of the millennium, so we now live in the Age of the Aquarius in which people do not need to be told what to do by higher powers (290).

With the claim quoted in number 25 above, we now see the philosophical position that undergirds this book and is the motivation for writing it. It was written to degrade and eliminate Christianity in order to liberate humanity from needing a higher power telling us what to do, and to liberate humanity to being free to engage in uncensored sex through which men and women experience the divine solely through their sex acts. No wonder this book has captured the attention of and captivated the emotions and minds of millions. Hopefully it will not make millions captive to its claims.

This book itself is not a fraud, because Dan Brown wrote it, however, the contents about Christ, the Bible and Christianity are deceptive, and dishonest. A sham, a scam and a hoax of major dimensions. It deserves to be challenged and rejected by both members and non-members of the church, for it behooves all of us to examine and affirm the reality of historical truth, as well as to reject whatever is known to not be historical truth, regardless of whether or not we adopt into our personal lives the ethical principles and practices.

Knofel Staton
Professor of Biblical Literature and Theology
Hope International University

Here are additional sources for your study:

Richard Abanes. The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code.
James Garlow and Peter Jones. Cracking Da Vinci's Code.
James Garlow, Timothy Paul Jones, and April Williams. The Da Vinci CodeBreaker.
Josh McDowell. The Da Vinci Code: A quest for Answers.
Carl Olson and Sandra Miese. The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing Errors in the Da Vinci Code.
Lee Strobel. Exploring the Da Vinci Code.
Ben Witherington III. The Gospel Code.

And the following short booklet published by Campus Crusade as a companion to the movie: The Da Vinci Code: Know the Truth.

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