The Da Vinci Code

by PRASHER, G. | Category: Focus | Jul 2006

Considerable interest was excited two months ago when a film adapted from Dan Brown’s novel, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, became available for public viewing.

The book had been published in 2003 and proved to be a best seller, with 40 million copies in 44 languages. From the Christian viewpoint it has aroused concern because it represents in the form of a novel a serious misconception of the manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also denies His deity. That millions should be fascinated by it reflects the doubt and unbelief in many minds today regarding Him.

Amidst the intricacies of the story there emerges the fallacy that Christ married Mary Magdalene, their child’s descendants having lived in France and been associated with French royalty. It’s asserted that the Lord Jesus was only a normal human person who did not Himself claim to be the Son of God. Indeed that He was not regarded by His followers as divine until after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. This flies in the face of historic reality for the books of the New Testament and writings of Christian leaders in the second and third centuries provide ample evidence that the deity of Christ was a central doctrine of the faith. The Council of Nicea reaffirmed it as such.

The four Gospels of our New Testament each refer to Mary Magdalene as one of the women from Galilee who accompanied the Lord and the apostles and ministered to them. Luke distinguishes her from others called Mary by noting that seven demons had gone out of her, a dramatic deliverance through the Lord’s power. She related closely to His death and burial. At Calvary ‘there were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less ... and Salome’. As Joseph and Nicodemus undertook the burial of the Saviour’s body, ‘Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid’. On the resurrection morning ‘Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen’ (Mark 15:40,47; 16:1,2). After finding the stone rolled away and hearing the angel’s announcement that the Lord had risen from the dead, it was Mary Magdalene who ran to tell Simon Peter and ‘the other disciple, whom Jesus loved ... "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him"‘. Mary evidently returned and lingered tearfully at the tomb after Peter and John had seen for themselves the evidence that He was not there, but had risen. As she lingered, the Lord graciously appeared to her, she being the first to see Him after He was raised from the dead. Yet throughout the four gospels there is not the slightest implication that the Lord Jesus related to Mary Magdalene or any other woman in marriage.

However, the author of The Da Vinci Code resorts to other sources for his story such as the spurious ‘Gospel according to Mary Magdalene’ which was unknown until 1896, when it was discovered in Cairo. God ensured that His written word was ‘God-breathed’, holy men of God being moved by the Holy Spirit to record it (2 Pet.1:20,21). He has also watched over His word historically to ensure that only the genuinely inspired writings would find recognition as authentically part of His written divine revelation. The twenty-seven books of our New Testament, so remarkably complementary to the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, gained that recognition within two centuries of the apostolic era.

The apostle Peter wrote that he and his fellow-apostles ‘did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet.1:16). Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, could well be classified as a ‘cunningly devised fable’. We can only deplore its enhanced influence on many minds and hearts through its development as a film. How relevant the Psalmist’s prayer:

‘Remove from me the way of falsehood:

And grant me thy law graciously.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness:

Thy judgements have I set before me’. (Ps.119:29,30)

PRASHER, G. | Jul 2006
Focus