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In our five-day look at The Da Vinci Code, you will travel from ignorance to understanding.
Day One
Blinding Ignorance
Dr. Stanley and Dr. Terry Lindvall discuss the novel's premises.
Day Two
Facing Fiction
Dr. Lindvall and InTouch discuss the novel's misinterpretation of historical events.
Day Three
Rejecting Ignorance
Dr. Stanley and Dr. Lindvall discuss ignorance of the Bible and its cost, as well as the Jesus of the Bible.
Day Four
Facing Fantasy
Dr. Lindvall and InTouch explore the relationship between image and illusion, the power of good literature, and film criticism.
Day Five
The Consequence of Ignorance
Is Christian faith possible without a divine and human Jesus?
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Claims of the Code
 To the many people who have not read the book and do not plan to see the film are naturally unfamiliar with The Da Vinci Code 's plot. A mix of mystery, thriller, and romance, the book makes a number of astonishing claims, all of which, a note in the front of the book suggests, are based on fact.
Nearly all of the claims are damaging to Christianity in some way, and several go right to the center of the faith—Jesus Himself. The book claims that:
- Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, thus having a "royal" bloodline that exists to this day. The ?Holy Grail,? traditionally believed to be the cup Christ used at the last supper, was in fact Mary Magdalene because she carried Christ's progeny.
- This secret has been protected for centuries by a group called the Priory of Sion. Leonardo da Vinci was a member of this group, and planted clues about this secret in his painting The Last Supper (hence the title of the book).
- The Bible is a work of fiction by people hired by Constantine to say Christ was divine. Prior to that time, few in the church believed Christ was divine, and Christ Himself never claimed to be God.
- The purpose of the Council of Nicea was to grab as much power as possible. They invented the doctrine of Christ's divinity?pre-Nicene Christians did not believe Christ was divine.
- Before Christianity, cultures upheld male and female equally, and the ?Sacred Feminine? was thoroughly entrenched until Christianity insisted upon subjugating women.
- Although a work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code is based upon painstaking research. Thus, Dan Brown has broken through 2,000 years of Church conspiracy.
In a nutshell, according to The Da Vinci Code , Jesus Christ was neither Lord nor Savior. The Catholic (and later, Protestant) Church has managed to create a faith held dear by more than 2 billion people worldwide? more than any other faith?based upon a lie.
The Da Vinci Code should not be ignored for many reasons, but the most basic is this: Christians must always be ready to defend the faith (1 Peter 3:15-16) even if the attack comes from a mediocre work of fiction. We need not be expert theologians to confront lies propagated by people such as Brown. To defend Christianity?thus, to defend the Truth?we must know some of the basics of our faith and our history.
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