The Da Vinci Code

Preacher:
Date: June 24, 2015

Bible Text: 1 Timothy 4:7 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 1 Timothy 4:7

In the genre often described as biblical fiction is Dan Brown’s best-selling book entitled The Da Vinci Code. Brown’s novel is acclaimed as a cleverly written and intriguing book that weaves a plot involving Jesus and the disciples with a liaison between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, which is neither historical nor biblical.

What is both amazing and shocking to me at the same time is the vast number of people, many of whom go to church every Sunday, who accept the plot as factual and historical.

C. S. Lewis used to say that you’ve got to know what a straight line is before you know what a crooked one is. In this situation, those who lack knowledge of “the straight line” or prefer fabrication to the truth will find the perverse, crooked one looks very real and quite plausible.

“How can you be so sure that the New Testament writers told us the truth? What about the religious sources such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Nag Hammadi texts, and some of the other writings of the first century which have recently come to light?” That was in essence the question of a flight attendant, who upon discovering that I do this commentary, wanted support for a book she was writing on women and how they have been abused.

First, face the reality that everyone doesn’t like the starkness of the message of the New Testament. The story is simple enough. God (yes, that’s where it starts), God sent His son to planet earth, and His conception was miraculous in itself. A young woman, a virgin, became pregnant with a baby who was the unique fusion of man and God. His birth was unlike any other birth in all history. It was announced by angels, acknowledged by wise men, denounced by political leaders, and it changed the course of all history, which since then has been termed B.C. before Christ, or A.D., Anno Domini, the year of our Lord.

At the age of 12, He astonished the doctors in the temple. At the age of 30, He began his public ministry, healing the sick, teaching the multitudes, even raising the dead. In the course of denouncing hypocrisy and wrongdoing, He made enemies—plenty of them—and the forces against Him succeeded in effecting His death at the hands of Roman soldiers. But, so goes the simple account, three days later, He literally rose from the dead and sent His followers into all the world with the Good News that God forgives sin and changes lives.

His enemies are still alive and well today, confusing people, feeding their prejudices, defiling the historical record with a mixture of truth and falsehood. How better to neutralize the impact of His life than to secularize it, make it totally human, and create doubt as to whether or not the church fabricated the whole thing.

For years the historical record has withstood the attacks of the critics, and it survived the repercussions of The Da Vinci Code without question; but instead of buying into the historical fiction, which is neither historical nor biblical, get to know the real story. Discover what the straight line is.

The story behind the formation of the 27 books of the New Testament is fascinating and much too lengthy for me to explain on today’s commentary. Don’t waste your time creating doubt. Instead get to know the facts. Read the eyewitness accounts which you will find in Matthew, Mark, and John – three of the first four books in the New Testament. Then read the verdict of a Gentile doctor, trained in the scientific method, whose name was Luke. But don’t waste your money or your time reading cleverly woven tales that confuse fact with fiction and undermine the greatest story ever told.

Resource reading: Isaiah 40:1-8