----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Breaking The Da Vinci Code
So the divine Jesus and infallible Word emerged out of a fourth-century power-play? Get real.
By Collin Hansen | posted 11/07/2003


Perhaps you've heard of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. This fictional thriller has captured the coveted number one sales ranking at Amazon.com, camped out for 32 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List, and inspired a one-hour ABC News special. Along the way, it has sparked debates about the legitimacy of Western and Christian history.
While the ABC News feature focused on Brown's fascination with an alleged marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, The Da Vinci Code contains many more (equally dubious) claims about Christianity's historic origins and theological development. The central claim Brown's novel makes about Christianity is that "almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." Why? Because of a single meeting of bishops in 325, at the city of Nicea in modern-day Turkey. There, argues Brown, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base (he calls this, anachronistically, "the Vatican" or "the Roman Catholic church") created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture—both of them novelties that had never before existed among Christians.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.christianitytoday.com/his...2003/nov7.html

It would be safe to say that The Da Vinci Code has been a complete success, and a delight to read. But could this book be the start of questioning our faith? Dan Brown has created one of the most successful religious fictions of this time, but don’t you think that some people might believe this book actually has some truth in it? Do you know that in Brown’s bibliography he fails to cite the Bible? He bases his evidence on Gnostic text written 500 years after the resurrection and also uses possible false documents about the Priory of Sion. Brown also plays with the thought of history being written by winners. This means that the most powerful leaders and/or countries/groups have described a biased account of history. What is the truth about Jesus’ life and ministry? Was he married to Mary Magdalene? Do secret writings not in the Bible really contain the truth about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the “sacred feminine”? Did Constantine invent modern Christianity? Is the Priory of Sion a real organization? What is the Holy Grail? Does Leonardo da Vinci’s art really have secret codes about Jesus and Mary Magdalene embedded within? These are some of the questions discussed in De-Coding Da Vinci by Amy Welborn. The book is basically a Catholic counter-attack which does a surprisingly good job. But the ultimate question remains, is The Da Vinci Code a masterpiece or propaganda, and is history written by winners?

__________________
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."

-Socrates

Economic Left/Right: 0.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.51
www.politicalcompass.org

both members of Opus Dei

Neither. It's just a fairly entertaining thriller with some crap about Jesus thrown in. It's not nonfiction and anyone who treats is such is just plain stupid. I think religion is one of the worst things to ever happen to humans, but that doesn't mean I think the Da Vinci Code was little more than a trite thriller novel.

__________________
"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence."
Jim Morrison

__________________
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

I agree. I meant "organized religion" not spirituality in general. I've always viewed spiritual expoloration and scientific experimentation as interchangeable.

I also think it's extremely arrogant to take anything other than an agnostic stance when it comes to the existence of a God, unless you're open to the idea that you're probably wrong.

__________________
"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence."
Jim Morrison

maybe other people have vastly different experiences that you do. What if something happened in your life that impacted you so deeply that you could not resist the notion that there is a God, and he has an active role in our lives?

you may not believe this, but be open minded enough to realize that some people's experiences tell them something differently that what you believe.

As to the question raised by the thread -

It is fiction masquerading as fact, like the "Celestine Prophecy" books of a few years ago...I read it, found it entertaining and very well written, fast moving, ready for movies (which I am sure the author had in the forefront of his mind). It pushes all the politically correct trendy contrarian nonsense buttons it can, so certain womens libbers, man haters, atheists, agnostics, democrats, and others will be eager to accept it...but it is full of impossibly vague concepts that frankly make anything in most obscure sections of the Bible seem readily accessible in comparison...You may get the impression I think it is bs...you're right.

Its based on factual books. Read Holy Blood Holy Grail, The Second Messiah, and The Hiram Key. All are non-ficition and have documented facts.

The authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail are suing Random House (who published the Davinci Code) for COMPLETELY ripping off their book. Dan Brown basically took that book, slapped some sappy plotline into it, pretending like he knew what he was talking about, and sold it, making millions.

The guys who wrote Holy Blood Holy Grail are researchers. Dan Brown is a fame seeking (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*).

__________________
www.contraweb.tk
.: Digital Activism for the New Millenium :.

What I really found funny, (I haven't read the book yet but I picked it up on a friends recommendation and an impending 12hr plane ride on monday.)

While in the base book store, I couldn't find this particular book right away, I did happen across 3 seperate books in the religious section refuting the DaVinci Code...

...since when does a work of fiction need to be 'de-bunked'?

Because retarded people will believe any story that appeals to them, even if its completely false.

Look at my above post. Dont read the Davinci Code. Read the books I was talkin about, they have facts and research.

__________________
www.contraweb.tk
.: Digital Activism for the New Millenium :.