DaVinci
Podcast: The Gnostic Gospels IV
This podcast based on Josh McDowell’s book, A Quest for Answers is a great way to learn about some of the controversial “facts” presented in Dan Brown’s, The Da Vinci Code. This episode is the conclusion of the Gnostic Gospels theme.
Download the mp3 (Right Click / Save As) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
If you don’t use iTunes, the podcast feed is available here.
Note: this podcast is #2 in iTunes so it may take a time to download. View iTunes page.
Update: The next mp3, Part 1 of Pagan Origins will be available at 4:00 PM EDT tomorrow.
How many gospels?
Teabing paused to sip his tea and then placed the cup back on the mantel. “More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them.” Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Was Jesus’ life really “recorded by thousands of followers across the land” as Teabing suggests? Were there really eighty gospels considered?
The answer is no. While there were other writings about Jesus, these other “gospels” were written much later than the four traditional gospels, and most were never given even a hint of consideration by early Christians.
Mark, the earliest of the four biblical gospels, is usually dated to around 60 AD (60 years after the birth of Christ, 27 years after his death). By contrast, even the most liberal scholars date the two non-biblical gospels Teabing quotes from, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip to, at the earliest, at 120 AD and 180 AD respectively. Unlike the biblical gospels, of which we have literally thousands of early copies, most non-biblical gospels exist in only a few manuscripts. The Gospel of Philip, for example, exists in only one manuscript which is incomplete.
Why should we seriously consider writings that were not only written much later than the biblical gospels, but were also passed by as inaccurate by the people who lived closest to the time Jesus lived?
Podcast: The Gnostic Gospels III
This podcast based on Josh McDowell’s book, A Quest for Answers is a great way to learn about some of the controversial “facts” presented in Dan Brown’s, The Da Vinci Code. This episode is the third of four parts dealing with the Gnostic Gospels.
Download the mp3 (Right Click / Save As) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
If you don’t use iTunes, the podcast feed is available here.
Note: this podcast is #2 in iTunes so it may take a time to download. View iTunes page.
Update: The next mp3, Part 4 of The Gnostic Gospels will be available at 4:00 PM EDT tomorrow.
What’s the big deal about The Da Vinci Code? It’s “just fiction”!
You know, I just don’t get it. Everyone is treating this book as a non-fiction, factual book. It’s not!!! … There’s more to life than getting obssessed about a fiction book. (bethann, posting a comment on this blog)
We know the novel is fiction. We know Langdon, Sophie, Teabing and the rest are not real people and that their adventure isn’t real either. The problem stems, in part, from Dan Brown’s “FACT” page, which states:
FACT: The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099 – is a real organization … All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.
Brown believes his research for the book is accurate. He claims that “99 percent of it is true. All of the architecture, the art, the secret rituals, the history, all of that is true, the Gnostic gospels.” In reality Brown’s treatment of ancient documents is deceptive at best, and the Priory of Sion is a known hoax, among dozens of other errors. Even though the novel is promoted as fiction, many accept the parts Brown himself claims are true, and one of the aims of this site is to discuss where the novel gets it wrong.
Those of you who remember the recent James Frey scandal regarding his book A Million Little Pieces will recall the outrage people felt when they learned that his supposedly true book (featured on, then later blasted by, Oprah) turned out to contain many lies. If people were outraged by James Frey’s lies about his own life, shouldn’t Christians be just as outraged about lies about Jesus? If people are really interested in “seeking the truth”, should we be interested in how The Da Vinci Code misrepresents the parts it says are fact?
Podcast: The Gnostic Gospels II
This podcast based on Josh McDowell’s book, A Quest for Answers is a great way to learn about some of the controversial “facts” presented in Dan Brown’s, The Da Vinci Code. This episode is the second of four parts dealing with the Gnostic Gospels.
Download the mp3 (Right Click / Save As) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
If you don’t use iTunes, the podcast feed is available here.
Note: this podcast is #2 in iTunes so it may take a time to download. View iTunes page.
Update: The next mp3, Part 3 of The Gnostic Gospels will be available at 4:00 PM EDT tomorrow.
Podcast: The Gnostic Gospels I
This podcast based on Josh McDowell’s book, A Quest for Answers is a great way to learn about some of the controversial “facts” presented in Dan Brown’s, The Da Vinci Code. This episode is the first of four parts dealing with the Gnostic Gospels.
Download the mp3 (Right Click / Save As) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
If you don’t use iTunes, the podcast feed is available here.
Note: this podcast is #2 in iTunes so it may take a time to download. View iTunes page.
Update: The next mp3, Part 2 of The Gnostic Gospels will be coming available at 4:00 PM EDT Thursday.
So Dark the Con of Man
…and so-so the movie of Dan, especially the anagram portions, wouldn’t you agree? They were all solved in a matter of seconds! It reminded me of when my wife looks at those MagicEye 3D puzzles and says, “Oh yeah, do you see the sailboat?” and I’m still trying to figure out what color the picture is supposed to be.
It turns out Dan Brown was onto something when he used anagrams as clues in The Da Vinci Code. According to Wikipedia,
Jews are often credited with the invention of anagrams, probably because later Hebrew writers, particularly Kabbalists, were fond of it, asserting that “secret mysteries are woven in the numbers of letters.” Anagrams were known to the Greeks and also to the Romans, although the known Latin examples of words of more than one syllable are nearly all imperfect. The Romans called the art of finding anagrams the “ars magna” (great art). Interestingly, “ars magna” is a perfect anagram of the word “anagrams.”
Furthermore,
Indeed, the right to lampoon royalty and politicians via anagram was enshrined in English law in 1215, when King John, albeit under duress, signed the Magna Carta (Magna Carta = Anagram Act) at Runnymede, in Surrey?W. Camden (Remains, 7th ed., 1674) defines “Anagrammatisme” as “a dissolution of a name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense applyable (i.e., applicable) to the person named.”
Some interesting anagrams for you to ponder from Anagram Genius, Da Vinci Code anagrams:
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “The candid voice.” (by Frank LaRue using Anagram Genius) (2003)
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “Convicted. Die! Ha!” (by Stanley Accrington by hand) (2006) (pending approval)
“The Da Vinci Code” -> “Addictive con, eh?” (by Mick Tully using Anagram Genius) (2006) (pending approval)
“The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci” -> “Reputable and splotched visionary.” (by Barzin Barry Sabahat using Anagram Genius) (2005)
“Mona Lisa” -> “Mail a son…” (by Shayon using Anagram Genius) (2005) (pending approval)
Some other anagrams for you to ponder:
“Jesus Christ” -> “Chess Jurist.” (by Anantha by hand) (2005) (pending approval)
“Christian” -> “Rich at sin.” (by Joe Fathallah by hand) (2002)
“Christian” -> “Rich saint.” (by unknown by hand)
Anagrams are interesting because they bring new words to the original word, and sometimes they connect. The word “Christian” has various meanings in our culture. How has this word influenced you… what do you think a Christian is?
“The only thing that matters is what you believe”
The Columbia Pictures movie opened in 3,735 theaters in the United States and grossed a respectable average of $7,764 per screen.
And according to showbizdata.com, the movie has grossed $85.9 million in the US today since its May 19th opening.
In the movie there are two characters, Robert Langdon and Leigh Teabing, who make some incredible claims. In the introduction to the article, The Da Vinci Code Movie: Checking the Facts, author Mark Hansard writes,
The movie makes a number of claims about Jesus and Christianity that do not stand up to historical scrutiny. The film is briefly analyzed here in Q&A format. Questions are answered about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the relationship between paganism and Christianity, the history of the Crusades and witch hunts, as well as Constantine and the divinity of Jesus.
It’s a very useful and quick resource on some of the historical differences from the movie and what really happened. It’s certainly worth a read.
Later in the article, Mark Hansard writes:
“The only thing that matters is what you believe”
This line from the movie may sound believable on the surface, but is really not a rational position. The implication here is that religious belief is a matter of taste or opinion, having nothing to do with facts, which is a popular notion today. But believing something cannot and will not make it true, no matter how strongly it is believed. A person may believe he can fly, but if he jumps off a building, gravity will work on him just as it will on anyone else.
You read Hansard’s article and the evidence for Jesus’ deity, but do you believe it? So what makes truth truth to you? Is truth absolute and what is the truth about Jesus to you? Who do you think Jesus is?
Podcast: History of the Bible II
This podcast based on Josh McDowell’s book, A Quest for Answers is a great way to learn about some of the controversial “facts” presented in Dan Brown’s, The Da Vinci Code. This episode is the second of two parts in The History of the Bible.
Download the mp3 (Right Click / Save As) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
If you don’t use iTunes, the podcast feed is available here.
Note: this podcast is #2 in iTunes so it may take a time to download. View iTunes page.
Update: The sixth mp3, Part 1 of The Gnostic Gospels will be coming available at 4:00 PM EDT Wednesday.
Did Leonardo da Vinci hate the Bible?
Sophie read the words.
Many have made a trade of delusions “Here’s another,” Teabing said, pointing to a different quote.
and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude.
-LEONARDO DA VINCIBlinding ignorance does mislead us. Sophie felt a little chill. “Da Vinci is talking about the Bible?”
O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
-LEONARDO DA VINCITeabing nodded. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Chapter 55)
If Leonardo was really referring to the Bible, these are very harsh statements. But as I was surprised to discover, neither quote actually is about the Bible!
His first comment, in context, is about alchemists who claimed that they could change lead into gold. His second comment, in context, refers to the foolishness of what he called men?s “own opinions”, “lascivious joys”, and “vain splendour”. Brown completely misrepresented Leonardo?s writings to make it seem as if the great artist detested the Bible. (Richard Abanes, The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code)
In these passages, Brown misuses Leonardo Da Vinci’s statements. Don’t take our word for it, read the actual quotes from Leonardo’s own notebooks! See sections 1207-1208 (“Against alchemists”) and 1180-1182 (“On foolishness and ignorance”).
Do you think Brown is justified in taking Leonardo?s quotes out of context? If this part of Code is inaccurate, what about the rest of it? Though the book is a thriller and “fiction”, most authors try to be accurate in their research for their stories. Is it okay that Leonardo’s words are taken out of context for the purpose of furthering the plot?
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