Getting the facts right to decode the Da Vinci’s Code

Dr. James L. Garlow, the coauthor of Cracking Da Vinci’s Code (has sold more than a third of a million copies), has written another very useful book refuting the Da Vinci Code. James L. Garlow's new book The Da Vinci Codebreaker: An Easy-to-Use Fact Checker (Bethany, 2006) serves as an easy-to-use fact checker which provide answers to the questions readers most often ask about The Da Vinci Code. Historically and theologically correct explanations are given for the more than 500 entries that include terms, concepts, people, locations, and events. As the book has entries arranged alphabetically, it works like a dictionary, and I think this would make it a useful reference, in case we ourselves get confused by all the facts. I think this book is a must for thoughtful readers who seek more information about the claims of the novel and Ron Howard's upcoming film. The book clearly states where in the Da Vinci’s Code Dan Brown make his dubious claims for every entry, so I think we would probably understand Dan Brown's Da Vinci’s Code better with this book in hand. ... maybe even better than those who read the book more than once! Dan Brown's Da Vinci’s Code may be just 'a cheap, skillfully constructed entertainment that is simulatenously a bitterly biased, utterly irresponsible slander of Christian tradition. ' (in the words of Michael Medved who endorsed Garlow's new book) But, when we remember that Dan Brown's claims undermine the foundation of our faith (the doctrine of the Trinity), should we still be sitting around? Or should we be doing something? If Jesus is not divine, then He could not have paid for our sins and our faith is in vain. However, if we look around, there are too many Christians who just sit back and simply don't feel nothing. We lack the the fervour the Muslims have for their faith. I am sometimes simply amazed by this calmness of Christians. When others criticise us, I believe we often get angry, and this is because we feel they are making untrue & unfair remarks. Yet, when non-Christians criticise the bible, or criticise the foundations of our faith, we are able to remain so calm. What does this show? Are we not sure of what we believe? Are we just disinterested in all things 'that is religion' and have the 'if they don't believe in Christ, that's their business' mentality'? As a recent sermon by Rev Stephen Tong “What Do We Fight For?” correctly portrays,

Christians have the habit of putting their theology in the fridge. When Mohamed was made fun of, Muslims produced social upheaval in many countries around the world. When Jesus Christ is made fun of, Christians produced another book. When we lose our fighting spirit, all knowledge becomes cold. We need to defreeze it and be set on fire again. Reformed theology is reformed theology. Movement is movement. Yet now churches only fight among themselves and do not declare war against Satan.

Very often, we have failed to ask ourselves "Why do we believe what we believe?". Dan Brown's Da Vinci’s Code can be a "危机" (crisis) to the historic faith of Christianity (though I think this is impossible, since God is in control of everything! ), but as the Chinese saying goes, "危机就是时机" (a time of crisis is also a time of opportunity). But we need to be quick, as "时机" (opportunities) don't last forever. Be quick for evangelism. Even if we may not have the opprtunities to use the DVC to lead people to faith, Garlow's new book The Da Vinci Codebreaker would also serve as an interesting 1000 bible facts type of book. It is an good opportunity of learning in areas of Arts (exploring Leonardo Da VInci's paintings such as the 'Madonna of the Rocks'), archaeology (To find out about the Nag Hammadi Documents.), church history (Learning about how the canon of the NT bible was formed. Finding out whether Constantine had the gospels changed & re-written. What really happened at the Council of Nicea?) and theology (Explore the biblical truths in areas of doctrine of scripture, Christology and the Incarnation). May we use this chance to deepen our faith & not be sweep by the postmodernism hidden in the DVC.

Below is an excerpt from James L. Garlow's new book The Da Vinci Codebreaker: An Easy-to-Use Fact Checker.

Holy Grail, The -- Many today consider the Holy Grail to be the cup used by Jesus and his disciples during the Last Supper; some also believe Joseph of Arimathea held the cup to catch the blood from Jesus' side as he died.

In 1170, Frenchman Chretien de Troyes wrote a poem called Perceval, seemingly based on Celtic myths, in which the grail is simply a jeweled dish. As the story was retold and rewritten, a distinctive theme emerged. Before the twelfth century, there were no legends about the grail; by the thirteenth century the tale had become intertwined with Arthurian legends, the characters from Chretien's story developed into supposed historical figures from the Gospels, and the grail had become the Holy Grail.

The Da Vinci Code's Leigh Teabing says that the French word for "Holy Grail," Sangreal, is actually an incorrect rendering of the words Sang Real, which would mean "Royal Blood." This idea is based on a suggestion made in Holy Blood, Holy Grail that at one point the word may have been miscopied and divided in the wrong place; the writers admit this is an unlikely possibility.

The pieces begin to fall into place for The Da Vinci Code characters once they begin to consider ancient pagan symbols for females (chalice) and males (blade). However, there is no historical evidence to connect the ancient chalice and the Holy Grail, since the grail's concept can only be traced back as far as the twelfth century (DVC, 162, 238, 250). See also Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Age of Pisces, The -- Greek, fish; since from ancient times the fish has been used as a Christian symbol, some see the arrival of the Aquarian Age as signaling the passing of Christianity. The Da Vinci Code describes the current Piscean Age as one of passivity--accordingly, Dan Brown says, people have been easily controlled by the Roman Catholic Church for the past two thousand years (DVC, 267). See also Age of Aquarius; astrology; zodiac.

Mary Magdalene -- According to the New Testament, Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus from whom he cast "seven demons"; she followed him throughout his ministry, witnessed the crucifixion, and, with two other female disciples, discovered the empty tomb. Mary was probably from Magdala, a village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The Da Vinci Code alleges that the New Testament excludes an important fact: "The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record" (245). In fact, there is not one scrap of evidence in any first-century record that implies a sexual or marital relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Additionally, even if Jesus had married--again, a proposition for which there is no reliable evidence--it wouldn't be disastrous for Christian faith (as Dan Brown implies), for the Scriptures neither affirm nor deny that Jesus was married. In addition to being completely divine, Jesus was completely human (John 1:18; 1 John 4:2); if he'd had children, they would also have been completely human.

The Da Vinci Code notes that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute: "That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early church. The church needed to defame Mary Magdalene to cover up her dangerous secret [i.e., Mary's role as the spouse of Jesus]" (244).

This is partly correct: she was probably not a prostitute. Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary (Luke 8:2), but there is no evidence to suggest she was sexually immoral. At the same time, there is also no evidence to suggest that anyone instituted a "smear campaign" to discredit her. A tradition arose in the third and fourth centuries that she was the sinful woman mentioned in Luke 7:36-50 and, perhaps, the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11; in 591, Pope Gregory I included this teaching in a sermon. Although such identifications were probably mistaken, they are far from a slander crusade launched to hide a dangerous secret. See also Benjamin, tribe of; Gospel of Philip; Gospel of Mary; marriage, Jewish.