The Da Vinci Code - Muddling Fact and Fiction

After all the press releases and online interactions with and criticisms and praises of The Da Vinci Code, I finally caved in and read the book last week. I have to admit that it was a thrilling read and was at times very difficult to put down. The first half of the book was especially good. At times the dialogue was tedious and read much like a textbook or documentary and Brown did not do much with character development, but the plot is what drives this book. The twists, shockers, and surprises at the end of each chapter made the novel read much like one of these television mini-series. As much as many people are hooked on “24” or “LOST,” I have to admit that I was pretty hooked on The Da Vinci Code. If you’re looking for a spectacular, knock-you-out-of-your-seat ending, you’ll be disappointed, but it’s still an entertaining read.

That having been said, as entertaining as it was, the book caused me great concern and much of its contents were quite disturbing. As many have read in the press releases, Dan Brown is not shy about making claims about the historical accuracy of much of the book. Although it is written in the genre of fiction, the book still instructs its readers about various facts and interesting conjectures of history. There is much written concerning art history, European history, and even church history. The problem with this is that Brown does not care to make any distinction between what is true history and what is mere speculation. Most of the claims are presented by characters who are supposed experts of symbology and history who have spent their lifetimes studying such “facts.” And most of the claims ooze believability in the way they are presented.

One of the areas of greatest concern is that when it comes to church history in particular, Brown’s research is less than extraordinary and at times very misleading. Coupled with the fact that many of his claims about church history are made in the immediate context of other interesting facts about art history and symbology, the book essentially deceives readers into believing that the historical claims are all equally true (and this doesn’t take into account that not all of Brown’s claims about art history and European history are very good either).

One example of Brown’s mishandling of art history is with Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” This mural depicts the scene in the gospels when Jesus reveals to His disciples in the Upper Room that one of them would betray Him. In The Da Vinci Code, one of the characters points to the fact that at Christ’s right hand, the seat of honor, is not the Apostle John as the vast majority of art historians claim, but actually Mary Magdalene – Jesus’ alleged wife. Woven through the entire plot of the novel is a contrived conspiracy about the Roman Catholic Church and a clandestine group called The Priority of Sion seeking to squelch the truth that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were actually married and bore children. The Holy Grail, then, is not the cup from which Christ drank, but the “holy bloodline” of Christ. This, of course, does not take into account that even Da Vinci’s own notes explain that it is indeed John the Baptist seated at Christ’s right hand – not Mary Magdalene!

One of the biggest heresies in the book is the claim that Jesus was not considered to be divine by His followers until A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea. Here’s an excerpt from the book:

“My dear,” Teabing declared, “until that moment in history [the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325], Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet. . . a great and powerful man, but a man nevertheless. A mortal.”
“Not the Son of God?”
“Right," Teabing said. "Jesus' establishment as the Son of God was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea.”
“Hold on. You're saying Jesus divinity was the result of a vote?”
“A relatively close vote at that,” Teabing added (pg. 233).

Of course, anyone who has read the New Testament or studied church history even in a cursory way knows that Jesus’ divinity was not invented in the early 4th century. The Council of Nicea was made necessary because a man named Arius and his followers refused to believe that Christ was of the same substance as God. They claimed that Christ was a created being and not God in the flesh. Contrary to The Da Vinci Code, Jesus’ divinity was believed and confessed by all of His true followers up to the Council of Nicea and even to today. Not only this, but the result of the vote at Nicea was a 300 to 2 landslide in favor of the orthodox belief that Jesus was indeed God, “true God from true God” – hardly a close vote!

There are many more unfortunate historical discrepancies in The Da Vinci Code, but the purpose of this post is to alert the reader to its dangers. If anything, it is probably better to read the historical claims in the novel with a degree of doubt rather than to take everything written at face value. Unfortunately, not all of the book’s readers have done so. One poll suggested that up to 60% of the people who have read the novel believe Jesus was actually married. This is just one indicator of the book’s tremendous influence.

For more on The Da Vinci Code, visit the website created by the staff at Westminster Theological Seminary: www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com.

Importance of the Local Church

As I wrote the previous entry, I realized that there are a number of things that should have been defined clearly as I don't want to assume that people automatically understand what I am talking about. So I will attempt to provide some foundational points in continuing on the topic of parachurch ministries. What is a local church? Essentially, it would refer to a body of believers that are the visible representation of the invisible, universal church, which is comprised of the body of Christ worldwide. The local church is to be governed by qualified leaders (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1) who are called to shepherd the flock according to the standards and parameters set by the Scriptures. The local church is the body in which all the one anothers are to be fleshed out in obedience to Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 gives a great analogy of the physical body as an illustration of how the body of Christ is to work. The local church is where the ordinances of baptism and communion are to be practiced. While a local church is by no means perfect in its representation of the body of Christ, it is the primary vehicle through which God is carrying out the New Testament plan of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). The local church does include unbelievers in attendance, though their attendance does not make them a part of the universal body of Christ. But in the end, the local church is the institution through which God has and will continue to fulfill His plans.

What is a para-church? My simple definition is this - a particular ministry with a particular purpose for a particular group of people for a particular period of time. Examples of para-church ministries would be college campus ministries such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Navigators, Inter-Varsity. Other examples would be seminaries, missions organizations, Christian publishing houses, specialized ministries for the homeless, counseling ministries, and the list goes on. The basic premise of a para-church ministry is that it would come alongside ("para") and assist the church in areas where churches might be deficient in their ability to minister. Many of the mega-churches today have the capacity and ability to provide and oversee a multitude of ministries, which result in less of a dependence on para-church ministries to cover particular needs. On the other hand, small churches are often very short-handed in their ability to minister to and reach out to people of various backgrounds. Some churches end up becoming very dependent on various para-church ministries to provide ministry for collegians, for overseas missions, etc.

The reason why I felt compelled to share about this issue is because there is a very REAL problem with the understanding of the role of the local church by many who have, whether intentionally or not, diminished, demeaned, and even boldly claimed the demise of the local church in favor of what recently has been advocated by George Barna in his book, "Revolution" - the idea of just independent gatherings of believers outside the context of the local church since so many local churches have failed in fulfilling their calling. This kind of mentality is dangerous in that it breeds the kind of entrepreneurial mentality towards the church that pushes for a very man-centered and man-driven organization versus a God-centered and God-driven obedience to the Word of God. While I can sympathize and identify with many of the criticisms that people have about the local church (just ask me to share about my 10 year experience in the Korean church scene), I still have hope and confidence that because it is God's church and since Jesus Christ is the head of the church, we can forge ahead and pursue the ministry of the local church with vigor and enthusiasm because we can see God do the work that He promised to do, that is, that He will build the church and the gates of Hades will not stand against it.

One verse that really has been a tremendous blessing as well as a reminder to keep my focus in the right place is Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." This is the passage where we first set our hopes back in March 1998 when we started praying for the planting of Lighthouse Bible Church. I can say with confidence that God has truly fulfilled this passage in so many ways as we have absolutely seen God do exceeding abundantly beyond what we asked for or thought. We have seen His power at work and because it is His power that is the source behind all that has taken place, we give Him all the praise and glory in this church!!

As I shared this past Sunday about my own struggles and my shortcomings, it is a clear reminder of my inability and frailty to do anything on my own. But with God's power, we are given abundant grace to be used by our Lord to fulfill our roles in the body of Christ and what we see now at LBC is the fruit of obedience and commitment to God's design and plan rather than following our own or what the latest fad advocates. So consider the high calling of being a part of a local church that seeks God's glory and run with it!!

It Is God’s Church – Not Your Church

If you attend Lighthouse long enough you are bound to hear some teaching about the priority of the local church. This is one of the firm convictions of LBC since the Scriptures teach that the church is God’s one ordained institution that He will use to carry out His will and purpose in the world. In Matthew 16:18, after Peter’s great confession, Christ says that He would build His church. It is interesting that Christ does not say, “I will build THE church.” It is HIS church. It has always been His church and has never been our church. Because the church is Christ’s we ought to have the same understanding about it that Christ had, namely a biblical understanding as it is revealed in Christ’s Word.

In Acts 20:28, Paul instructs the Ephesian elders to “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” In Matthew 16, Christ declared that the church was His church. In the Acts passage, Paul gives the reason why it is Christ’s – Christ purchased the church with His own blood. This certainly buttresses the notion that Christ can lay claim to the church. He determines what the church is and how it is to be run. This is the reason why Paul even sees the role of an elder as a divinely ordained position, “among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (cf. 1 Tim 3). The elders would have no authority in the church if it had not first been given to them by God.

1 Corinthians 4:17 gives another picture of what it means that the church is God’s divinely ordained institution. Paul tells the Corinthians in that passage that he would send Timothy to remind the church of his ways. Paul says that his ways “are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.” There was no room for human invention when it came to the work of the ministry. Paul was devoted to Christ’s ways – he made Christ’s ways his ways. Notice also the consistency with which Paul did his ministry. It was this way “everywhere in every church.” This Christ-centered ministry permeated his missions work because he understood that the church was God’s church and not his church (cf. 1 Cor 1:2).

It is God’s church and so God appoints the leaders. It is God’s church so God directs the ministry. In this very tangible way, Christ is building His church. This is the reason why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:28 that God has appointed in the church the various ministers and ministries. God governs the order in the church because it is His church (cf. 1 Cor 14:33). What greater statement is there about Christ’s identity with the church than Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all”? The church is described as the body of Christ. He is the head of the church and the church is subject to His headship (Eph 5:23-24; cf. Col 1:18). This is not an overbearing, cruel headship, but a loving relationship that shows Christ’s unbreakable commitment to His church. The language of Ephesians 5 is sometimes hard to follow because of the intermingling of imagery between Christ and the church and the husband and the wife. The marriage relationship is to be a picture of Christ’s commitment to the church. It is no wonder then that God hates divorce (Mal 2:16).

One potential point of confusion that I am happy Pastor John brought up is the distinction between the church and the parachurch. One of the reasons why this is a point of confusion is that it is a comparison of two institutions – one divinely ordained in Scripture and the other conceived by men. In this sense, the two are not comparable as two of the same kind. Rather, they must be examined as two different things.

I want to emphasize that I am not in any way saying that God cannot use the parachurch for His purposes. He certainly has and continues to do so. I am not saying that the parachurch is incapable of any good. Certainly I can bear testimony to the amazing ministry that parachurches provide having been part of an amazing parachurch ministry in college and even after college in seminary. The point that I am making is that if one really desires to be committed to ministry as God intended ministry to be done, he must primarily be committed to the church. Although the New Testament speaks of the universal, invisible, catholic church, it is also clear that the working out of ministry is done by means of local churches. In this sense, it might be argued that ontologically as believers we find identity in the universal church. But economically, our function as believers is best understood in the context of the local church. Regardless of whether you are involved in parachurch ministry or not, as helpful as parachurch ministry can be, as believers you are called to work out your spiritual giftedness and abilities in the church, because it is His church.

I want to elaborate on the differences between the church and the parachurch, but I will have to save that for a later time since this entry is getting long.