Summary: Last of a 3 part series on the Da Vinci Code

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Part 3

Breaking the Da Vinci Code

More Errors In Brown’s Research

- Review some of last weeks points

+ The Pyramid outside the Louvre in Paris has exactly “666” panes of glass. (21)

>Designed by the famous architect I. M. Pei (who also designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!), the pyramid has 603 diamond-shaped and 70 triangular panes. It’s total is 673 panes of glass

+ The Olympic Games were held as a

tribute to the planet Venus. (36)

> > The Olympics were held in honor

of Zeus on a four year cycle.

+ The Pentacle almost became the

Olympic seal. Its five points were

exchanged for five inter-locking rings.(37)

> The familiar five-ring Olympic symbol design was created during 1913-1914 by the founder of the IOC, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He wanted it to represent the first five Olympic Games

+ Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a subtle message of androgynous (120)

> Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman

- Madonna Lisa, wife of Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo

+ If Brown Is Wrong On Other Things He Will Be Wrong On The Church & Bible

> THE GOSPELS

+ From Teabing: “The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven. . . . The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. . . . it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.” (231)

+ Teabing: “. . . any gospels that described the earthly aspects of Jesus’ life had to be omitted from the Bible.” (244)

> “Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.” (234)

+ The Bible

> 2 Tim 3:16

> 2 Pet 1:21

+ Some of the Bible periods

> New Testament Period – 35-90

> Accepting the Writings – 90-160

> Canon Awareness – 160-250

> Council of Nicaea – 325

> “Nobody is saying Christ was a fraud, or denying that He walked the earth and inspired millions to better lives. All we are saying is that Constantine took advantage of Christ’s substantial influence and importance. And in doing so, he shaped the face of Christianity as we know it today. . . . Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death.” (234)

+ The royal bloodline of Jesus Christ has been chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians (253)

Brown’s experts

> The Templar Revelation” – Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince

- Both Involved in Occult & Paranormal

x

> “The Woman With The Alabaster Jar”

“The Goddess In The Gospels”

- Margaret Starbird

- MA in Comparative Literature

- MA in German

x

>“Holy Blood Holy Grail”

- Michael Baigent

- BA Psychology, Mysticism

- Richard Leigh

- Novelist, Short Story Writer

- Henry Lincoln

– Actor, Screen Writer

> None of These Are Historians

+ Bible - Jesus Is God

Philip 2:5-6

+ Col 1:13-17

+ Heb 1:1-4

- Brown reaches to the Gnostic Gospels for his information

+ The Gnostic Gospels are reliable

sources of information (246)

- [Gnostic - possessing intellectual or

spiritual knowledge]

> Gospel of Phillip written in Aramaic (246)

– Not written in Aramaic

- But Coptic Gk/Egyptian

- Misquotes -- Gospel of Philip

> "And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene [...loved] her more than [all] the disciples, [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [...]. The rest of the disciples....They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her?"

- [....] Missing information

- Brown makes his own interpretation

- If Brown wants to use the Gnostic’s

- “Gospel of Thomas” #12 James is to be the leader of the church not Mary Magdalene

- Fails to note this

+ Gospel of Mary Magdalene

3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.

4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?

6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered.

7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.

8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.

9) That is why He loved her more than us.......

>Brown is trying to make Mary Magdalene the Wife of Jesus “The Holy Grail” Not a cup but a women’s womb

> If she were Jesus’ spouse, it would be hard to imagine the other disciples speaking out against her

+ Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper

>“The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair” (244)

+Traditional Background of The Last Supper

- The Last Supper covers one wall in the rectory (dining hall) of the Dominican Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.

- Measures 15 by 29 feet

- Traditionally, each person is identified with Jesus in the alone in the middle.

- The disciples are placed in four groups

of three.

- From left to right they are identified as

>Bartholomew, >James the Less (of Alphaeus), >Andrew,

- >Judas, >Peter, >John,

- Jesus,

- >Thomas (raised finger), >James the Elder (of Zebedee), >Philip,

- >Simon the Canaanite-Zealot, >Jude, >Matthew

- John appears younger than everyone else at the table with long hair and no beard.

- Da Vinci depicts Peter as beckoning to John to ask Jesus who the betrayer is (Jn 13:24).

- Judas, motionless at the table, is also seen holding the bag

- This painting technique turned out to be a disaster.

- Within two decades, while Da Vinci was still alive, the painting began to peel and flake.

- Believing the painting had already been lost; in 1652 the monks enlarged a doorway, cutting into the middle of the wall erasing Jesus’ feet beneath the table.

- Eventually filled in, the doorway can still be seen today.

- In 1796, Napoleon’s troops used the refectory as a stable and armory; soldiers threw rocks at the disciples and climbed ladders to gouge out their eyes (Bertelli 1983: 680).

- During World War II, Allied bombs destroyed the rectory, coming within just a yard of destroying the wall painting.

- Another famous story about Da Vinci’s Last Supper is the story about the model that sat for both Jesus and Judas. The last face to paint was Judas. Da Vinci unwittingly used the same man for Judas that he used for Jesus between 10 and 20 years earlier (although most scholars believe the painting was completed in three years). The intervening years had been rough for that man and the one whose sweet face had one been used to represent the Savior was now hardened and twisted enough to represent Judas. Unfortunately there is no historical evidence behind the story. We know nothing about of any of Da Vinci’s models. It is apparently just an urban legend, like much of The Da Vinci Code.

+ What Brown Sees

>In an ominous gesture, a hand wielding a dagger emerges from the crowd; it seems to belong to no one

> The figure to Jesus’ right is said to be Mary Magdalene dressed as a man, not John .

> Peter, who was to lead the church, gestures in front of "Mary Magdalene" in a menacing way that could denote jealousy.

> Why the Upward finger from Thomas?

> (Jude) Is that Leonardo turning his back on Christ?

+

> "Mary Magdalene" and Jesus lean away from each other, forming either a V, an ancient female symbol for a chalice or grail, or the letter M representing matrimony or Magdalene.

> Jesus and "Mary Magdalene" are dressed as mirror images, supposedly representing yin and yang.

- Question: If theis is Mary Magdalene where is John? There should then be 14 peole in this painting .

>

> There is no object on the table that could be a grail or chalice; clear drinking glasses hold the wine.

+ Responding To the Idea of Jesus Being Married

> 1. The New Testament never refers to

Jesus being married.

> 2. The early church fathers never

referred to Jesus being married.

> 3. Though Mary Magdalene traveled

with Jesus, she is not singled out for special attention

+ The Bible & Mary Magdalene

> Jesus is not used as an example for marriage

> 1 Cor 9:3 (NCV) This is the answer I give people who want to judge me:4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?5 Do we not have the right to bring a believing wife with us when we travel as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter?

+

> Mary is never mentioned in connection with a male

> Other women have are connected with well known males --- Mary is never connected with a male

> Mt. 27:55

> Lk 8:12

+

> Jesus showed no special concern for Mary Magdalene at the Cross

>Jn.19:25 + God’s Mystery For Us

- Eph 1:9-14

+ God’s Warning For Us

- Gal. 1:9