Notes of Chapt 4: "Cracking Da Vinci's Code - You have read the fiction, now
read the facts"
by G&J
False statements of DB in the 'Da Vinci Code'
1. Jesus' Divinity is the result of a "close" vote of the bishops. (pg 233)
2. The early Church hijacked Jesus' message and shrouded it with Divinity. (pg
233)
3. Jesus is simply a mortal prophet ... a great and powerful man, but
mortal nonetheless (pg 233).
Jesus' Divinity is not a result of a vote by the bishops with or without the
urging of Emperor Constantine. Jesus' Divinity, as believed by the church,
stems from the writings in the Bible with a quote by apostle Peter himself,
"You are Christ ... Messiah, the actual son of God". This is one of many
references in the Gospels on this topic.
As per DB, the "original disciples" of Jesus were a group of gnostics, not the
well-known disciples who are generally recognized and who wrote the Gospels and
other books in the New Testament.
Who are gnostics? These are individuals who believe every Christian is a
"christ" and thus every Christian is divine. According to DB, the gnostic
gospels predate the New Testament. In these gnostic gospels, Jesus is
portrayed as a spiritual man, with no mention of his death, resurrection or
divinity (mediator between God the creator and sinful humanity). More analysis
of gnostic beliefs follow in subsequent chapters.
G&J takes a look at the time line:
The earliest Christian writings are of Paul a contemporary of Jesus and written
in 48AD - 60AD. Paul was originally a very anti-Christian Jewish Rabbi. He
converted to Christianity, and then preached for Christ. Later he was executed
for his faith. Paul's writings are a major component of the New Testament.
Paul did not highjack Jesus' nature from the "original gnostic disciples" as DB
suggest. Paul formed his own opinion of Jesus. None of Paul's writings refer
to "original gnostic believers". Gnostics (group) and their writings as being
contemporaneous with Christ is fiction not substantiated or referenced in any
of the contemporary writings of the period (40-100 AD). Paul mentions the
names of the disciples as "eyewitnesses to Jesus" whom he met on several
occasions. Paul refers in many of his writings to the Divinity of Jesus, thus
negating that the concept of "Jesus' Divinity" was a latter invention (fourth
century).
New Testament books were written by contemporaries of Jesus - Peter, James,
John, Mathew. Jesus lived from 7–2 BCE to 26–33 AD. A few were written by
those who knew these contemporaries. These authors, other disciples (including
Thomas in India) and others died for their belief (Divinity of Jesus) and not
for a "high jacked message". Hence DB's assertion is flat wrong that Jesus was
not considered Divine till 325 AD. This is when the Council of Nicaea met to
re-affirm (not to create) the Divinity of Christ. G&J documents a long list
(eleven quotes) of writings from several religious authors written between 100
AD to 305 AD about the Divinity of Jesus.
The gnostic concept of Jesus (just another human being) was created in 318 AD
by a person from Egypt called Arius. His followers were called Arians. Likely
this message fitted well with the concept in Egyptian culture that the Pharaoh
goes on to join God after death; but is born as an ordinary human.
The vote in Nicaea re-confirming the Divinity of Jesus was 316 to 2; (not a
close vote) which ended the confusion perpetrated by the Arians. The apostles,
the persecuted Church (of the first 300 years) the Nicaea bishops did to meet
to revise the beliefs (as DB suggest) but to reaffirm, unify and consolidate
their beliefs, in a universally accepted Christian prayer called The Creed.
Regards, GL
