Where Did This Bible Come From?

That was the title of the sermon in my church today, the first of a 3-part series on The DaVinci Code. Hopefully within the next few days you can listen to the whole thing here. But for now, I'll hit the highlights because I was fascinated by what I didn't know!

The first page of The DaVinci Code states that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." Oh really. Well, the Bible is a document, and an excerpt from the DVC book states, "The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not magically fall from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book." It also states that "the Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great." Apparently he chose which gospels did or did not go into the Bible based on his political agenda. In reality, Constantine was a Christian, and documents from the Council of Nicaea in 325 never mention his picking and choosing the gospels. The Old Testament was put together somewhere between 400 and 100 B.C., and the content is EXACTLY the same as what we have now. For a gospel to be considered for the New Testament, it had to be written by an apostle or one directly mentored by an apostle, and the content had to be consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus. The general consensus of what was to be included in the New Testament was pretty much established by 300 A.D., so for SEVENTEEN CENTURIES we have had the same book. What about the Apocrypha, you ask? These gospels were written WELL after the New Testament gospels (like 120 years later), so there are no "first hand accounts" of anything. The church authorities did not include them in the New Testament because they were not written by an apostle or one directly mentored by an apostle, and most were not consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus. The Bible that we have is exactly how it should be - exactly the way God wants it to be. And exactly the way it has been for centuries and centuries. So, Dan Brown, perhaps not all your descriptions of documents are accurate. There are many other historical inconsistencies in the book - i.e. Romans did not invent crucifixion, the Persians did - and Constantine did not shift the Sabbath to Sunday from Saturday to coincide with the pagans' veneration day of the sun! There are far too many more to list. If you are curious about something you have read in The DaVinci Code, do some research on it and see for yourself what the real truth is. Jesus is the way, the TRUTH, and the life.