Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Does the Bible hush up history?



First as a runaway bestselling novel and then as a blockbuster movie, The Da Vinci Code has fascinated millions. Its allegations against historic Christianity are colorfully portrayed, and survey shows that reading The Da Vinci Code does alter beliefs. But are these allegations true, or merely inaccurate accounts of centuries-old myths and heresies?

To sift through the evidence, here's a summary of May/June issue of Solid Ground, bi-monthly letter from STR:

  • According to The Da Vinci Code, the Bible as we know it today—along with Jesus' divinity—was fabricated at the Council of Nicea for political reasons. The authentic accounts of Jesus were destroyed. However, there is not a shred of evidence for these claims. According to those actually present at Nicea—Eusebius and Athanasius in particular—Christ's deity was the reason for Nicea, not the result of it.
  • Writings from the first three centuries are replete with references to Jesus' divinity. Even the heretical Gnostics and the Modalists got this detail right.
  • The New Testament Canon was never an issue at Nicea because the legitimacy of the four gospels had been decided centuries before. The Gnostic Gospels that Brown supports—like Thomas, Mary, and Philip—were not.
  • None of the canonical Gospels report the most climactic event of the century, the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., strong evidence each was completed before then within decades, not centuries, of the crucifixion.
  • No evidence suggests the New Testament evolved over time through countless translations and revisions. Instead, the academic analysis shows it to be the most reliable document from antiquity.

Read Solid Ground for more details.

3 comments:

adelaine said...

Hey TS :)

I'm gonna ask a real stupid question.. U went to Australia...???

Here's my tot as a person who neither read nor saw the movie yet:

last sat, my fren asked me if i wanted to catch The Da Vinci Code, I said of course.. should be a good movie.. then my fren asked me he doesn't understand why there is so much protest..how could so many ppl think that it's more than a work of fiction... and why there is so much who-ha.

seriously.. why would people think that?

my answer.. why not? we are living now in a time where people and that's a whole chunk of them that see paris hilton as a role model and worships jessica simpson..

closer to home you have auntie giving an earful to the actor that happens to play the bad guy in a cantonese serial...

we are fed with so much bull that it is hard to know what's real or not.. america went to war with iraq with the wrong info (or intent) at hand.. if people would have been more rational and look deeper...

but that's too much to ask in todays world..

if you have heard to pink's song, stupid girl.. the world needs a divine intervention on our IQ before anything else...

or maybe bless is the ignorant.. aiihhhh..

Tin Soldier said...

Don't worry, my friend. I won't hold it against you for asking. Yes I'm in Australia, which you probably have found out from my previous blog entries or the e-mail I sent you before I left.

I'm sorry to read about the attempted assault on you. I'm glad you're OK.



In the case of Dan Brown's latest bestseller, it's not difficult to figure out why people (mainly the church) protest against first the book, and now the movie. If you've only flipped through the first pages of the book, even before Brown opened the story, he made several statements trying to establish the factuality of his novel.

Now that sounds very self-defeating to me, because the author himself treats a work of fiction (alleged by himself) as though it's a work of non-fiction (also alleged by himself). It's as if Brown himself beckons the "unnecessary" controversy. By claiming historical accuracy of his novel in the manner that he did, he actually says in effect, "Hey relax, it's just a yarn... and by the way, it's based on events that have actually happened."

I really wouldn't worry about the protests because, honestly, what real good or damage have such protests achieved so far whenever a religion-related flick is released? It's the media that created the whole hoo-hah and got the crowd distracted. I mean, what news station doesn't like a scandal? And is it any surprise nowadays for so-labeled "breaking news" to look bigger deal than they actually are? But a guy who packages fiction as true history and invites his readership for a ride along is a different creature altogether.

Christianity has been under attacked for nearly two thousand years so this is really nothing new. But only the truly ignorant would buy into any popular allegations without checking the facts (in this case, history) for themselves.

adelaine said...

thanks TS, Im fine... actually i dun think i got the emails b4 you left.. sorry.. i think it has a period where my virtual half went into a coma... and my mail box- just hotmail... exploded..

here's sumthing interesting i read today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12893635/site/newsweek/?GT1=8199

but i am still amazed at how ppl can get so carried away with a story..

so how's life down under?

《我們青春的三言兩語》

他跟她是隔壁班 每當他出現在她的面前 她都愛靜觀他的一舉一動 然後幻想兩個人在一起的畫面 中學時期過了 當然兩個人也沒在一起 是他因為害怕而錯過了 二十年後 他們重遇在他的工作室 成了要好的朋友 她問他有沒有喜歡的人 他愣住了...