WHAT IF IT’S TRUE?

THE DaVINCI CODE 1:

How Do We Know There Is A God?

By Rev. Jerry Schmoyer

There once were a group of goldfish who lived in a bowl. They had lived there as long as they could remember and none of them had ever left the bowl and come back to tell what was on the outside. One day, one goldfish asked another, “What do you think is outside the bowl?” This question generated quite a bit of speculation and, after a while, the goldfish came up with several possible answers to this problem. One goldfish suggested that there was nothing outside the goldfish bowl. He maintained that, since he could see nothing in the side of the bowl other than his own reflection, it was silly to believe in the existence of anything that could not be seen. Another goldfish suggested that perhaps the goldfish bowl was surrounded by another goldfish bowl and that this bowl sat inside another bowl which itself was in a bigger bowl. He theorized that there might be an endless succession of goldfish bowls. A third fish stated that the goldfish bowl must have come into existence just by chance and that it was the result of a ‘big bang’. He described this phenomenon in very big words so that the other goldfish would be suitably impressed. However, there was one little goldfish who was unhappy with all of the theories of his companions and he decided that the only way to find out what was on the outside the bowl would be to try to leave it. With this in mind, he circled three times and then swam straight up as fast as he could.

The other goldfish watched him as he jumped out through the shimmering surface of the water. They continued to watch, but the brave little goldfish never returned. After a while, the first goldfish said, “He must have ceased to exist, because we all know that nothing can exist outside the bowl.” The second goldfish said, “Oh no, he moved up to a higher plane of existence. He has gone on to that larger bowl.” The third goldfish said, “You are both wrong. He has evolved and changed into a new life form.” And to this day, the three goldfish still disagree as to what happened to their small companion.

We are not goldfish, but we do share a similar characteristic. We all live in a bowl that we could call the natural world. By this, I mean that we are bounded by time and space. There is a whole world of the supernatural that is unknown to us because we are limited by our natural bodies. We are unequipped to know anything about God or about life outside our own physical existence. But we do not have to remain ignorant about these things. God exists.

The fact that He exists makes all the difference in the world! A person’s whole world view is built on what he believes or doesn’t believe about God. Christianity claims God is sovereign and loving, and He came to earth to provide redemption . But there is another kingdom – that of darkness and evil. Run by Satan and his demons, it opposes God’s kingdom of love and light. In order to prosper, it must undermine the validity of a loving God who came to redeem us.

There are many ways God’s truth is attacked today. Often the most subtle are also the most effective. One favorite trick is to undermine the origin of Christianity. Doubts are created about Jesus’ deity, the Bible’s authority and the church’s start.

Every few years a popular conspiracy theory about the origins of Christianity reemerges once everyone has forgotten how it was refuted the last time it appeared. People love conspiracy theories – still talking about if Oswald really killed President Kennedy. But a conspiracy that has fooled millions of people over thousands of years???? That is the premise that underlies the story in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code . It last appeared in a book titled Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Delacorte Press, 1982).

The DaVinci Code has made Dan Brown well known and fabulously wealthy. Recently named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine, Dan Brown has made appearances on CNN, The Today Show, National Public Radio, Voice of America, as well as in the pages of Newsweek, Forbes, People, GQ, The New Yorker, and others. It has sold some 40 million copies worldwide and is now being adapted for a movie that will come in the middle of May. It has been translated into almost 50 languages and is reported to be the best-selling novel of all time. Dan Brown working on a sequel – due out next year (the end of the story really leaves all up in air).

What is this story that has gained so much attention? Why are people so curious about it? Because if it’s true, even some of it, then Christianity are the biggest hoax ever played on mankind – there is no God, no Bible, no Savior, no heaven, and no eternal life – nothing but NOW.

SUMMARY OF THE DaVINCI CODE

The story begins in France where Robert Langdon the noted symbologist from Harvard university has been visiting as a guest lecturer. Now if you thinking I’ve never met a symbologist before that’s because there has never been one before Robert Langdon, but that’s simply artistic license.

Langdon is disturbed at his hotel room by the French Police who take him to the Louvre to assist in a murder investigation. It would appear that one of the curators of the museum, Jacques Sauniere has been brutally murdered. However before dying Sauniere is able to leave a variety of clues scattered around the gallery he has locked himself in as an unsuccessful bid to escape his killer.

Unbeknownst to our hero he is actually a suspect in the murder and only escapes with the help of the beautiful police cryptographer Sophie Neveu. Langdon discovers that the murdered Sauniere not only is Sophie’s estranged Grandfather but he is also the Grand Master of Priory of Sion, a secret society entrusted with a secret which if revealed would destroy the Christian church as we know it. Still with me?

Their quest for clues to break the DaVinci Code leads them to Leigh Teabing, a former British Royal Historian, who is one of the foremost authorities on the Holy Grail. Their ensuing journey takes them through France, across the English Channel on an illicit flight, all the while staying one step ahead of the police, an albino monk killer and the “teacher” a mystery man who appears to be orchestrating the entire story. It’s during the trip that Langdon and Teabing are able to lecture Sophie about the fallacies of Christianity and the Bible as well as the evils of the church.

French museum curator, who was the guardian of a secret cache of documents held in the tomb of Mary Magdalene. The latter is alleged to have been the wife of Jesus and the true heiress to the reins of the Christian church, whose intent was to establish a feminist-centered nature religion. The Roman Catholic Church is cast in the role of the primary arch-villain that seeks to suppress these documents and keep them hidden. Playing the background heroic role is a secretive group called The Priory of Sion, of whom the murdered curator was a leader and Leonardo DaVinci a that the world as a whole is “not ready” for the startling revelations contained in them.

The two protagonists travel from place to place while solving puzzles left behind by the curator, which lead them to the location of Mary’s tomb. In the end, however, though the tomb is located, it remains unopened, and the documents remain concealed. Brown’s fast-paced novel thereby ends with a disappointing crash into a concrete wall; it promises the uncovering of secrets but never follows through.

Worked into the story line is the idea that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and their bloodline continues today. Jesus wanted her to be the head of the church after Him. As the story progresses it becomes clear that Jesus was not God and knew it. The early church supposedly changed the gospels to make it seem like He was God so they could use Him to start a new religion. They took doctrines from pagan religions and put them together to form ‘Christianity’ as we know it.

The clear implication is that that our faith is a fraud. The Bible is not true but a fake. Jesus isn’t God, that’s just a lie of the church so they could control people. These are very serious charged.

Again, they aren’t new ideas but come up often. Each generation has to disprove them. If we don’t do so today people will deny their accountability to God.

BUT DON’T CHRISTIANS KNOW BETTER THAN TO BELIEVE THIS BOOK? Many believers today hold distorted beliefs about God, truth and the Bible. A recent survey of Christian teens showed that 63% don’t believe Jesus is the Son of the one true God. 51% don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead and 81% believe truth is relative.

You’ll hear the book defended by those who say “IT’S JUST A STORY.” But at the very beginning it becomes hard to separate fiction from fact. This is partly due to the way Brown has written his story. If one sets out to read The DaVinci Code, the first word he will encounter, in bold uppercase letters, is the word "FACT." Shortly thereafter Brown writes, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." (Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003). The average reader, with no special knowledge or training in these areas, will assume the statement is true. But Brown also has a way of making the novel's theories about Jesus and the early history of Christianity appear credible.

The theories are espoused by the novel's most educated characters: a British royal historian, Leigh Teabing, and a Harvard professor of Religious Symbology, Robert Langdon. When put in the mouths of these characters, the unsuspecting reader comes away with the impression that the theories are actually true. But are they? On the television special, Brown confesses that he “became a believer” in the theories that he weaves throughout The DaVinci Code after allegedly trying to disprove them.

THE BOOK IS FULL OF HISTORICAL INACCURACIES. For example it is stated that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950’s and contained ‘gospels’ (page 13) when they were in fact found in 1947 but with NO gospels. They also say the Vatican “tried very hard to suppress the release of these Scrolls” because they contained damaging information. There is absolutely no fact to this at all. If the author can’t get something as elementary and fundamental as these right how can one trust his other ‘facts’?

We’ll be analyzing many of the false truths the book implies in the next two weeks. My purpose is not to make you an expert on Dan Brown’s book, but to use it as way to help make you better know God’s Book – the Bible. I want you to know the truth so you aren’t misled by the many false claims today. I want you to be able to speak to those that have questions about the issues addressed in The DaVinci Code. But I also want to see how this applies to our lives so we’ll also talk about what difference this makes in our daily life.

THE DAVINCI CODE’S VIEW IF GOD is that, if he exists at all, he isn’t involved with man. Religion is all about men, in fact it implies that man just develops the idea of ‘god’ to control others through religion. Christian belief states that God has always existed and reveals Himself to man. That’s what this present article will focus on, because what if the DaVinci code is right?

The characters in the DaVinci Code believe that the Gospels were changed by the early church to make Jesus God and start a religion they could use to control others. Christians believe the Bible is the accurate, inspired Word of God. What if the DaVinci code is right? We will consider that issue in the next article.

In the DaVinci Code Jesus never claimed to be God, that was just something His followers made up. He wanted his children with Mary Magdalene to carry on His work. Christians believe Jesus claimed to be and proved Himself to be God in the flesh. The third and final article in this series will deal with why Christians believe Jesus is God.

IS THERE A GOD?

At present, however, we need to deal with the issue of God’s existence. If God doesn’t exist the Bible couldn’t be inspired and Jesus couldn’t be God. As stated earlier, the DaVinci Code’s view of God is Someone men made up to use to control others for their own needs. That is well accepted by people today who want to explain any idea of God away as quickly as possible. The theory of evolution does the same thing: it gives man a justification for denying the existence of a God to Whom man is accountable.

Basic to all Christianity is the question of if there really is a God. Carl Sagan said, “The cosmos is all that there is or ever was or ever will be.” But Genesis says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

What difference does it make to you if there is a God or not? If there is a God then He created us and is in authority over us. If there is no God we are in authority. Then there is no real right or wrong. Physical death is the absolute end of us all. No matter how we have acted, there will be no accounting, no judgment and no punishment. There is no plan or purpose for what happens in this life. There is no guarantee of any meaning or significance or anything we do. Life is just to gain some temporary pleasure and then cease to exist!

WE CAN’T PROVE GOD BY THE BIBLE

So how can we know for sure if there is a God? For one thing, you can’t prove God by using the Bible for that would be circular reasoning. It would be like asking a Moslem how he knows that Allah exists and he says because the Koran says so. Then you ask him how you know the Koran is true and he says because it’s Allah’s word. You can’t have the Koran prove Allah and then Allah prove the Koran. That is circular reasoning.

The truth of the matter is that the Bible never ones tries to prove the existence of God. It always assumes the existence of God. So we can’t prove God by the Bible, but we can prove God by the evidence for His existence that is everywhere around us.

WE CAN PROVE GOD BY THE EVIDENCE

ALTERNATIVES ARE INADEQUATE

One proof for believing in the existence of God is that the alternatives to believing in God are not adequate to account for life around us. Some say mankind made up the myth of God to use as a crutch for those who are weak. A few would actually say the idea of a God is harmful because it takes away human responsibility. The truth is that it is easier to prove that God exists than that He doesn’t exist! Atheists say God doesn’t exist but that is impossible to prove.

Let me explain it this way. Which is harder to prove, that black cats do exist or that they don’t exist? To prove they do exist all you have to do is fine one black cat any where any time. However to prove they don’t exist means you must search every space in the universe where a black cat could possible be to prove that there are none there. The Russian Cosmonauts went into space and came back to say, “There is no God. We didn’t see Him.” But they didn’t go into every corner of the universe and look in every dimension, so they can’t make that statement. To make the statement that there is no God one must have all knowledge (be omniscient). There simply is not enough knowledge to say there is no God. One can say that he doesn’t believe in God or doesn’t believe there is a God. That is a true and accurate statement. But just because someone believes something doesn’t make it true or not. One can believe they don’t have to pay taxes, but that doesn’t change the absolute truth that taxes must be paid. So atheism is unverifiable.

Agnosticism says that if there is a God, He is unknowable. They state that we cannot know God. How can they make that claim? To say God is unknowable means we can know some absolute truth about God – that He is absolutely unknowable. We again are claiming to have knowledge beyond what we can possibly have.

Theism, which states that God exists and we can know Him, is the only rational, defensible position to take. God is ‘provable.’ We must admit we cannot prove God by the scientific method. But neither can anyone prove George Washington existed. There is nothing of either of them to handle, to put under a microscope, but there is plenty of evidence to prove the existence of each one. We're only concerned with God, not Napoleon. There is logical, rational proof that there is a God. These are fingerprints of God, marks of His existence that He leaves for us to find. Fingerprints are proof that someone has been at a certain place. In a court of law they are proof enough of the guilt of a person. Even if no one saw the person, his fingerprints left behind prove he had been there. God has left fingerprints behind to show us His existence. These are some of the main ones:

ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

1. THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT is based on cause and effect. There must be an uncaused cause for every effect. No effect can be produced without a cause that is outside it and greater than it. That book on your table proves there was someone who made it, for it wouldn't have been able to make itself. The same is true of the world around us. This is also true of our subjective emotions like love and hate. There must have been someone beyond and greater than them to create them. The universe needed a cause to begin its existence. It also needs a cause to continue its existence today.

Part of this argument is based on motion in the universe. Nothing can move itself. An external agent or force is required. There must be a Being who is the ultimate source of all motion in the universe or it couldn't have gone from none motion to motion by itself. If you close your eyes and open them to see a ball rolling across the floor you will rightly assume something or some power started the movement of the ball. It didn’t start on its own for it is unable to start itself.

Everything in nature is interrelated and absolutely dependent on the other. There must be a Being who is totally independent of and above this to start it all.

Everything is moving away from perfection, breaking down. The second law of thermodynamics states this. This winding down (entropy) points back to a starting time and shows things moving away from perfection. This, too, points back to God.

2. THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT is based on order and design. No one would ever think a wristwatch could come into being on its one. We assume there was an intelligent designer behind it. For this world to just 'happen' would be like the Gettysburg Address resulting from an explosion in a print shop! The fact that there is order in the universe points back to Someone causing that order (Hebrews 11:3). Evolution says it took billions of years for the correct it to just 'happen,' recognizing the unlikelihood of it. Design, too, shows there is a God. Whatever is composed of parts requires a designer (Romans 1:20). Creation is stamped with beauty and design to show us God (Psalm 19:1).

If you find a watch in the woods you don’t assume that over many years and various strikes of lightening the minerals in the earth were changed to form something as intricate and planned as a watch. You assume someone created the watch. That is true of the vast, highly complex and totally interrelated universe we live in.

For example, the earth is in just the right spot to receive the correct amount of heat and radiation. If the earth were a small percentage closer to the sun it would burn up, if further from the sun everything would freeze. Similarly, if the rotation of the earth around the sun was any faster or slower, if the revolution on its axis was faster or slower, or if the tilt of the earth was any greater or less, we would immediately freeze or melt. We could analyze the human eye, the brain, or any of thousands of other organisms and in each of the fine intricate detail beyond what we can imagine or what chance could have ever produced.

The world around us clearly shows the fingerprints of God, as Romans 1:20 says: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead." "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." Psalm 19:1

3. THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT uses the existence of our moral nature point to a God. Where did our moral nature come from? Surely our possession of it argues for the existence of a moral governor to whom man feels accountable and responsible. All people everywhere at all times have had moral standards and enforced them. All man always have known there is a right and wrong (Romans 2:14-15), even if they don't always see the same things as right and wrong. In addition, the moral values we hold inside are not always rewarded in this life. Something inside man cries that there must be reward for good and punishment for evil. All men long for justice. Where did this desire come from? Even more, when will it be fulfilled? This, and the basic belief in life beyond this life that all people have always held point to a power and force beyond man that will reward good and punish evil beyond this life. We all know inside there must be something more to life than just these years on this earth. Where did this restlessness and awareness come from if there was nothing there to meet it?

Were the Nazis guilty of any wrongdoing even though they didn’t break the laws of their own country? Everyone instinctively knows they are because we are all aware of a higher law that is written in the conscience of each and every one of us.

Man everywhere in all time has naturally known there is a power greater than and outside himself that he has worshipped. Satan counterfeits this but it is natural in man to look for that which is outside himself and greater than himself.

6. ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT simple states that man everywhere in all time has naturally known there is a power greater than and outside himself that he has worshipped. Satan has counterfeited this and takes the worship for himself, but it is natural for all people to worship something.

5. THE SUBJECTIVE INNER AWARENESS ARGUMENT isn’t of the same ration basis as the arguments mentioned above, but those who are God's children know inside there is a God. It can't be put under a microscope, or even described, but there is a confident inner awareness that there is a God (Galatians 4:6) deep within us that gives an assurance beyond the need of external proof that there is a God who loves and cares. Where does this come from if not from God Himself?

IMPLICATIONS FROM THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Since God exists, since His fingerprints are everywhere, what are some of the implications of this for us today? If there is this strong, conclusive proof of God, then WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE REJECT THE IDEA OF GOD? I think the basic reason is that man doesn't want to believe in God today because if he admits there is a power greater than and outside himself then it only stands to reason that man is accountable to that power. If there is a God man is responsible to find what God would have of him and then obey it. Man doesn't want that, he wants to be his own god and not submit to anyone. Thus it isn't lack of evidence that man rejects the idea of God, but purely because of self-centered presuppositions. In order to live life for himself and continue in his own prideful and selfish existence, man must deny the fact of a God. To admit to a God means man then must obey His will and direction or face the consequences. Modern man doesn't want to do either. He thinks by denying there is a God he exempts himself from accountability to that God. However just saying God doesn't exist doesn't make it so. Even convincing yourself completely He doesn't exist doe nothing to remove Him from existence. In doing so man is gambling with his eternal existence, putting it on the line for a few short years of self-centered indulgence.

Secondly, if God exists there is absolute in the world and we are responsible for them. He has a daily plan for us and a set of right and wrongs to which we must adhere. It is not up to us to decide what we want to see as right or wrong, it has already been decided and we are accountable according to His measuring scale, not ours.

Thirdly, if there is a God there is a plan and purpose for everything. We cannot meet our own needs, solve our own problems or make our own decisions as if there is no God. Worry, fear and control are not allowed or necessary. We are to live a life of faith and trust.

Finally, there is an eternal plan as well. This life is not all there is. Eternity is the destiny of everyone – heaven or hell. Eternal separation from God or eternal bliss in God’s very presence is the future prospects of every human being.

HOW SHOULD WE APPROACH THOSE WHO DENY THE EXISTENCE OF GOD? Don't bring up these rational, intellectual arguments unless they are open enough to consider them. Belief starts in the heart, not the head. Pray for them to be open to the truth. Share with them how Jesus meets your needs, gives you meaning and satisfaction, purpose and peace. They can't argue with this nor disprove it. God will use it in His time to convict them of their need. He will fan the flames you start. Keep off intellectual arguments; you'll never force anyone to believe something they don't want to believe. They are only good with those who are open to finding the truth. Then use them, for we must always be ready to give a person the reason of the hope that is in us!

Thus it makes a world of difference if the DaVinci Code is right or not – in this life and for all eternity. It affects every thought of every second of every day and eternity beyond! The DaVinci Code is not truth – our destiny is secure.

How does The DaVinci Code end? In another cheap trick, Brown closes his novel with the lead character finding the location of Mary’s tomb, and instead of revealing the all important truths to the shock of the world, he decides to leave it alone and disclose nothing to anyone, thus perpetuating the “false” truths of Christianity and keeping secret the “real” truths of the goddess that have been hidden for generations. Why is the hero motivated to do this? What enlightenment does he undergo that causes him to cover-up the “truth” in the same way that Leonardo DaVinci and the museum curator and countless others did before him? Why do all of these enlightened people not want to inform the masses and get them back to worshipping the divine goddess? None of these questions is adequately addressed in the novel. One is left to conclude that like all great conspiracies, the discoverers of the cover-ups deem the truth too scary for the masses to calmly handle and the revealing of it would lead to scary, lethal consequences from “them.”

The book leaves the reader empty, wondering, full of doubts and confusion. But that’s where deception and darkness, Satan and emptiness dwell. Thank God the DaVinci Code is not true, but God is. Do you live like He is true, is in control, has a plan and purpose and loves you? If not you are living as if He doesn’t exist, as if the basic premise of the DaVinci Code is true. What do YOU believe? What do YOUR actions show? Is the DaVinci Code real or not?