Bible-based Christian

1. Intel Bible-based Christian Network http://ibcn.intel.com/or/

2. Separating Fact from Fiction

3. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction • Time for brief Q&A at end of presentation • Please write longer questions on comment cards provided. Questions & Answers

4. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Series schedule: • November 2: Is history written by the winners?  What are the facts about Constantine and his influence in shaping the beliefs of one third of our planets' population? • November 9: Was the Holy Grail a person?  Who were the Gnostics?  Was there a secret society in France that was set up to protect the truth? • November 16: Did Leonardo da Vinci use his art to communicate secret knowledge about the Grail? Is there any proof that he was a grand master of the Priory of Sion? • November 23 or 30: What happened to the divine feminine?  Has it been suppressed by those in authority?

5. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Did Constantine collate the Bible? No. OT compiled even before Jesus’ time. • Irenaeus (AD 180) and Origen (AD 230) and others had listed accepted books of NT which included M,M,L, and J long before Constantine. • Official list of 27 books in the NT confirmed in 393 and 397 in the West, AD 500’s in the East. • The Bible came into being through use by the churches over the first 3 or 4 centuries. • Constantine did pay to have 50 copies of Bible made for his libraries, using Eusebius’ list.

6. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Did Leonardo Da Vinci include Mary Magdalene in his “Last Supper” painting? • Most art scholars say no. The figure reputed to be Mary Magdalene is actually the disciple John, who is usually depicted young and clean-shaven. • Sketches done in preparation for the painting show a male John (Windsor Castle Museum).

7. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Did Leonardo Da Vinci hide clues about church secrets in his paintings? • Art historians doubt it • Most everything said about Leonardo Da Vinci in Brown’s book is fiction • There is no evidence that Leonardo was even a member of the Prior of Sion let alone the Grand Master or even if it existed at that time.

8. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene married? • Although there is no way to prove or disprove this, most experts consider it highly unlikely. Their main argument: there is no mention of it in canonical writings nor in Gnostic writings. • Most likely Paul would have mentioned it in his defense of being married if it had been so.

9. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Are Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion real organizations? • Yes, but there is no indication that either is involved in any plot to conceal or reveal secrets of the Holy Grail. • Opus Dei’s nature is characterized 180 degrees backwards in TDVC,(opusdei.org) • Prior of Sion has links to a hoax in it’s recent history (started in 1956)

10. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction What is the Holy Grail? • Serving dish in a 12th century book about the knight Perceval • Cup used by Christ at the Last Supper • Cup belonging to Joseph of Aramathea used to catch Jesus’ blood at crucifixion • Mary Magdalene according to TDVC • No one knows for sure but there is nothing to support claims of a coded quest for the “lost sacred feminine”

11. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Gnostic themes in The Da Vinci Code • Suspicion of tradition • Distrust of authority • Dislike for dogma and objective statements of faith • Pitting the individual against the institution • Promise of secret knowledge • Man will learn the truth and be able to think for himself

12. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Fact • The Gnostic gospels were written centuries after the New Testament books • Council of Nicea had nothing to do with deciding Jesus’ divinity • Gnosticism was not an inner-Christian phenomenon • Gnostics rejected the Old Testament; the incarnation, humanity, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ; and sin as man’s problem.

13. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction What is Dan Brown’s thinly veiled agenda in his book Da Vinci Code? • This book is a direct attack against Jesus Christ, the church and the followers who call him Savior and Lord. • Christianity, according to the novel, was invented to suppress women and to turn people away from the “divine feminine”

14. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Sacred Feminine and Goddess Worship • Did Constantine and his successors “successfully convert the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity” by employing “a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine”, destroying goddess worship, and insuring that modern religion would be male-oriented? p124

15. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Fact • Paganism was neither matriarchal nor patriarchal • Pagans worshiped hundreds of gods, goddesses, spirits, etc • There were many different paganisms hundreds even thousands • The oldest civilizations, Sumerians, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Egyptians never relied exclusively on goddess worship

16. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Does Christianity demonize sex? • Christianity regards sexuality as one of God’s greatest gifts • No mainstream religious system ever placed women on a higher plane than Christianity • What about the Roman attitudes toward women?

17. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Can anything positive come from this controversy? • Yes! These distorted views of history and Catholicism are the closest to theology that some people will ever come. • Encourage readers to analyze and carefully assess what the book is saying and to consider why it was written. • Religion has only one true enemy—apathy—and passionate debate in a superb antidote. • Don’t jump to conspiracy before you rule out the most logical reason for things getting bungled up on a massive scale, human incompetence.

18. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Has the church lost the divine feminine? • The early church absorbed the attitudes of the culture around them • Church leaders were increasingly men who adopted the pious social mores of Rome and baptized them as orthodox • Constantine gave Bishops land, large stipends and command • The Church institutionalized ascetical movements, Monasteries

19. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Women of the Bible • Women see Mary Magdalene’s story as a parable for their own struggles to find a place in the modern church. • Of some 3,000 characters named in the Bible, fewer than 10% are women. • This book raised troubling questions about women’s contributions to early Christianity

20. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction In the end, truth will endure • Those who are willing to look at the facts will see the truth • Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. • Proverbs

21. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Questions & Answers

22. DaVinci Code Separating Fact from Fiction Series schedule: • November 2: Is history written by the winners?  What are the facts about Constantine and his influence in shaping the beliefs of one third of our planets' population? • November 9: Was the Holy Grail a person?  Who were the Gnostics?  Was there a secret society in France that was set up to protect the truth? • November 16: Did Leonardo da Vinci use his art to communicate secret knowledge about the Grail? Is there any proof that he was a grand master of the Priory of Sion? • November 23 & 30: What happened to the divine feminine?  Has it been suppressed by those in authority?

23. Intel Bible-based Christian Network http://ibcn.intel.com/or/