Da Vinci Codeon TrialPart II

By

Randall K Broberg, Esq.

2 Timothy 3:12-15

• Now in fact all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Da Vinci Code

Attacks on

the Bible

“The Bible is a product of man,

my dear. Not of God. The Bible

did not fall magically 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.” (p. 231)

Da Vinci Code Attacks on the Bible

‚The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave in Qumran in the Judean desert. And of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms… The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was complied and edited by men who possessed a political agenda ” to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base (p. 231-34)

The Coptic Scrolls Lie

DVC On Constantine & NT“Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status

almost four centuries after Jesus’ death,

thousands of documents already existed

chronicling His life as a mortal man. To

rewrite the history books, Constantine knew

he would need a bold stroke … [He]

commissioned and financed a new Bible,

which omitted those gospels which spoke of

Christ’s human traits and embellished those

gospels which made Him godlike. The

earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up,

and burned.” (234)

The Gnostic So-

called

“Lost Gospels”

On Best Sellers

Lists!!

Essential Definitions

• De Facto• literally,

from the fact

• in reality

• Actually

• Not

government

approved

• De Jure• by right

• As a matter of

legal of right

• Government

approved

• Ex

Cathedra• literally, from

the chair

• by virtue of or

in the exercise

of one's office

or position

How We REALLY Got Our

New Testament Canon

Apostolic Period

AD 30-100

Persecuted

Church

AD 100-300

Imperial Church

AD 300-500

EX CATHEDRAAUTHORITY

DE FACTO

CANON

DE JURE

CANON

Authority

Recognized but

Canon Incomplete

Canon Complete

and Recognized in

Fact

Canon Complete

and Recognized in

Law

THE EX CATHEDRA

CANON IN THE

APOSTOLIC

PERIOD

• 1 Corinthians 14:37 “ If anyone thinks he is a prophet

or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.

Paul Calls His Own Letters the

Lord’s Commandment

Paul Calls His Own Writings

the Word of God

• 1 Thes. 2:13“ ‚For this reason we also constantly thank

God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.‛

Paul Calls Luke/Acts

Scripture

• 1 Tim. 5:18

• “For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING’ [Deut 25:4], and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages’‛ [Luke

10:7].

Peter Calls Paul’s

Letters Scriptures

• 2 Pet. 3:15-16

“ ‚. . . and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.‛

THE DE FACTOCANON OF

THE

PERSECUTED

CHURCH

c. 95 AD, Clement Cites

93% Of The New Testament

John 7:32, 2nd Century Papyrus

• wrote a single

letter to the

Corinthians

around AD 96

• Quotes from

21/27THS

• Alludes to

4/27THS MORE

c. 100 AD,

Polycarp Cites

74% of the New

Testament

• Quotes from 15 of the

27 books

• Alludes to 5 more

James Ch 1

Matthew 6:9-13 in Greek 2nd Cen Papyrus

c. 110 AD,

Ignatius Cites 44% of the NT

• Quotes 9/27THS

– Alludes to 3/27THS

c. 160 AD, Justin Martyr Cites,

63% of the New Testament

• Quotes from

17 of the 27

books

c. 170 AD

Irenaeus Cites 85% Of The NT

• Quotes

from 23

of the 27

books

It is not possible

that the

Gospels can be

either more or

fewer in

number than

they are

[FOUR]. -

Irenaeus,

Against

Heresies,

Chapter 3.11.8

c. 190 AD

Tertullian Cites 81% Of The NT

• quoted from 22 books of the 27.

Hebrews 4:2, 2nd Century Papyrus

c. 240 AD,

Origen Cites, 100% Of

The New Testament

Diocletian persecutions

(c. 302-305)• caused the

Christians to be

more attentive to

establishing the

definite canon.

POxy 1780

3rd Cen AD

100% NT “Canon” of

Athanasius, c. 367 AD

• Writes “Easter Letter” in 367 A.D.

• Same 27 books that are in today’s New

Testament

CANON TIME LINE

30-33 AD

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

NT WRITTEN

Edict of

Milan

310 AD

Council of

Nicaea

325 AD

De Facto Canon De Jure Canon

THE DE JURECANON OF

THE IMPERIAL

CHURCH

Final Impetus for Finalizing the

Canon

“I have thought it expedient to

instruct your Prudence to order

50 copies of the Sacred

Scriptures, the provision and

use of which you know to be

the most needful for the

instruction of the church, to be

written on prepared parchment,

in a legible manner, and in a

commodious and portable

form, by transcribers

thoroughly practiced in their

art.”

Constantine

Two Church Councils

Make De Facto Canon De Jure Canon

• 393 AD, Synod of Hippo

– affirmed that the 27 books

of our NT were the only

books of apostolic origin

and were to be accepted

as Scripture.

• 397, AD, Council of

Carthage

– affirmed our current N.T.

canon. Forbid any from

claiming any other writing

as Scripture.

Council Criteria: Apostolic Authority

• Was it written by an apostle or one closely acquainted with an apostle?

• Apostolic Authorship

– Matthew, John, 13 Paul’s epistles,

– 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Revelation

• Authority by association

– Luke-Acts, Mark, James, Jude

• Rejected

– Epistle of Clement For lack of claim to divine authority

– Didache for lack of clear authorship

Council Criteria: Antiquity

• When was it written?

• For a writing to be the work

of an Apostle or of someone

closely associated with an

Apostle it must belong to the

first century.

• Writings of later date,

whatever their merit, could

not be included among the

canonical books.

• Rejected: Gnostic Gospels,

etc.

Council Criteria: Traditional Use

• Was the book in

use by the

churches from the

earliest period?

– If it wasn’t good

enough to be read

next to the OT in a

church service

context, it cannot be

part of the canon.

Council Criteria: Universal Use

• Was the book widely

accepted by the

Church?

• The writings must be

accepted universally.

• They often began with

merely local acceptance,

such as epistles to the

churches, but gained

widespread recognition.

Council Criteria: Inspiration

• Does it have a self-

authenticating nature?

– There must be evidence of

activity of the Holy Spirit

contained within the context

of the writings.

• Had the book evidenced

power in the lives of

believers?

Council Criteria: Non-

Contradiction• Did it contradict

known Scripture?

• Consistent with OT

• Consistent with

Paul?

• Rejected for

Incompatibility

(heretical positions)—

Apocryphal gospels

‚More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion ”Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them…Fortunately for historians… some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive.‛ (p. 231-34)

The 80 Gospel Lie

“Of the “80” gospels available, the church

chose only four of the gospels and even

these four present a distorted portrait of Christ as the Divine

Son of God.”

‚These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls, … the earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible.‛

Da Vinci Code

Allegation of

Excluded Books

“Nag Hammadi Library”

The Eradication

of True Gospels Lie

• Hundreds, if not

thousands of

other “earlier

gospels were

outlawed,

gathered up, and

burned.” (p. 234)

Do Excluded Gospels

Teach Us Jesus Was Married To

Mary Magdalene?

Walking Talking Cross in

Gospel of “Peter”

– 10. When therefore those soldiers saw it, they

awakened the centurion and the elders; for they too

were hard by keeping guard. And, as they declared

what things they had seen, again they see three men

come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting

one, and a cross following them: and of the two the

head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him

that was led by them over passed the heavens. And

they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou

hast preached to them that sleep. And a response

was heard from the cross, Yea."

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

• “Jesus loved her more than other women”

• Jesus loved Mary more than the 12 Disciples.

• “When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms. The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.”

Gospel of Mary Magdalene

• fragmentary text

• Mary “Magdalene’s” name is not mentioned in the text, and it could be any one of the other six Marys from the New Testament

• "Let us rather praise his greatness, for he prepared us and made us into men.

• "But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, 'Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other ideas."

• "Peter also opposed her in regard to these matters and asked them about the Savior. "Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"

Mary Magdalene in

Gospel of “Philip”

• There were three who

always walked with the

Lord: Mary, his mother, and

her sister, and Magdalene,

the one who was called his

companion. His sister and

his mother and his

companion were each a

Mary.

Mary Magdalene in the

Gospel of “Philip”• And the companion of the ___________________

Mary Magdalene. _______________ more than ______________the disciples, ________________ kiss her ______________on her ________________.The rest of the disciples _____________________. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.

Gospel of “Philip”

• Jesus took them all by stealth, for he

did not appear as he was, but in the

manner in which they would be able

to see him. He appeared to them all.

He appeared to the great as great. He

appeared to the small as small. He

appeared to the angels as an angel,

and to men as a man.

Gospel of “Philip”

• It is not possible for anyone to see anything of the things that actually exist unless he becomes like them... You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ. You saw the Father, you shall become Father. So in this place you see everything and do not see yourself, but in that place you do see yourself - and what you see you shall become.

Gospel of “Thomas”

“ "These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.

“ And he said, Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death. Jesus said, Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over all."

Gospel of “Thomas”

“ Verse 15: Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like." Simon Peter said to him,

"You are like a just messenger.‛

Gospel of

“Thomas”

“ Jesus said: "The kingdom of the [Father] is like a certain woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking [on the] road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her [on] the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty".

Gospel of

“Thomas”“ Verse 114: “ Simon Peter said to them, "Make

Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

GOSPELS TIME LINE

30-33 AD

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

All 4 NT

GospelsGospel of

Thomas

Edict of

Milan

310 AD

Council of

Nicaea

325 AD

Canon

Councils

Gospel

of

Peter

Gospel

of

Philip

Gospel

of Mary

Earliest Gospel

Manuscripts

J. I. PACKER

• “The church no

more gave us the

New Testament

than Isaac

Newton gave us

gravity.”

1 Thess. 2:13

• “For this reason we also constantly thank God that

• when you received the word of God

• which you heard from us,

• you accepted it

• not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God,

• which also performs its work in you who believe.”

Fight the good fight of the faith.1 Tim 6:12