The Da Vinci Code Personal Unedited Research - Outreach

The Da Vinci Code Personal Unedited Research

By: Josh McDowell ? 2006

Overview

Josh McDowell's personal research on The Da Vinci Code was collected in preparation for the development of several equipping resources released in March 2006.

This research is available as part of Josh McDowell's Da Vinci Pastor Resource Kit. The full kit provides you with tools to equip your people to answer the questions raised by The Da Vinci Code book and movie. We trust that these resources will help you prepare your people with a positive readiness so that they might seize this as an opportunity to open up compelling dialogue about the real and relevant Christ.

Da Vinci Pastor Resource Kit

This kit includes: - 3-Part Sermon Series & Notes - Multi-media Presentation - Video of Josh's 3-Session Seminar on DVD - Sound-bites & Video Clip Library - Josh McDowell's Personal Research & Notes

Retail Price: $49.95

The 3-part sermon series includes a sermon outline, discussion points and sample illustrations. Each session includes references to the slide presentation should you choose to include audio-visuals with your sermon series. A library of additional sound-bites and video clips is also included.

Josh McDowell's delivery of a 3-session seminar was captured on video and is included in the kit. Josh's personal research and notes are also included. This extensive research is categorized by topic with side-by-side comparison to Da Vinci claims versus historical evidence.

For more information and to order Da Vinci resources by Josh McDowell, visit josh..



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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Search for Truth................................................................................... 4 Historical Chart: Claims vs. Fact ..................................................................................... 7

Christianity borrowed from pagan mythology ........................................................... 7 The Sacred Feminine............................................................................................. 10 Priory of Sion.......................................................................................................... 14 Knights Templar ..................................................................................................... 18 The Bible is man-made .......................................................................................... 23 The Council of Nicaea Concerning the books to include in the New Testament canon ..................................................................................................................... 25 What were the early Christians like? ...................................................................... 70 Was the early church anti-feminine? ...................................................................... 76 Constantine and The Council of Nicaea Concerning Jesus' deity .......................... 81 Did Christ command that Mary Magdalene should lead the Church?..................... 95 Did Mary Magdalene bear Christ's child?............................................................... 97 Christ's royal bloodline ........................................................................................... 99 The Holy Grail ...................................................................................................... 102 The Last Supper Painting..................................................................................... 103 Other pieces of artwork ........................................................................................ 106 Da Vinci Code & Jesus Christ .............................................................................. 108 Leonardo da Vinci Unplugged ..................................................................................... 145 General.................................................................................................................... 145 Leonardo's use of iconography indicating the Passion of the Christ ........................ 145 Views on death, his Catholic funeral, his will, and the soul ...................................... 146 Regarding the Catholic Church and his belief in the crucifixion ............................... 149 Leonardo's personal beliefs regarding God, the Soul .............................................. 149 The Last Supper ...................................................................................................... 152 The need for restoration........................................................................................... 155 Leonardo's asceticism, views on humanity modesty, propriety, intimacy, vegetarianism, care for animals, love of pranks....................................................... 157 Inquisitive and Scientific approach........................................................................... 160 Virgin Of the Rocks, the Lourve and London versions ............................................. 160 Mona Lisa ................................................................................................................ 161 Madonna, Child, St. Anne and a Lamb .................................................................... 162 Bibliography............................................................................................................. 162 Leonardo's Manuscripts........................................................................................... 163 Paris Manuscripts: ................................................................................................... 163 Other notebooks and manuscripts and cited sources: ............................................. 163 Closing Notes on Leonardo Research ..................................................................... 164



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Introduction: The Search for Truth

There is no question or doubt that Dan Brown has written a spell-binding novel. We all love a good story, but even more, we love "a good conspiracy."

As we indulge in the "conspiracy," we also need to begin the "quest" and "search for the truth." Dan Brown needs to be congratulated on his great writing and the ability to produce a thriller that is so hard to put down. Multitudes of authors envy his writing ability.

Over the years while lecturing in more than 1000 universities in 107 different countries, I have had the opportunity to participate in more than 250 debates with scholars, historians, and philosophers.

I never enter the research phase to "win the debate," but rather to find the truth. As I examine the material relevant to the theme of the debate, I have to ask myself several questions:

1) Is this the truth or is it someone's personal opinion, bias, or prejudice? 2) Is there sufficient credible evidence to support the truth claim? 3) Is it relevant to the argument?

For me to be energetic in a debate and to speak with authority, I must be convinced in my own mind that my position is valid and intellectually defensible. If I have developed the arguments skewed by my own personal bias or prejudice, or twisted the facts to support my position, then it shouldn't take a worthy opponent long to expose me and win the debate.

As a believer in Christ, I am committed to the Truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, "You shall know the truth." He did not say you should ignore the truth or distort the truth. If anyone should be committed to knowing and following the truth, it is a Christian.

As a university student, I was an obnoxious, antagonistic agnostic. During my pursuit to expose the Christian faith as an "historic construct" by his followers, I was confronted with historical evidence about Jesus being the Son of God and the Bible being reliable and accurate. This evidence not only appeared to be "credible" but it also ran contrary to my position and to what I was so passionately wanting to prove.

Finally, the evidence compelled me to change my attitude and my viewpoint. I no longer pursued the "truth" to refute Christianity, but rather to simply ask the question, "Is it true?" and then let the evidence speak for itself. It was through this process that I came to Christ.

It was imperative that we approach the historic claims of The Da Vinci Code in the same way. People perceive the book as a fictional novel based upon "fact."



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DAN BROWN MAKES CLAIMS THAT THE NOVEL IS HISTORIC FACT.

******************** NBC Today ? October 10, 2005 Dan Brown was asked by host Matt Lauer, "How much of this [book] is based on reality in terms of things that actually happened?" Brown emphatically replied, "Absolutely all

of it... is historical fact."

******************** ABC Good Morning America ? November 3, 2003 Host Charlie Gibson said to Dan Brown, "This is a novel. If you were writing it as a nonfiction book, how would it have been different?" Brown responded,

"I don't think it would have."

********************* USA Today

The Da Vinci Code is "Historic fact with a contemporary storyline." (Bob Minzesheimer, "Code Deciphers Interest in Religious History,"

December 11, 2003, pD1)

********************** Another comment refers to the work as "A good yarn within a richly factual context."

("The Da Vinci Code: Book Review," counterculture.co.uk/book-review/the-da-vinci-code.html)

*********************** "The most amazing thing about this novel [The Da Vinci Code]

is that it's based on fact." (Taylor, archive.books/review/2003/03/27da_vinci)

*********************** It is "A fact-based thriller." (Valerie MacEwen, "Try Pulling This Book Down," books/reviews/d/da-vinc-code.shtml)

Dan Brown set the stage for you and me to enter The Da Vinci Quest and evaluate the "facts." Brown says, "each individual reader must explore these characters' viewpoints and come to his or her own interpretations." (Dan Brown, "The Da Vinci Code," Doubleday: New

York, NY, 2003)



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