Links & Resources

for

the Da Vinci Code Outreach

Updated: 10:22 a.m. ET April 28, 2006

ROME - The Vatican stepped up its offensive against “The Da Vinci Code” on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict blasted the book as full of anti-Christian lies and urged Catholics to boycott the film.

Why should a Catholic be concerned about the novel?

     The problem is that many of the ideas that the book promotes are anything but fact, and they go directly to the heart of the Catholic faith. For example, the book promotes these ideas:

* Jesus is not God; he was only a man.

* Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

* She is to be worshiped as a goddess.

* Jesus got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter.

* That daughter gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in Europe today.

* The Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor.

* Jesus was viewed as a man and not as God until the fourth century, when he was deified by the emperor Constantine.

* The Gospels have been edited to support the claims of later Christians.

* In the original Gospels, Mary Magdalene rather than Peter was directed to establish the Church.

* There is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive.

* The Catholic Church is aware of all this and has been fighting for centuries to keep it suppressed. It often has committed murder to do so.

* The Catholic Church is willing to and often has assassinated the descendents of Christ to keep his bloodline from growing.

EWTN

THE DA VINCI HOAX (60:00) NEW
Father Mitch Pacwa interviews the authors of 'The Da Vinci Hoax', Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel, about the errors contained within Dan Brown's best-selling novel. Topics focused on here include examinations of several of the book's subjects, including the Gnostic Gospels (and the Gospel of Philip in particular), Emperor Constantine, the Council of Nicea, the Knights Templar, Mary Magdalene, the Priory of Sion, and of course Leonardo Da Vinci himself.
Wednesday May 17, 2006 10 PM
Friday May 19, 2006 10 AM

Catholic Initiative Supports Disclaimer for Controversial Film

Catholic League’s Open Letter to Ron Howard Is a Just and Right Request

The Da Vinci Hoax

Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code
Carl Olson & Sandra Miesel

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s best selling novel, purports to be more than fiction: it claims to be based on fact and scholarly research. Brown wants his readers to believe that he is revealing the long-concealed truth about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and early Christianity, a truth that he says has been suppressed by the malevolent and conspiratorial forces of the Catholic Church. The novel alleges that there has been throughout history a secret group of true followers of a Gnostic Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene, the true “Holy Grail”. Almost everything most Christians and non-Christians think they know about Jesus, according to Dan Brown, is completely wrong, the result of Catholic propaganda designed to hide the truth from the world.

Discussion Blog,

Sponsored by,

Campus Crusade For Christ International

Web Site sponsored by Sony Films,

Provides a Christian rebuttal to their film, "The Da Vinci Code"

"Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false."

---A line from Dan Brown's

Campus Crusade For Christ International

"Now is a critical time to reach out ... to rebut the lies put forth in the movie before seekers become skeptics, to tell people the Truth about Christ, and to share how men and women might know Him personally. Will you be a part?"

"My dear," Teabing declared, "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet. . . a great and powerful man, but a man nevertheless. A mortal."

"Not the Son of God?"

"Right," Teabing said. "Jesus' establishment as the Son of God was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea."

"Hold on. You're saying Jesus divinity was the result of a vote?"
 

---The Da Vinci Code p. 233

First Baptist Church of Tallassee, FL

A large collection of links....

Sermon Spice (Collection of audio and video sermons)

Josh McDowell explains the possible impact of the Movie and Book, The DaVinci Code with nine short videos.

1-DaVinci Code's Impact,

2-Seek the Truth,

3-Contradictions,

4-Fact or Fiction,

5-Council of Nicaea 325 AD,

6-Gnosticism,

7-Mary,

8-Mona Lisa,

9-The Bible

Church Communication Network

Lee Strobel - Best-selling author of The Case for Christ.
Mark Mittelberg - Executive Director of Evangelism, Willow Creek Association, and coauthor of Becoming a Contagious Christian.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer - Senior Pastor of the historic Moody Church in Chicago and author of The Da Vinci Deception

Radio Bible Club (RBC)

By Mart De Haan

The Da Vinci Code has been on the New York Times Bestseller List since its release in April 2003. In less than 2 years it has become a bestseller in 150 countries and one of the most widely read books of our time.

Author Dan Brown has done what many authors only dream of doing. He has written a book "everyone" is talking about. All over the world people are discussing his upscale murder mystery that teases readers with provocative theories about history, religion, and the arts.

This novel, however, is more than a page-turning murder mystery. The Da Vinci Code is a conspiracy theory that leaves many readers wondering whether everything they have believed about Christ and the Bible is wrong.

LifeWay

Purpose Driven...

Five ways to leverage the upcoming Da Vinci Code movie
By Lee Strobel

"Churches can protest all they want, but there are still 40 million copies of The Da Vinci Code in print and nothing is going to stop the movie’s premiere on May 19. The best approach seems to be to leverage the movie to reach out to spiritual seekers in the community."

Lee Strobel, author of
Discussing the Da Vinci Code

Director Ron Howard was rebuffed when he sought permission to film part of The Da Vinci Code movie at Westminster Abbey in London. Why? Because the book is filled with historical nonsense and Abbey officials didn’t want anything to do with it.

PROBE

     Does anyone take these ideas seriously? Yes; they do. This is partly due to the way the story is written. The first word one encounters in The Da Vinci Code, 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.” And the average reader, with no special knowledge in these areas, will assume the statement is true. But it’s not, and many have documented some of Brown’s inaccuracies in these areas.

Focus on the Family

The Top 10 Errors Found in 'The Da Vinci Code'

compiled by Alex McFarland

1. Fallacy:  The world was once dominated by goddess-based worship. Religion was originally matriarchal and later (under Judeo-Christian dominance) changed to patriarchal monotheism (male dominated). (The Da Vinci Code, p. 124)

    

   Fact: There is no evidence that any significant religious movement had dominant female deities: They were always linked to their male counterparts, and usually in a subservient role. (See, for example, Tikva Frymer-Kensky's In the Wake of the Goddesses (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993) and Craig Hawkins' Goddess Worship, Witchcraft, and Neo-Paganism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998).

Resource Books

(all books can be obtained new/used at Amazon.com)