DEBUNKING

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DEBUNKING THE DAVINCI CODE
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Whats All the Fuss About?
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Claims of The Da Vinci Code

• Bible collated by Constantine
• Bible evolved over time
• Christianity borrowed doctrines from pagan
  religions
• Jesus as the Son of God not universal until 325 AD

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Claim 1 The Bible was collated by Constantine
More than eighty gospels were considered for the
New Testament, and yet only a relative few were
chosen for inclusionMatthew, Mark, Luke, and
John among them The Bible, as we know it today,
was collated by the pagan Roman emperor
Constantine the Great (p. 231) who omitted
those gospels that spoke of Christs human traits
and embellished those gospels that made Him
godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed,
gathered up, and burned (p. 234).
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Claim 1 The Bible was collated by Constantine

• Are there more than eighty gospels?
• Less than 20
• Are these gospels earlier than the four we have
  today?
• None of these written in 1st century
• Earliest is Gospel of Thomas (mid 2nd)
• Our Gospels dated in 1st century

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Claim 1 The Bible was collated by Constantine

• Did Constantine put together our Bible?

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First Recognition of NT Writings

• Paul quotes from Luke and refers to it as
  Scripture (1 Tim 518)
• Peter refers to Pauls writings as Scripture (2
  Pet 316)
• Apostolic Fathers (70-150 AD)
• Polycarp (125 AD)

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Lists of Authoritative Works

• 140 Marcion compiled a canon that included one
  Gospel (a large portion of Luke that had been
  heavily altered) and ten of Pauls letters.
• 180 Muratorian Canon Fragment has 23 books and
  letters
• 185 Irenaeus recognized 22 books and letters
• 200 Tertullian recognized 22 books and letters
• 225 Hippolytus recognized 22 books and letters
• 250 Origen recognized 24 books and letters
• 325 Eusebius lists 22 books and letters accepted
  as canonical
• 367 Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, lists the
  27 books and letters of the NT as we now have
  them today (after Nicea)

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What the Lists Had in Common

• All accepted the four Gospels
• All accepted Pauls letters

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Four Gospels Were Considered Authoritative by
Early Church

• Justin (150 AD)
• 15x referred to Gospels as memoirs of the
  apostles
• Never cites a story in or quotes from Gospels
  other than ours
• Irenaeus (185 AD)
• Gospel is quadriform

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Even Heretics Used Our Gospels

• Ebionites used Matthew (2nd cent)
• Marcion used Luke (140 AD)
• Gnostics used Mark (2nd-3rd cent)
• Valentinus used John (110 AD)
• Diatessaron (172 AD)
• All predated Nicea by 153-215 years!

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Gospels Rejected Prior to Nicaea

• Origen (185-254 AD) I know a certain gospel
  which is called The Gospel according to Thomas
  and a Gospel according to Matthias, and many
  others have we read Nevertheless, among all
  these we have approved solely what the church has
  recognized, which is that only the four gospels
  should be accepted.

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What About the Lost Books of the Bible?

• Gospel of Thomas
• Gospel of Peter
• Apocalypse of Peter
• Gospel to the Hebrews
• Gospel of Barnabas
• Gospel of Phillip
• Gospel of Mary

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Not Considered Authoritative

• Gospel of Thomas earliest (not in 1st cent)
• Teachings differ from apostles teaching
• Never quoted during first 300 years
• Never read in assemblies
• Not included in any list
• Not subject of commentaries
• Some specifically rejected by early Christians

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Was the Bible Collated at Nicea?

• No other Gospel existed in 1st cent
• All four Gospels written in 1st cent
• Gospels and Pauls letters recognized as
  authoritative since 2nd cent
• Debate over other books and letters went on for
  several centuries after Nicaea

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Claim 2 The Bible has evolved over time
The Bible has evolved through countless
translations, additions, and revisions. History
has never had a definitive version of the book
(p. 231).
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Claim 2 The Bible has evolved over time

• Multiple checks and balances have ensured this
  did not occur

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New Testament Manuscripts

• 5,000 Greek Manuscripts (some very early)
• 25,000 manuscripts in other languages (e.g.
  Latin, Coptic, Syriac)
• 30,000 quotations of NT within 300 years of
  Jesus by early Christians

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The Roman Letter

• 7,125 total words 213 in question (3)
• Of those words in question
• Certain 66
• Almost Certain 42
• Difficult to Determine 104
• Great Difficulty in Determining 1

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Variant Readings

• Let us pursue the things that make peace.
• We pursue the things that make peace.
• Pursue the things that make peace.

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Conclusions of Textual Critics

• Text is 97 pure.
• When guidelines of textual criticism are applied,
  scholars can reproduce a text 98.5 pure to
  original.
• Remaining 1.5 is mostly spelling and word order
  and impact no major doctrine.

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What about all those translations?

• KJV
• NKJV
• NASB
• NIV
• TNIV
• NLT
• ESV
• Amplified Bible

• American Bible
• RSV
• NRSV
• Living bible
• NWT
• Phillips Translation
• Jerusalem Bible
• New Century

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Purpose of Translation

• NASB
• ESV
• NIV
• NLT
• Living Bible
• Amplified Bible
• NWT

- Very literal - Literal but smoother -
20th cent English - Simpler than NIV -
Paraphrase - Expands meaning - Deceive
ignorant
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Claim 2 The Bible has evolved over time

• The Bible we have today is a near perfect
  representation of the original.
• No part in question impacts any major doctrine or
  practice.
• Translations are attempts at presenting the
  biblical text from different angles.

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Claim 3 Christianity borrowed from other
religions.
Nothing in Christianity is original. The
pre-Christian God Mithrascalled the Son of God
and the Light of the Worldwas born on December
25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then
resurrected in three days (p. 232).
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The Facts

• Accounts exist of pagan gods who rose from the
  dead
• None of these pre-date Jesus
• None of these are contemporary with Jesus
• All post-date Jesus by 100 years
• Who is copying who?

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Sunday Worship Borrowed from Pagan Religions
Even Christianitys weekly holy day was stolen
from the pagansOriginally, Langdon said,
Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of
Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide
with the pagans veneration day of the sun. He
paused, grinning. To this day churchgoers attend
services on Sunday morning with no idea that they
are there on account of the pagan sun gods
weekly tributeSunday (p. 232-33).
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The Facts

• Jesus raised on 1st day of week (all Gospels)
• Disciples observed Lords Supper on 1st day of
  week (Acts 207)
• Disciples gave on 1st day of week (1 Cor 161-2)

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Claim 4 Jesus as Son of God not universal till
Nicaea (p 233)
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 nonetheless. A mortal. Not the Son of God?
said Sophie Right, Teabing said. Jesus
establishment as the Son of God was officially
proposed and voted on by the Council of
Nicaea. Hold on. Youre saying Jesus divinity
was the result of a vote? A relatively close
vote at that, Teabing added.
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What are the facts?

• Did Christians view Jesus as only a great man and
  prophet until the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD?
• Was the vote a close one?

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Early Belief About Jesus

• The Gospels and Pauls letters written in 1st
  cent
• These present Jesus as divine Son of God
• Rom 13-4 Was born from seed of David according
  to the flesh, was declared the Son of God with
  power according to the Spirit of holiness by His
  resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our
  Lord.

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The Vote at Nicaea

• In 318 AD Arius argued Jesus was created
• Alexander called a meeting of 100 bishops to
  discuss subject
• All voted Arius a heretic
• Arius continued to spread teaching
• Main topic at Nicaea was Arius teaching
• 318 bishops only 28 sided with Arius

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Bart Ehrman on The Da Vinci Code
Browns a novelist, not a scholar of history
Even though he claims that his descriptions of
documents are accurate, in fact they are not.
(Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code, 189-90)
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Conclusion
If you enjoy reading suspense thrillers and
conspiracy theories youll like this book.
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Conclusion
If you like books that are critical of Jesus and
you dont care about facts, youll enjoy this
book.
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Conclusion
But if youre wanting to know who Jesus really
was, this book is of no value to you at all!
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Do you want to know the truth about Jesus?