The da Vinci codes regurgitated Gnostic stories

The word “Gnostic” means a knowing one, it is derived from the Greek word gnostiko or gnosis (inner esoteric knowledge). Gnosticism taught that spirituality came through a self-knowledge found outside the written Word,  a mystical “knowledge” acquired from direct spiritual experience. To a Gnostic God could not be rationally explained to the mind, but only be known by direct experience. The fact is the Gnostics were branded as heretics by the early church. Those who were pastors and apologists openly debated the challenges to the received text from the apostles against the Gnostic’s new spiritual knowledge.

For a more in depth analysis of what the Gnostics taught. What is Gnosticism?

 The Gnostics used sources such as Platonic dualism (docetism) and Eastern religious thought, combining them with ideas derived from Christianity. The Gnostics called their doctrine the depths of God, known then to contain arcane secrets and mysteries of divine wisdom. Christ answer, he calls them the depths of Satan (Revelation 2:24). God says in Isaiah 48:16 “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning.” The Gnostics and mystics pursue the unknown; despising what is already revealed.  The New age movement continues using the Gnostic / mystical ways today.

This is why Brown is so convinced and antagonistic of the Bible, he listening to those who received guidance and messages outside the Word delivered by God through the apostles. Gnostics were never Christian. They tried to undermine the church and the work that God was doing.

The Gnostic viewpoint that there was no sin. The spirit and the flesh were separate. In the Gnostic Gospel of Mary, Mary Magdalene appears as a disciple, singled out by Jesus for special teachings. Peter said to Jesus, “Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world? 26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.” Sounds more like Christian Science, not Scripture, that says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sin is mans inherited fallen nature. John writes in his 1st epistle if we say we have no sin we are calling God a liar and do not know the truth. The Gnostics believed they were the possessors of truth and the Christian church was not, thus they opposed them.

The Gnostic's Marriage of Jesus 

Brown uses his favorite two Gnostic documents, the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary, to prove that the Magdalen was Christ’s “companion.” In the Gospel of Philip: And the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. What needs to be pointed out is there are holes in this Gnostic gospel writing where ie. and used to, mouth etc. are written. Where the  holes are words were added as assumptions of what was said. These holes are not as big a hole as the theory its based on. 

The rest of [the disciples were offended] by it [and expressed disapproval]. 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 also writes against the Scripture: Some said, “Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit." They are in error. They do not know what they are saying. When did a woman ever conceive by a woman? Mary is the virgin whom no power defiled. She is a great anathema to the Hebrews, who are the apostles and the apostolic men. This virgin whom no power defiled [...] the powers defile themselves. And the Lord would not have said “My Father who is in Heaven” (Mt 16:17), unless he had had another father, but he would have said simply “My father.”

In the Gnostic Gospel of Philip “You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ. You saw the Father, you shall become Father.” (Gospel of Philip) “But one receives the unction of the [...] of the power of the cross. This power the apostles called “the right and the left.” For this person is no longer a Christian but a Christ. (Gospel of Philip).

This is direct opposition to everything the bible teaches. Then Jesus is not the only Christ.  

In the gospel of Mary I found no mention of an intimate relationship, especially of marriage. Surely if this was such a held truth as claimed it would be consistently recorded. There is one item mentioned “Surely the Savior knows her very well.” The Gospel of Mary (referring to Magdalene) says the following: Peter said to Mary, “Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember -- which you know (but) we do not, nor have we heard them.” Mary answered and said, “What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.”   Mary Magdalene goes on to tell Peter, Andrew, and Levi about her visions of the Risen Christ and her conversations with the Lord. These visions involve something which she refers to as the seven powers of wrath.

“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. 20) They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space? 21) The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome,22) and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died.23) In a aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.24) From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.

(Chapter 9 v.1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. 2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?”

That is a good question. Did Jesus give special knowledge to a woman contradicting what the Bible teaches after his training the disciples? It becomes clear the Gnostics used Mary Magdalen to bring doubt and confusion challenging the validity of the Scripture from the apostles that was already in the church. The true gospels written by the apostles tell us a number of times who the “inner circle” of disciples were, Peter, James, and John, and Mary was not there. The Gnostics may have forged her name and the apostle’s names on their documents, but the content revealed the author. Scholars date the Gospel of Mary mid 2nd century, the Gospel of Philip at the end of third century. This is about 200 years after Jesus lived. How can it be a written by the disciple named Philip in Acts, unless he lived to be at least 200! The text of the Gospel of Philip which exists today is a Coptic translation, not its original language (Greek). Gospel of Thomas (the primary one), Gospel of Philip,  (a collection of sayings, metaphors, and esoteric teaching) Gospel of Mary, Gospel of the Egyptians, and the Gospel of Truth are attributed by most to Valentinus. Many of the Gnostic documents have sexually suggestive statements incased in them thus the importance of women in their spiritual belief system.

On Brown's website, we find, THIS NOVEL IS VERY EMPOWERING TO WOMEN. CAN YOU COMMENT? Two thousand years ago, we lived in a world of Gods and Goddesses. Today, we live in a world solely of Gods. Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power. The novel touches on questions of how and why this shift occurred…and on what lessons we might learn from it regarding our future.”  

Considering that Brown says the Gnostics were matriarchal we have this statement in the Gospel of Philip “The superiority of man is not obvious to the eye, but lies in what is hidden from view.”

 Brown neglects other Gnostic teachings. The gospel of Thomas (the primary one), another 2nd century writing that gives imaginary stories of Jesus from his 5th to 12th year of childhood and challenges the revealed record. This is why the church rejected them, they were Gnostic forgeries. According to the “Gospel of Thomas,” Peter says the following about Magdalene: “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life,” Jesus responds, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male”.... “For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Doesn’t sound like a pro-feminine goddess view to me. The very writings he is upholding refutes his own conspiracy theory of the church rejecting women and made patriarchal.

The Da Vinci's Codes Marriage of Mary Magdalene?

Browns character in the book Teabing, is described as a reputable historian. This persuades the reader to accept the historical “facts” presented in the novel as accurate. Sir Leigh Teabing’s states “the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.” In Chapter 58 , Brown’s book states: “…Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor…Because Jesus was a Jew and the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried.”

Teabing insists that the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is mentioned specifically in two ancient documents, The Gospel of Philip and The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which he calls, together with the Dead Sea Scrolls, “the earliest Christian records.” Teabing cites The Gospel of Philip as proof that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. The Gospel of Philip was produced at the end of the 3rd century AD, How can it be a written by the disciple named Philip in Acts, unless he lived to be at least 200! This is almost one hundred years after the Gospel of John, which is the last of the four New Testament gospels to be written by the LAST LIVING APOSTLE.

There is not one shred of evidence accepted by any credible historian stating that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. If your looking for evidence of this kind you may as well go to the Mormons who teach that it was Jesus who got married at Cana, except they say he was a polygamist, he had many wives Martha, Mary and others; he also had many children (Journal of Discourses vol.1 345-346 vol.2 79-82 vol.4:259-260 the Seer p.172). While Brown does not agree with many wives, he does shares in their inaccuracy.

On the recent ABC special Dan Brown seems to contradict the love Jesus had for Mary saying “Jesus wasn’t in love with her he was just trying to help her out” (Jesus Mary and Da Vinci, Aug.5, 2004, on ABC).

In Chapter 58 Teabing, continues According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood” (Da Vinci Code, p.245.)

Brown has a classic argument from silence. If one is appealing to the gospel narratives as evidence, then why reject the other points that are clear in them. Obviously because he must if it does not agree with his theory. We also can appeal to the same evidence; if Jesus were married at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it. It makes no sense that his disciples would try to hide his marriage if it was normal. They were eyewitnesses and wrote accurately everything He did, because they were inspired by the Spirit of Truth. John writes, “This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.” It was John who was giving testimony by his writing and became the last living apostle among those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus Life, death and resurrection. It was John who Jesus entrusted his mother to. If Jesus were married he would certainly have entrusted his wife as well. But then Brown does not believe the biblical record of Jesus going BACK to HEAVEN, or anything in the Bible for that matter.

Yes, marriage was the “norm” for 1st century Judaism and not being married was unusual but not condemned (it was looked upon as God's blessing not being there). We have examples of celibacy accepted in the Jewish culture. Therefore, Jesus would not have been require to be married. Daniel was not married, Jeremiah an Old Testament prophet of the 7^th century B.C. abstained from marriage as a sign to the Jewish people that the end of the kingdom of Judah was near (Jeremiah 16:1-9).  John the Baptizer was not married, yet Jesus said he was the greatest of the prophets. Even Paul was not married as he did his ministry unto the Lord. (Neither was Jesus, really). In fact Paul said  “Do we have not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”(1 Cor 9:5) This was a perfect opportunity to mention Jesus but he doesn’t. Another point Paul writes  “Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But even if you do marry,  you have not sinned” (1 Cor. 7:27-28).  Paul certainly knew the teachings of Christ and would not have contradicted him. Again we see Brown is wrong, marriage was not required.

If Jesus were married it would actually contradict what he preached about love and commitment.  Brown is presenting a Jesus who is married and leaves his wife to go back to heaven (according to the Bible). It would make Jesus a hypocrite, and not a teacher that one could respect. Brown's argument is from the silence of Scripture and the loud voice of heretics. 

Even liberal scholar Elaine Pagel on the ABC TV Special agreed with the Bible and stated Jesus was NOT married.  

Brown's main sources within the text of his novel is from feminist scholarship such as The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. Yet even they are not all in agreement with all he has to say. and The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, both by Margaret Starbird )

And what about the argument in John 20:17 of Mary, when she finds Jesus holds him. Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.” The Greek word means to attach oneself to, i.e. to touch (in many implied relations): to fasten oneself to.

Matt 28:8-9 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.” The Greek word here means to use strength, i.e. seize or retain (literally or figuratively): keep, lay hand (hold) on, to restrain.

We see the Scripture recording that they all held him by the feet, not just Mary. So if this makes Mary married, then it makes them all married; not just Mary.

Brown doesn’t miss a beat to criticize Christianity for anything possible that is wrong.  In other words Christianity is set up to take the blame, despite it being God’s revelation of love to the people of the world, to both men and women alike. 

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