Dad or Divine? The Da Vinci Code Jesus Unmasked
Jesus was a mere man — not God. He had a child with Mary Magdalene. Jesus was a Dad — not divine. The church has successfully hidden this truth about him for a long time.
This is the view of Jesus presented in Dan Brown's bestselling fictional novel, The Da Vinci Code — but is there fact behind the fiction?
Well, if there is, then Christianity is a lie and following Jesus is a waste of time. Even the Bible itself says that if Jesus is not God's Son, raised from the dead, then faith in him is futile and that, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (1 Corinthians 15:19).
One time atheist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis, put it this way in his book, Mere Christianity:
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
So who do you say that Jesus is? Jesus asked this very question of his disciples because people at the time were talking about their different views of who he was. Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).
Whether you echo Peter's words or not, it is certainly worth taking a closer look at the life of Jesus.
The above article was first published as a pamphlet after the release of The Da Vinci Code movie. A bookshop owner who traveled to various spirituality festivals as a stallholder requested me to write something topical to go in showbags that she handed out. These included items such as bookmarks, posters, booklets and various stationery items.
Was Jesus only a man and not also a deity? That is a good question. It is a foundational question. Jesus was a real man. Historian Josephus lived around that time and he was not a Christian. But he wrote about the Jesus man. Josephus was not really a religious man. Other people wrote about the man of Jesus. Many people saw Jesus die on a cross around 30 AD, which was almost two thousands ago. It is the year 2017 right now.
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Hundreds of people saw Jesus some days after Jesus was buried and in a tomb after dying on a cross. For fifty days, people would see Jesus all over that place and people told other people about that. Many wrote about it.
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Was Jesus married to women or men or anybody or anything?
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Did Jesus Christ have children with Mary or others?
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We can choose to ask these KINDS OF questions if we want. We can read histories about Jesus and others written from Christians, Jews, or even Atheists or people who are religious and people who are not religious.
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At the end of the day, we can choose to believe that Jesus was God or not.
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If Jesus was not God, then why did Jesus say He was God?
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There are many questions people can ask. Maybe Jesus was God and is God. Maybe Jesus lied and Jesus is not God. Maybe Jesus is crazy and thinks He is God and is not God.
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Those are three options: Jesus was either crazy, a liar, or Jesus is God.
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I saw the Da Vinci Code movie with Tom Hanks and also the sequel film Angels & Demons which also had Ewan McGreggor who also played Kenobi from Star Wars. Upvoted. Resteemed. Thanks for sharing. Take care.
Thanks very much @joeyarnoldvn for reading and sharing your thoughts in such detail. I appreciate the resteem and upvote too.
False on so many levels. Jesus never once said that he was God.
Option 4: Jesus was the Son of God and Messiah as told in the Scriptures.
(John 14:8-9 NIV) Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." {9} Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
(John 8:56-58 NIV) Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." {57} "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" {58} "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
Jesus is the image of God and has the indwelling presence and power of God through the Holy Spirit. If they could not see the Father in him, then they weren't looking. Jesus is not the Father, this is clear.
barncat, You seem to like following me around and I don't mind that, but I hope you take a moment to think about what I am writing instead of just looking for ways to debate me. We can all learn from each other. I would love to see you get away from Roman Catholicism and embrace a better understanding of the true God. No early Jew or Apostle would believe in a triune god and that is very clear. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. It's simple and biblical.
@pretradition Do you believe that Jesus is a created being or an eternal (no beginning, no end) person within the trinity? Or something else?
I believe he is created, begotten of God through Mary. -but to be clear, not a "mere" man in that he was truly the Christ.
Jesus existed with God for eternity before he was born as a child.
(John 17:4-5 NIV) I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. {5} And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
(John 1:1-15 NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was with God in the beginning. {3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. {4} In him was life, and that life was the light of men. {5} The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. {6} There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. {7} He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. {8} He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. {9} The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. {10} He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. {11} He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. {12} Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- {13} children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. {14} The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. {15} John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"
Without going into the greater depth of your posted verses, you should at least note that neither actually argue for eternal existence. God alone existed eternally. Jesus is the begotten son, therefore he must have a beginning.
@barncat I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.
Thanks for the clarification @pretradition.
NICE POST
Thanks @leebag for reading and the upvote.
I say that he is the Christ, the son of God.
It seems that many people want to leave out the truth and say that he is either a mere man or God himself. The truth is what the Scriptures teaches: That Jesus is not God, but at the same time, not a mere man. He is the son of God. He is the chosen Messiah, the perfect man born of God who was sent to redeem us. The Bible is clear that Jesus was a man but that is not to belittle his being or appointment. He is the exalted man, the mediator between God and men, there is nothing mere about that.
Thanks very much @pretradition for taking the time to read and comment.