For people who are reading this for the first time, I've read the book, I even thought it was enjoyable. What I didn't like was Dan Brown saying that this is all researched and is true (although I think he put that in there to make more $$$). I even have friends believing what was in the novel. So I decided to do some of this research for myself and find out the real truth. It tested my faith, and my faith came out stronger because of it.
Emperor Constantine- The DaVinci Code says that it was he who invented the deity of Jesus Christ and it also says that he eliminated certain gospels to forward his political agenda. Brown asserts that by declaring the deity of Christ, Constantine solidified his rule and earned the right to declare anyone who disagreed with him, heretics. Dan Brown says this happened when the Council of Nicea met in 325 A.D. Also, the novel states that Constantine rejected other gospels that were favorable to the divine feminine. The book says that more than eighty gospels were considered for the new testament, yet, only a relative few were chosen, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them. So, in other words, Constantine recognized a good deal when he saw it and called the council to ensure male power and further his political goals. In the novel, Langdon states that ,"The Priory believes that Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever."
All right, let's seperate fact from fiction. Church Historians agree that next to the events in the New Tetament, the most important event in the history of Christianity is the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312 A.D. (if you would like me to post the events which led up to his conversion, let me know). In the fourth century, doctrinal disputes were tearing Constantine's empire apart. For example, it was said that if you bought a loaf of bread in the marketplace of Constantinople, you might be asked whether you believe that God the Son was begotten or unbegotten or you might be told that the Father is greater and the Son less.
Adding fuel to these disagreements was a man named Arius, who was gaining a wide following by teaching that Christ was not fully God by a created God of sorts. He believed that Jesus was more than a man, less than a God. Arius was a great communicator, and becase he put his doctrinal ideas into musical jingles, his ideas became widely accepted. Many church bishops declared him a heretic, but disputes nonetheless continued. Constantine called the first ecumenical council at Nicaea, hoping to depress dissent and unite Christianity.
At the meeting, more than three hundred bishops attended and one of the things Constantine told his delegates that doctrinal disunity was worse than war. Here are some of the things discussed, agreed upon and disagreed upon when the proceedings started:
- Arius was given an opportunity to defend his views but overwhelmingly, the council declared him a heretic. The delegates recognized that if Christ was not fully God, then God was not the redeemer of mankind. To say that Christ was created was to deny the clear teaching of scripture. If God created all things, how could he create himself (see Colossians 1:16).
-affirming the divinity of Jesus, they then turned their attention to how he related to the Father. Eusebius the historian presented his view claiming that Jesus had a nature that was similar to that of God the Father. The theologian Athanasius (who was not invited to the actual proceedings), believed that to even say that Christ is similar to God the Father is to miss the full biblical teaching about Christ's divinity. He argued that Christ could only be God in the fullest sense if his nature was the same as the Father was expressed by his representative, Marcellus, a bishop from Asia Minor. The council agreed that the Son had the very same nature as the Father. (homoousion, greek for "one and the same).
-The council agreed and today we have the famous Nicene Creed.
Although there was a debate between similar and same at the council, the issue was very important. Even if Christ, were the most noble creature of God's creation, God would only be indirectly involved in the salvation of man. As Athanasius, an historian, said, "only if Christ is God, without qualification, has God entered humanity, and only then, have fellowship with God, the forgiveness of sins, the truth of God, and immortality been certainly brought to men."
I know the DaVinci code says that the doctrine of the deity of Christ passed with a relative close vote. Let's see here, out of over three hundred bishops, only five protested. Wow, thanks for getting your facts right Dan! What a close vote. That's all for now. I will post more tomorrow. Take care.
"Jesus, you are my Light of Light, very God of God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made."
