we should take notice the following claims that the book makes:
1. "it's true that more than 80 gospel were considered for the new testament but they were turned down by the early church and then burnt" ... page 2312 "its true that these gospels, part of the ancient nag hamadi library, they high light glaring discrepancies and fabrication of the bible we have today, the modern bible" ... page 2343. "its true that these scrolls are the earliest christian records" ... page 2454. "its true that the early church literally stole Jesus from the original followers and hi jacked his human nature and shrouded it in a cloak of divinity and used it to expand their own power" ... page 233
What one need to have in the back their mind as we examine these point is that this all centre around the council of niceae in Dans fictitious outing, all though this is a historical event in the history of Christianity it had a very different purpose which Dan somehow negates to tell his disciples and follower, that being the controversy sounding arianism which taught that Christ was a begotten son and not eternal son, this means the gospels and other new testament did not take the centre role of the council in what book was and was not true, but played a theological role in determining Christ's true Character of both God and man
Now we proceed with the points at hand
1. "it's true that more than 80 gospel were considered for the new testament but they were turned down by the early church and then burnt" ... page 231
this question needs to be put out of commission and the only way to do so is to make the point that the gospel as we have them today were the one which the apostles and their companions wrote in the first century. from 45-70 ad
the manuscript evidence gives us a very important point to consider ... in that they date from 110 ad -1600's ... but this means that the gospels of mark, Luke, Matthew and john were already known in the Christian community as being the true accounts of the gospel message, which consists of God becoming a man, in order to atone for our sin by the crucifixion, and his resurrection
the so called gospels which date 150 ad 500 ad all have a completely foreign context as it does not show any familiarity with the Jewish nation and customs, they reduces Jesus to a mere phantom .. the picture of a spirit ...and remove all humanity from him, it is the new testament that is faith to his true Character of being the GOD-MAN
and this book are Dans trophies it would seen that his understanding of them is some what lacking
also important to make a mention is the fact that the bible by this time was already widely known and was not a consideration of the counciland the fact that he makes the claim that the early church were involved in some sinister cover up by burning materials is some a-historical as the church for the first 250 years of its existence were a persecuted church and due to this fact they were not in the position to even keep there own much loved documents that formed the new testament with them.
2 "its true that these gospels, are a part of the ancient nag hamadi library, they high light glaring discrepancies and fabrication of the bible we have today, the modern bible" ... page 234
While the first section may be valid and true that these false gospel are apart of the nag hamadi library, i sincerely doubt Dan has ever even read them as close as he claims for him to walk away with the idea that these book are even correct on many facts is just one of the most disturbing points in such a work like this
these books are inaccurate on so many levels that it is hard to be serious on many fronts when it comes to reading them, the picture they paint is one of gnosticism which is anti Christianity nature, even anti Jewish too
the second part is even harder to follow since the only apparent contradictions are those which Dan made up from his false interpretation of historical facts
1) the bible was decide at the council of Nicaea ... completely false the bible was consider as it has always been by the church ... it is Gods truth, man submits to it
2) the early church believed in Jesus as just a man .. based on the gnostic readings .. completely false the church fathers show us that Jesus deity was believe in from the earliest times with writing from the 2nd century 110-200 demonstrating this
the gnostic ideal which Dan is latching onto was something which Paul and john thought against in the first century and the early church continued later .. the writings how ever come much later 150 on wards.
3. "its true that these scrolls are the earliest christian records" ... page 245
Just as I have shown that these writing , the gnostic gospels were written between 150 -500 ad, meaning that they are not earliest. this being said we now have many manuscript predating this mark .. with some from 110 ad and new ones going back to the first century
these are the earliest one we have in our collections
4. "its true that the early church literally stole Jesus from the original followers and hi jacked his human nature and shrouded it in a cloak of divinity and used it to expand their own power" ... page 233
What I love about about this particular claim is that he uses the term "literally" this reveals that we are not dealing with someone who has really looked to see the truth of the matter is, he just assumes what he has collated from broken information is the truth
firstly, as i have stated once, he does not know the history of the bible nor of the false gospels ... nor does he give any indication of understanding the sources that is referring to are about .. "Gnosticism"
secondly, it is the Gnostic's who stole Jesus from the Christians and then filed away at his humanity to suit their notion that anything pure and good such Jesus can not be a true human as that which material is evil
showing us that that did not give credence to his true humanity as the bible and Christianity does
Finally, this argument is more conspiratorial in nature than it is dealing with the real facts of the matter
such as the claim in this book and the other conspiracy of Jesus tomb .. that he was married to Mary Magdalene .. this point in of itself has been thoroughly demonstrated as being false
conclusion
The divinci code as we have seen has no reality to any other its claim about how the bible came to be, why we as Christians believe in the trinity and deity of Christ, what the purpose of the council of niceae was conveined
all it serves is to misdirect those who already believe Christianity is false and those whom are not strong in the faith, and on this account it can be dismissed as a poor attempt to deal with the reality and historical back ground as well as the divine truth
