GUEST ARTICLE
The Da Vinci Code
and the Uniqueness of Christ
Among the many unsubstantiated accusations that author Dan
Brown made in his bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code is
one regarding the “unoriginality” of Christianity.
Allegedly, “Nothing in Christianity is original” (Brown,
2003, p. 232). As “proof” of this statement,
Brown’s fictional character, Sir Leigh Teabing, asserts:
“The pre-Christian God Mithras—called the Son
of God and the Light of the World—was born on December
25, died, and was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected
in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday
of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was
presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity’s
weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans” (p. 232,
italics in orig.).
Supposedly, the Gospel was nothing new 2,000 years ago when
Jesus was born into the world. Stories that resemble “the
Good News of Jesus” circulated centuries earlier. Pagans
had previously worshipped and idolized god-like heroes who
in some ways resembled Christ.
How can Christianity be “original” if stories
that predate the time of Christ speak of gods who were born
on December 25, presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh,
called the Son of God and Light of the World, and buried
and raised only a few days after their deaths? As with so
many things in The Da Vinci Code, this accusation is erroneous
and terribly misleading.
First of all, the Bible nowhere indicates that Jesus was
born on December 25. There are no Old Testament prophecies
about Him being born on this date, nor does any New Testament
writer suggest it. On the contrary, Luke hints that Jesus
was most likely born in a month other than December. In chapter
two of his gospel account, Luke wrote that Jesus was born
when shepherds were “living out in the fields, keeping
watch over their flock by night” (2:8). It is highly
unlikely that shepherds would have been “living out
in the fields” with their sheep during the winter months. “Jews
sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions
during the summer months, and took them up in the latter
part of October or the first of November, when the cold weather
commenced” (Barnes, 1997). Late December simply was
not a time when flocks were in the fields at night. Thus,
as Adam Clarke concluded, “On this very ground the
nativity in December should be given up” (1996).
The early church did not celebrate “Christmas” on
December 25, since the inspired apostles and prophets never
commanded its observance as a religious holy day. “Christmas” was
not observed until the fourth century A.D. (see “Christmas,” 1997,
3:283), and even then it was most likely adopted “to
coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday
of the unconquered sun’” (“Christmas,” 3:283).
In short, a December 25 “holy day” originated
as a pagan feast, and true Christianity is not connected
to this date in any way. Thus, the fact that history records
stories of mythical gods being born on December 25 in no
way diminishes the deity, superiority, or virgin birth of
Christ.
Second, similarities between Christ and the stories of mythical
hero “savior-gods” from the past are to be expected.
Centuries before the time of Christ prophets foretold of
the coming Savior of mankind Who would be “from everlasting” (Micah
5:2), yet enter the world miraculously by being born of a
virgin (Isaiah 7:14). He would be of royal blood (Isaiah
9:6-7), reign over a kingdom (Psalm 110:1-2) that will never
be destroyed (Daniel 2:44), and wear names such as “Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah
9:6). Finally, at His death He would be pierced (Zechariah
12:10), and yet His body would not see corruption (Psalm
16:10), i.e., He would be raised from the dead. Considering
prophecies about the coming Messiah were being foretold since “the
foundation of the world (i.e., since the fall of man—Genesis
3:15; cf. Luke 11:49-51) to both Jews and Gentiles (see Lyons,
2004), stories of various “savior-gods” who might
sound similar to the true Messiah are to be expected. [NOTE:
For further information, see Butt and Lyons, 2006, pp. 35-74.]
Third, although there are some parallels between the Gospel
of Jesus and the “hero-god” stories that circulated
centuries before Christ came to Earth, many of these professed
similarities are untrue. For example, in hopes of casting
doubt on the story of Jesus, Dan Brown asserted that, like
Jesus, Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. Yet, according to Amy Welborn, “There is not
a single story in actual Hindu mythology of Krishna being
presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh at his birth” (2004,
p. 87). Brown may well have obtained this information regarding
Krishna from Kersey Graves’ 1875 book The World’s
Sixteen Crucified Saviors. Not surprising, neither Brown
nor Graves provided any documentation for their comparisons.
Furthermore, as Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel observed: “The
stories of Krishna’s childhood recorded in the Harivamsa
Purana (c. A.D. 300) and the Bhagavata Purana (c. A.D. 800-900)
don’t mention gifts at all. Even if they did, these
latter works were written after the first century, making
Graves’ claim absurd” (2004).
Finally, Christianity’s weekly “holy day” was
not “stolen” from pagans. Since there are only
seven days in a week, there was a one in seven chance that
Christians would assemble on someone’s “holy
day.” If Jesus had been raised on Saturday, and Christians
assembled for worship on the seventh day rather than the
first day, the Jews would have cried foul play. Were early
Christians to meet on Monday, they may have been accused
of worshiping the moon. In truth, Christians have been meeting
on the first day of the week to worship God for 2,000 years
because God set aside this day for us to worship Him, including
eating the memorial feast (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:17-26).
Christians know nothing of Sun-worship, but much of Son-worship.
As Tertullian wrote 1,800 years ago in his “Apology,” Christians “devote
Sun-day to rejoicing” for a “far different reason
than Sun-worship” (XVI). To say that Christians “stole” their “holy
day” from the pagans is an outright lie.
Sadly, Satan has used The Da Vinci Code and other popular
writings and movies to deceive millions of people about the
uniqueness of Christ and the originality of Christianity.
Thankfully, however, even Satan cannot stop the power of
the Gospel (Romans 1:16) from pricking the hearts of those
who are open to the Truth (Matthew 13:1-23; cf. Acts 2:36-37;
16:14). May God help us all to distinguish between Truth
and error, and obey that which God’s Truth teaches.
--Eric Lyons
REFERENCES
Barnes, Albert (1997), Barnes’ Notes (Electronic Database:
Biblesoft).
Brown, Dan (2003), The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday).
Butt, Kyle and Eric Lyons (2006), Behold! The Lamb of God
(Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).
“Christmas” (1997), The New Encyclopaedia Britannica
(Chicago: Encyclopaedia Brittannica).
Clarke, Adam (1996), Adam Clarke’s Commentary (Electronic
Database: Biblesoft).
Lyons, Eric (2004), “Resurrected ‘Savior-Gods’ and
the Prophets of Old,” [On-line], URL: apologeticspress.org/articles/2858..
Olson, Carl E. and Sandra Miesel (2004), “A Da Vinci
De-Coder,” [On-line], URL: http://www.carl-olson.com/articles/tca_tdvc_apr04.html.
Tertullian (1973 reprint), “Apology,” The Ante-Nicene
Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Welborn, Amy (2004), De-coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind
the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code (United States: Our Sunday
Visitor).
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