(these are my notes about jim's sermon. they are not 100% accurate nor entire. you're welcome to comment and make corrections. i've added biblical and other references.)
jim began hesitatingly, aware that he broached a controversial topic, and nervous about getting this right. he stated that this novel is a work of fiction and it contains falsehoods; nevertheless, he believes god works through controversies such as
the da vinci code.
but first, jim read the whole of
isaiah 54:
"Sing, O barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,"
says the LORD.
2 "Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
4 "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
6 The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.
7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,"
says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 "To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
11 "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will build you with stones of turquoise, [a]
your foundations with sapphires. [b]
12 I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your sons will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be your children's peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD.
Footnotes:
1. Isaiah 54:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
2. Isaiah 54:11 Or lapis lazuli
jim said that in the old testament, god exiled israel because they were unfaithful; and because they would not learn, because they would not listen, nations warred against israel until god finally got through to dense israel.
similarly, god uses controversial books to get through to dense 21st century humanity. the role of heresy is to sharpen and define our senses to truly experience god. these are more my words than a paraphrase of jim's. my notes of jim's words are: god uses heresy to make us examine the truth: what it is.
what makes a really good storytelling is that for a moment we suspend disbelief, we engage, we identify with the characters, we live their reality. but in the end, the truth is that a novel is not above distortion or invention in order to tell a good story. (this is my amplification of jim's point).
what it is is a fiction.
jim focused on three main points of fiction:
1. the priory of sion is a centuries-old secret society dedicated to the preservation of the secret true church. in reality, the priory of sion is a 20th century creation of pierre plantard, who
"deposited a series of forged documents, the so-called Dossiers Secrets or "Secret Dossiers", at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), in Paris. Therefore, people who set out to research the 'Priory of Sion' would come across these fake documents at the BnF. One of those researchers was Henry Lincoln."(henry lincoln went on to write
holy blood, holy grail with michael baigent and richard leigh. dan brown based much of his novel on this book.)
2. jesus and mary magdalene were married. mary was pregnant at the time of his crucifixion, and, after his death, she bore their daughter, sarah, whose bloodline exists to this day. in reality, only 2 of the many gnostic gospels hint at the possibility of a special relationship between jesus and mary, and none of the canonical gospels nor acts nor epistles. jim pointed out that in
1 corinthians, 9:5, paul, himself a contemporary of jesus and in communion with christ, asks "Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas [Peter]?" it is telling that he refers to other apostles, but not to jesus himself. wouldn't jesus have been the best example had he himself been married?
3. the truth has been suppressed by the council of nicea in a close vote. in reality, the major concern of the council of nicea had nothing to do with jesus and mary, or mary at all. jesus' divinity was not questioned; it was whether jesus was
co-eternal with god, (Trinitarianism) or
"created by (and consequently inferior to) the Father at some point, before which the Son did not exist." (Arianism). the vote wasn't close. with about 300 bishops attending,
"there were only two adherents of Arius who remained steadfast, Theonas of Marmarica in Libya, and Secundus of Ptolemais."jim contrasted the above fictions in the novel with its embodiment of truths, two of which are:
- the christian church has suppressed the strength of the feminine
- the christian church has demonized sex
jim added that the new testament does not get distorted with every passing generation's re-telling; rather, each translation goes back to the original greek or hebrew documents. why don't we do this with the church, he wondered, go back and recover the roots of the original christian community?
jim wished to encourage a forum for discussion. tentatively, 5 or 6 people raised questions or made statements. i noted that:
- one person affirmed that dan brown professes to be an ardent christian
- one person said "the gospel is not to be debated, but to be proclaimed."
