Audio Messages:
Pastor Wade Burleson

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Why the Da Vinci Code (Part I)
The Truth Is Far More Spectacular

NEW . . . MP3 format

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I Peter 3:15 (KJV)

15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Dr. John Gill says of the word "hope" in our text, "This hope is the gospel. The whole Christian doctrine, the doctrine of faith and is translated by some 'the hope of faith.'"

On May 19, 2006 a movie called "The Da Vinci Code" will open in theaters around the world. The movie is based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown and is directed by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks. This movie alleges several things about Jesus Christ and Christianity that will strike at the very foundations of our faith. The themes include:

1. The Bible is a product of man, not God, and those who compiled it had an agenda.
2. Jesus Christ is a mere human, and not God, but he was later deified by the church.
3. Jesus took Mary Magdalene as his wife and she gave birth to a child (the Grail).
4. The Christian church has covered up the truth, but the code reveals it.

Typically those kinds of statements would be dismissed as heretical or cultic, but in our modern world there is a tendency to accept anything that is said which claims scholarship.

USA TODAY -- The Da Vinci Code is "historic fact with a contemporary storyline."
NBC Today Show -- Dan Brown is asked, "This is a novel. If you were writing it as a non-fiction book how would it have been different?" -- "I don't think it would have."

In the past we have focused on a kind of apologetics that defends the Christian story, now our apologetic task will be to define the Christian story. In the past, we could cite the Bible as the clincher of our arguments, and non-believers would accept or reject the Bible's affirmations as applicable or not to their lives. "The Da Vinci Code" impugns the biblical witness to Jesus. A major character in the book says, "The early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power" (Brown, p. 233).

1. Be ready . . . "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you" (v.15).
   Why do you believe what you believe? How do you know Jesus is God? How do you know the Bible is true? Does Christianity suppress women? Was Jesus married? This readiness is personal (not another), involves preparation (always), and people (answer).
2. Be reasonable . . . "of the reason of the hope that is in you" (v.15).
   The word reason is the word "logos," often translated "word." We are called by God to give an answer (Gr. apologia -- from which we get our word apologetics) based upon the Word of God. Do you know His word? Can you defend your faith? Being a Christian is more than just a "feeling" or a "belief," it is a very personal defense.
3. Be reverent . . . "with meekness and fear" (v.15).
   This simply means that your defense of the gospel is not a game. This is not about winning an argument. The souls of men are at stake. The gospel is the power of God.