2006. 5. 7 김영봉 목사

Third of Four Series Sermon: 'A Proper Perspective on Da Vinci Code' (3)
"Mystery That We Should Seek"

--Colossians 2:1-5

1.

The disturbing aspect of the novel <Da Vinci Code> is that it erroneously twists the making of the Gospel as we know it today. The plot theorizes that the Gospel was crafted and propagated to achieve political ends. The plot further extrapolates this erroneous view as Christianity's greatest guarded secret. Today's sermon is the second of the series to refute these erroneous views as being baseless.

In today's sermon, I would like to relate to you two hidden truths that are based on the Gospel. These truths that I relay to you were not crafted by me, but are based on historical facts. The hidden truths I speak of are already widely known among learned scholars, but are not revealed to the uninitiated.

The first truth is that on 170 to 175 AD, a religious leader by the name of Tatian was believed to have bound four known testaments into a unified treatise. At the time, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were in prevalent use as canonical scriptures. However, there are noted differences in the four books of Gospel. Comparing the four books of Gospel, the known differences can be tantamount to irreconcilable discrepancies. Only to those learned in theology the Truth is revealed in the four separate books of the Gospel. However, the textual discrepancies can often confound the uninitiated. Obvious textual differences can be found in glaring examples like the Lord's prayer. For example, the Lord's prayer according to Matthews chapter 6, verses 9-13, does not perfectly compare with the Lord's prayer according to Luke chapter 11, verses 2-4. These textual differences can be confounding to some, rather irreconcilably to those uninitiated in the study of theology.

As one faces these perplexing issues head on, one would wonder whether a unified scripture can simplify the understanding of the four books of Gospel. One can conjecture that a single unified scripture with one perspective would appear to be beneficial to believers. In 160 A.D., a religious proponent by the name of Tatian entertained those very thoughts. Learned Tatian devised a unified treatise which came to be known as Diatessaron. Unfortunately, we only know of it as Diatessaron, and not one copy remains today. It is only through the written records of a church called Eusebius that we know that 200 years after Tatian, Diatessaron gained wide favor in churches of the region.

With time, however, early Christian churches came to favor the four books comprising the Gospel. I firmly believe that the decision to canonize the four books of Gospel is the defining moment of the modern Christianity. The decision to canonize the four books of Gospel reveals the earnesty in the endeavors among the believers in the formation of the modern Christianity as we know it today. If we were to assume, on the other hand, that the speculation according to the Da Vinci code is true, then perhaps the events would have turned in favor of Diatessaron, and not the four books of Gospel as we know it today. The faithful believers, however, notwithstanding the textual differences, chose the four books of the Gospel out of the firm belief that the Truth is supreme, however inconvenient the textual reading may be.

2.

The second hidden truth in the makings of the Gospel is that around the time of Diatessaron, a sectarian leader by the name of Marcion attempted his own version of the scripture. The sect that Marcion lead was Gnosticism, for which sectarian movement he came to be rebuked by the early Christian church.

Let us pause to define Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a wide ranging religious sect gaining following among the believers even before the coming of Jesus. Gnostics tended to believe that the spirit was good, but matter was evil, and that only by obtaining secret knowledge (gnosis) could people fulfill their spiritual nature and achieve salvation from this material, illusory, and evil world. That is why the movement came to be known as Gnosticism. Gnostics tended to use whatever religious movements were popular in a particular region to spread its followers’ views within the religion they adopt.

The Christian churches did feel the encroachment of Gnosticism. The Christian church kept distance because the Christian church did not subscribe to the belief that matter and body was evil. Although Christians also believed in the eternal heaven, Christians do not subscribe to the Gnostic belief that matters pertaining to earthly existence are inherently evil. This is why early Christians kept distance from the Gnostic movement among the Christian communities. We know from the New Testament that Gnostics were gaining ground within 50 to 60 years of early Christian history. Wherever Christian evangelical movements were spreading, we know that Gnosticism already had a firm foothold in those regions. That is why Gnosticism was a contentious issue within the Christian societies. Similarly, when the Gospel was introduced in Korea, some mixing of pagan tradition with Christianity was also evident in the Korean history.

One may suppose that Gnosticism is not harmful to Christianity. However, the Gnostics mindset led to unchristian behavior. But the followers of Gnosticism display heretical ways in two possible ways. First, to those who believe that they were not delivered from the sins of the world tended to seek gnosis by ritual practices of self immolation through self denial. On seeking gnosis tended to forsake the body as a form of regime towards attaining gnosis. On the other hand, those who thought that they had achieved gnosis believed that no earthly transgression on their part would negate the permanence of gnosis. For those who attained gnosis then, no sin of sexual depravity would shake the soul that has already been delivered through attainment of gnosis. Sinful depravity then became the right of those who attained gnosis.

The early Christian church opposed Gnosticism. Truth is, in the 2000 year history of Christianity, wide heretical movements were omnipresent. Some fell prey to these misguided movements. Some of my acquaintances did think that their spiritual attainment has transcended them from everyday norms and ethics. These acquaintances did not follow a specific religious practice, they just happened to fall upon their own cult-like conclusion.

There are sects that subscribe to heretical ways. In Korea, there has been, and continues to be the “salvation” sect of believers. This sect subscribes to the thinking that for those who have attained salvation, he is forever freed from past remorse and those sins arising from prospective bad acts. The sect subscribes to the belief that salvation once attained is eternal and unwavering, even in light of prospective bad acts. No criminal acts would attach criminality to the soul, and no sinful act would count as sin to those considered saved. Although this may sound like the Gospel’s good news to some, truth is, these cult religions among believers have been a challenge to modern Christianity from the days of the first Christian church.

3.

In the early years Marcion endeavored to gain wide audience in the Christian communities. However, at the same time, modern Christianity also began to take shape. Perhaps it was the need to define the Gnostic movement as the prevailing sect that Marcion may have developed the unifying scriptural treatise. His treatise can be summarized as follows:

• First, Marcion forbade the Old Testament. Marcion believed the Lord of the Old Testament must have been concerned with the earthly elements and the flesh of earthly existence.
• Second, Marcion theorized that the books of Matthew, Mark, and John largely aligned with the ways of the Old Testament. Accordingly, Marcion did not subscribe to these three books of the Gospel.
• Third, Marcion believed that the book of Luke is sufficiently distanced from the teachings of the Old Testament, but redacted those portion he believed taught the ways of the Old Testament.
• Fourth, Marcion rewrote the books by Apostle Paul as a single treatise, redacting those portions believed to subscribe to the ways of the Old Testament.

By this means, Marcion essentially redeveloped the holy scripture as an extract of portions of the Gospel and the Apostolic writings. Marcion’s “Gospel and the Apostle” is the other little known secret. The one who dabbled with scripture writing was not emperor Constantine, nor did the bishops of the early Christian church have any part with tampering with the scripture. The real culprit in scripture writing was Marcion and Gnosticism. Such legacy survived through archaeological discoveries. The parchments discovered in the Nag Hammadi finding were such sectarian writings. The book according to Phillip and the book according to Mary that the Da Vinci Code speaks of are also of Gnostic-like sectarian origin.

Given the real history, which would you believe in? The four books of Gospel that survived sectarian attempts to tamper with? Or, would you choose the ways of the Gnosticism? The modern Christianity is based on pursuit of the Truth. Sectarianism, such as Gnosticism, is based on imposition of mental constructs over the teachings of the Gospel.

There is a saying in the Da Vinci Code, “history is written by the victor.” What does that mean? The author means that the one who prevails in history defines himself as the one who righteously prevails in the history to come. What the author infers is that because Christianity prevailed over sectarianism like Gnosticism, Christianity came to be viewed as the righteous in the way of the Truth, and that sectarianism like Gnosticism came to be label heretical merely because they lost the war of religion. What the author is implying is that sectarianism such as Gnosticism could very well have been viewed as the way of the Truth, if sectarianism was to have prevailed over Christianity.

It is not to say that oppression by condemnation and persecution of the minority view did not exist in the history of Christianity. In Korea, prominent scholars have been too often banished from religious institutions due to differing religious views. Heresy has been too often been the misused condemnation of choice among the zealous ecclesiastical authorities. Of course, not all sectarianism is heresy. However, in the last century of Christianity in Korea, Christian struggle to root out heresy has been an omnipresence. Some among the sectarianisms were true embarrassment to modern Christianity. However, it would be wrong to say that the waywardly sectarianism disappeared due to lack of following.

4.

In my reading of the Da Vinci Code, I became wary of several dangers. First, the history of Christianity as recounted by the novel is baseless. Moreover, embedded in the message is a leaning towards Gnostic thinking. For example, the novel spins a special religious significance to the supposed secretive nature of the Priory of Sion.

The plot of the novel places the spotlight on Sophie whose grandfather was the supposed grand master of the Priory of Sion. Sophie pursued the secret relies ritual the grandfather presided over. In a closed off ritual site, men wore black, women wore white. They were all in masks singing and dancing their rite. In the middle were the grandfather and a woman, ritually fornicating. Sophie ran from disbelief. Sophie never contacted the grandfather again.

Sophie sought expert knowledge in ritualistic behaviors from Leigh Teabing. According to Leigh Teabing, a sectarian group called Hieros Gamos did practice ritual fornication. Hieros Gamos viewed sexual acts of volition and spirituality, not physical vulgarity. This sectarianism came to believe that sexual acts were a form of ritual worship. The woman was viewed as the creator of life, and through a sexual fornication with the female creator of life, the man attains union with the soul and harmony with spirituality. The novel then spins the character of Christianity in that Christianity views sexuality as profane because the Christian church seeks to have monopoly over the spirituality attainable through a sexual union. Upon hearing Leigh Teabing’s explanation, Sophie began to have an accepting view over the ritual scene of her grandfather fornicating with a woman.

The novel raises concerns. The novel is not the result of an investigative work, but lures the unsuspecting reader into the world reminiscent of past mysticisms that are unwholesome and lend no socially redeeming value, inappropriately spinning sectarian views into its recounting of Christian religion. The novel accuses the Christian establishment of fabrication and concealment, and hypocrisy; steers the reader to question conventional norms and values; and weaves in sectarian thoughts. What the novel teaches through its Hieros Gamos anecdote is not another perspective to spirituality but the kinds of sectarianism the Christian church has been guarded against. Weaving in such ritualistic sexual perversion in the plot glorifies perverse acts in a ritualistic setting. Even in Korea today, there are sects called “high holy kingdom” or “open holy kingdom” which are cults that their followers into the depths of misguided transgressions. Even in this country we live in, the Church establishment has lost ground to religious sects. The novel serves to lower our guard against the cult-like sectarian movements. The novel is therefore a grave concern to me.

It wouldn’t be unusual to find ourselves saying that “transgressions are for the meek, not for the principled like me.” However, the problem of transgressions begins with our mindset. Haughty mindset naturally leads to spiritual transgression. An established Christian church may not place as much emphasis on moral values, but that does not mean moral values are ignored. Same is true for social norms. An established Christian church seeks to influence moral and social values through spirituality, but an established Christian church does not forsake basic values. Rather, a Christian establishment embraces the Lord’s vision and endeavors to shape the human history. A true Church endeavors to shape humanity, but does not keep secrets and does not stand between humanity and the heaven’s mysteries. Christianity is an establishment separate from the general society, however, Christianity does not keep secret the glory of the heaven. If it did, then it is transgression from the true Christianity. Christianity evangelizes the world by spreading the good news. To stand in the way of this mission is in itself a transgression.

5.

Brothers and sisters, I seek to relay the true Christian secret. The true Christian secret is not new. We have heard of the secret. But we did not know of the secret. The hidden nature of understanding may be why it is a secret. The hidden truth I speak of is Jesus Christ. The mystery of Christ works in us. All truths can be found in the mystery of Christ. Let’s turn to our reading in Colossians, chapter 2, verse 2. Apostle Paul spoke of Jesus Christ as the “mystery of God.” Despite the pains and torture, Apostle Paul sought to spread the good news so that all mankind can know the Lord’s mystery revealed through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ lies hidden all wisdom and knowledge.

Brothers and sisters, were you aware that when Apostle Paul was writing to the Colossians he was guardedly aware of the Gnostic movement? Gnostics indeed worked the Colossians propounding their secret “gnosis” as the way to people’s salvation. In reply to the Gnostics, Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians that the Lord’s mystery is Jesus Christ, and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Therefore, do not seek gnosis or other forms of worldly intrigues, but seek Jesus Christ for all things.

There is a parallel to be drawn between the issues faced by the Colossians and us. Gnosticism has transformed from one age to another and still remains a formidable challenge. Through intrigues of the mind, cult religions seek to interfere with our understanding of Jesus Christ. Without a complete understanding of Jesus Christ, our lives are no longer complete. Without a complete understanding of Jesus Christ, cults parading under Christian banners can lead us astray. Cult practices become mistaken as the way of salvation. To those who cannot face the truth within, they hide behind the false shield afforded by the false assurances of cult religions. This is the modern-day threat to Christianity today.

Apostle Paul wrote in chapter 2, verse 5 of Colossians “For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. Here, Apostle Paul spoke of orderly and firm faith in Christ. The language used is of a militaristic origin. In light of the attacks from sectarianism, Apostle Paul asked the followers to be orderly and firm in Christ.

There is a parallel in modern Christianity. Modern Christianity is being attacked by cult religions. The best defense is to stand our ground in firm stance. We must embrace the Lord’s mystery, Jesus Christ, and live within his wisdom to halt the encroachment of cult movements and shine the Light of Truth. Conventional wisdom may be that offense is the best defense, but in the battle for the Truth, words of defense is the best offense. With the wisdom of Truth as our foundation, we can attack transgressions head on in our Christian lives.

How about us, how shall we carry on our lives? Shall we embrace the teachings of Apostle Paul and believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord’s mystery? Shall we live as true Christians seeking righteous living? Is the Lord ever seeking the true unwavering followers who are wholesome and honest, and walk the path of righteous?

Lord of heaven's mysteries
Let us not waiver by worldly intrigues
Let us not seek false pursuits
Let us not be mystified by false knowledge
Help us to seek the mysteries of Thy Truth
Help us to walk in Thy Spirit
Break down the barriers in our faith
Heal the broken spirit in us
Lead us to find strength in Thee
Make us wholesome, humble, sincere and honest,
Help us to walk the path of Thy Truth.