Friday, June 02, 2006

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Dan Brown

If you don't know church history, Dan Brown's historical talk is breath taking...shocking. He makes you feel like a fool for having believed the church's lies all these years. But, let me ease your mind. Dan Brown either is a terrible historian or a great marketer (maybe a little of each!).

After Leigh Teabing tells Sophie the "truth" about how Constantine made up the idea that Jesus was divine (see post below) he "verifies" it with this statement...

Fortunately for historians, some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea scrolls were found in the 1950’s hidden in a cave…in the Judean desert…, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms. … The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda- to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use his influence to solidify their own power base. P. 234

Well, the only “glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications” are from Brown. Nothing in the paragraph above is true. What’s wrong with what he said about the Dead Sea Scrolls? It says that the Dead Sea scrolls speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms...but that’s impossible. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written before Jesus was even born! They say nothing about Jesus or the early church, let alone the humanity of Jesus. Oops. I guess we weren't supposed to know that!

Have you picked up on Brown's literary manipulations that reinforce his "historical" aura? He starts out by saying..."Fortunately, for historians..." Whew. Yeah. Good thing for those scrolls, otherwise we might have someone trying to lie to us about the truth! Then he talks about "glaring" discrepancies that "clearly" show the truth. I guess the old saying works for Dan...if you tell a lie long enough eventually people will believe it's the truth. I hope you don't!

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