DaVinci Code Part Seven - Did Emperor Constantine Invent The New Testament?

Of all the claims made in The DaVinci Code, the ones surrounding the veracity and origins of the New Testament are perhaps the easiest to refute, simply because there is such a great amount of authenticated historical evidence that confirms the commonly-accepted understanding of the origin of The Bible.

Rev. Mark D. Roberts offers a good synposis of the way The DaVinci Code portrays the origins of the New Testament:

To begin, let me sketch the picture of the gospels painted in The Da Vinci Code, largely by the historian Sir Leigh Teabing. According to this view, Jesus's life had been "recorded by thousands of followers across the land" (p. 231). In fact, when the Christian canon of Scripture was being identified in the fourth century, according to Teabing, "More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament," yet only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were chosen, because they fit the political agenda of Constantine (p. 231). (Photo:  actor Ian McKellan portraying sir Leigh Teabing in The DaVinci Code.)

Yet among the rejected gospels were many that were "earlier" than the biblical foursome (p. 234). These gospels contained "the original history of Christ" (p. 234), which was rejected by the official Church and embraced only among those labeled as heretics. Even though Constantine and the Church tried to destroy the non-biblical gospels, which Teabing refers to as the "unaltered gospels" (p. 248), some of them did survive.

Of course the "Bible" as we know it today is the product of centuries of debate including a fascinating series of events surrounding the development of the "Old Testament" and its eventual inclusion in the Christian canon. The debate over the Biblican canon continued well into the Protestant reformation; to this day, Protestant Bibles omit several books included in the Old Testament by the Roman Catholic Church.

The New Testament canon familiar to us was first listed by St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in 367, in a letter written to his churches in Egypt. That canon gained wider and wider recognition until it was accepted at the Third Council of Carthage in 397, a council of African bishops much under the influence of  St. Augustine of Hippo.

But the origins of the New Testament canon go back even further.  Around 180 AD, Bishop Iraneus of Lyons recognized the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as of divine origin and equivalent to the status of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Other contemporaries such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian also emphasized the orthodox nature of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the letters of the Apostle Paul.  Another document that surfaced around this time was The Diatessaron, a collection of material from all four orthodox gospels presented as a single document.

In addition, early church writings indicate that each of the major churches not only had copies of the four Gospels, but also copies of the Pauline letters that outlined church doctrine (Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philipians, Colossians, etc.) as well as other early orthodox documents such as the Didache, the first and second letters of Clement, and The Shepherd of Hermas.  While many early church libraries also had copies of Gnostic writings, by the beginning of the third century AD most of these documents had been discarded by bishops and theologians as being heretical.

Marcion of Sinope also attempted to create a standard scriptural canon for his own church around 150 AD, but his canon did not survive him; Marcion was fond of gnosticism and consequently held a strong disregard for the Hebrew Scriptures.  Marcion's canon used portions of Pauline letters and orthodox gospels with references to Hebrew Scripture edited out, and also included a number of works later deemed to be gnostic in origin and therefore heretical.

So it is clear that even though there were perhaps more than a dozen writings -- mostly of Gnostic origin -- claiming to be "gospels," the early church had already determined that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the most reliable and the most likely to have been divinely inspired.  There was also widespread agreement on the doctrines that the Apostle Paul spelled out in his various letters.  All of ths is well-known and documented; therefore it is easy to say with great certainty that most of the orthodox New Testament canon was recognized by the early church long before its bishops met together for the first time in Nicea at the request of Emperor Constantine.

The historical records of the First Nicean Council (325 AD) provide no evidence that the bishops intended to develop a final, canonical list of divinely-inspired scriptures during their time together.  The bishops were primarily interested in confronting and refuting heretical beliefs about the nature and origin of Jesus Christ.  And there is no evidence in Roman historical records indicating that Emperor Constantine attempted to influence the First Nicean Council on matters of church doctrine.  In fact, the Emperor Constantine was most interested in having his bishops settle once and for all the details surrounding the celebration of Easter.

It is certainly possible that Emperor Constantine could have imagined Christianity as a way to unite the Roman Empire, which by the fourth century had become de-centralized and was rife with warfare between eastern and western factions.  Constantine, a westerner, was victorious over the eastern forces led by Licinius and sought to re-establish a strong Roman presence in the eastern empire.  To this end, he rebuilt the city of Byzantium (which was renamed Constantinople upon Constantine's death) in modern-day Turkey.  He was also the first emperor to proclaim Christianity as an officially recognized religion throughout the Roman empire.

And without a doubt, the Roman Empire (and its successors, the Holy Roman Empire and the royal courts of Europe) eventually used Christianity as a tool of oppression, a justification for holy warfare, and a mechanism to establish law and order in their colonies and conquered lands.  And until the fifteenth century, the Vatican kept a firm grip on European royalty by arranging marriages, dictating alliances, and fervently guarding art and literature.

But there is simply no evidence that proves beyond a doubt that Emperor Constantine -- or any other Roman emperor -- attempted to manipulate the development of orthodox Church doctrine or the orthodox Christian canon in order to use Christianity as tool for ruling the Roman Empire.

My final post will examine various elements of Gnosticism and Greek mythology that still plague Christianity today.
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(Note to readers: My apologies for taking so long to finish this series.  I have had parts seven and eight drafted for some time, but simply have not had the time to finish them.  I will conclude the series in the next few days with part eight.)

Comments

[Seven Star Hand]

Hello all,
Here's some detailed insight into the backstory and subplot of the DaVinci Code and related books and texts.

Most have totally missed the point that the Gnostic texts and others are making. First, they refer to symbolic males and females, hence the philosophical masculine and feminine nature and character. All the Gnostic texts are philosophical and symbolic treatises, not literal narratives. When you try to interpret any of these ancient texts (including the Bible) as literal, you will always come to the wrong conclusions.

You may not initially agree with everything I reveal, but please be a little patient with my long-winded presentation of what I have waited a very long time to be able to say. I promise to amaze and enlighten.

Contrary to those who strive to assert that the DaVinci Code created the term, symbology is an ancient philosophical technology and I am a real life symbologist. Likewise, the upper-level members of secret societies such as Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Illumanti, and the Vatican are symbologists. Keeping their "craft" secretive and misunderstood is a purposeful ploy designed to hide the truth about ancient wisdom and the symbology used to model, encapsulate, and encode it. The title "mason" is itself a symbolic allusion to those who work with the "Philosophers' Stone" which is the symbolic name given to an ancient body of symbology, hence "Masons" are workers of "stone."

Read Proverbs 9:1 below to better understand this allusion.

Wisdom has built Her house. She has carved out Her seven pillars.

Notice that "wisdom" is referred to as "Her" and "She", as in Sophia and Miriam (the Magdala), and that "She" has "hewn" "Her" "seven pillars" (of stone)? Read my Home Page to see what those seven pillars of "stone" have always referred to, contrary to what religions and mysticism have said for millennia.

Here is the key to understanding what the Vatican and Papacy truly fear...

Pay close attention, profundity knocks at the door, listen for the key. Be Aware! Scoffing causes blindness...

Here's a real hot potato! Eat it up, digest it, and then feed it's bones to the hungry...

There's much more to the story of the Vatican's recent machinations than meets the eye. It's not the DaVinci Code or Gospel of Judas per se, but the fact that people have now been motivated to seek out the unequivocal truth about an age of deception, exactly when they expect me to appear. These recent controversies are spurring people to reevaluate the Vatican/Papacy and the religions that Rome spawned, at the worst possible time for them.

Remember, "I come as a thief..." ?

Read verse twelve of the Gospel of Thomas to understand who I am...

The DaVinci Code novel and movie are no more inaccurate as literal versions of history than the New Testament. The primary sub-plot involved purposeful symbology being used to encode hidden meanings, exactly like the Bible and related texts. In other words, none of these stories represent the literal truth. This is the common and pivotal fact of all such narratives about ancient Hebrew and Christian history. Debating whether the DaVinci Code, Gnostic texts, or the Bible are accurate history is a purposeful ploy designed to hide the truth by directing your inquiry away from the heart of the matter.

There is a foolproof way to verify the truth and expose centuries-old religious deceptions. It also proves why we can no longer let the Vatican tell us what to think about ancient history or much else. It is the common thread connecting why the ancient Hebrews, Yahad/Essene, Jews, Gnostics, Cathars, Templars, Dead Sea Scrolls, DaVinci Code, and others have been targets of Rome’s ire and evil machinations. The Vatican and its secret society cohorts don’t want you to understand that the ancient Hebrew symbology in all of these texts purposely encodes and exposes the truth about them. Furthermore, the structure of ancient wisdom symbology verifiably encodes the rules to decode messages built with it. This is what they most fear you will discover.

If the Bible represented the literal truth or even accurate history, there would be no need for faith in the assertions of deceptive and duplicitous clergy and their ilk. It is undeniable the New Testament is awash with ancient Hebrew symbolism and allegory. The same is evidenced in the Old Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic texts, biblical apocrypha, Quran, DaVinci Code, and other related sources. All ancient religious, mystical, and wisdom texts have been shrouded in mystery for millennia for one primary reason: The ability to understand their widely evidenced symbology was lost in antiquity. How do we finally solve these ages-old mysteries? To recast an often-used political adage: It’s [the] symbology, stupid!

It is beyond amazing that the Vatican still tries to insist the Gospels are the literal truth. Every miracle purported for Jesus has multiple direct symbolic parallels in the Old Testament, Apocalypse, Dead Sea Scrolls, and other symbolic narratives and traditions. Recasting the symbolism of earlier Hebrew texts as literal events in the New Testament is one of the central deceptions associated with Christianity. This is part of the secret knowledge held by the ancient Gnostics, Templars, Cathars, and others, which is presented with dramatic effect in the DaVinci Code. None of these narratives or stories were ever intended as the literal truth. This fact is the key to unraveling many ages-old mysteries and exposing the truth about the Vatican's long-term deceptions.

Moreover, the following Washington Post article (The Book of Bart) describes how many changes and embellishments were made to New Testament texts over the centuries, unequivocally demonstrating they are not original, infallible, or truthful. When you combine proof that the New Testament Gospels are not wholly literal with proof that these texts were heavily reworked in the early years of Christianity, you are left with only one possible conclusion. The Vatican has long lied to everyone about the central tenets and history of Christianity. This revelation also proves they are not the Creator’s representatives but Her long-time opponents. The recent hoopla over the Gospel of Judas and DaVinci Code demonstrates they are still desperately trying to deceive the world and obfuscate their true nature and activities.

It's no wonder the Vatican fears the truth more than anything else. As further proof of these assertions, seek to understand the symbolic significance of my name (Seven Star Hand) and you will have proof beyond disproof that Jews, Christians, and Muslims have long been duped by the great deceivers I warned humanity about over the millennia. What then is the purpose of "faith" but to keep good people from seeking to understand the truth?

Now comes justice, hot on its heels... (symbolism...)

Not only do I talk the talk, I walk the walk...
Here is Wisdom!!

Revelations from the Apocalypse

Peace...

[Jeff]

Though I am finding most of this interesting, the only question that I need an answer to, is, was Mark truely the first book of the new testiment, or is Mathew?

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I'm well aware that your comment was said in jest, and I assumed that you would realize that mine was as well. I thought that was obvious. As you have shown time and time again, you like to twist my words and make up things to "prove" your points...par for the course when it comes to ultra conservative Christians

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