Unlocking the Da Vinci Code - "Can We Trust the Bible"

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

In case you haven’t noticed, the Bible is under attack.
• The ACLU is applying continual pressure to have the Ten Commandments removed from courtrooms across the nation.

Teenagers in some public high schools are being told they can’t bring their Bibles to school because of the “separation of church and state.”
• One Florida school is being sued because it dared to teach the Bible as history, not as religious myth.
To:  U.S SUPREME COURT
This petition is being written is sorrow due to the crumbling of the foundation of the United States. Because one individual is offended by a symbol that represents the foundation of this country the rest must suffer. One woman in Houston Texas has spent taxpayer’s money on destroying a monument that represents what this county was founded on. GOD. For those who are unaware a Bible was removed from a monument displayed in front of the Harris County Civil Courts Building, 301 Fannin, in Houston Texas. This open Bible was part of a 48-year-old monument erected by the Star of Hope to honor one of its benefactors William S. Mosher. A U.S. District Judge ruled on Aug 10 2004 that displaying the Bible on county property represented an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity by the county and ordered it removed within 10 business days. The woman who sued stated that the display offended non-Christians. The 5th Circuit issued a temporary stay, however on Monday, January 10.2005, the 5th Circuit lifted the stay and the Bible was removed.

It goes without saying that the Bible is ever and always under attack. No other book has been so burned and banned and outlawed.  From Roman emperors to communist leaders to college professors, people seem to take it upon themselves to attack God’s book. The most recent example of the validity of the Bible being attacked is found in the best seller and new movie ‘The DaVinci Code’. Now I must say that as a fictional novel I really enjoyed reading this book. It is quite a page turner and from the very beginning it sucks you in. You are on edge to see what could possibly happen next. It’s fascinating, entertaining reading! But here’s the problem. It is a blatant attack on the Word of God. Now I do want to say that there is no way for me to make any kind of assumptions about Dan Brown, the author of the Da Vinci code, and his intentions as he wrote this book. I don’t know his heart. I don’t know that his underlying thoughts while he was writing the book was to cast doubt on the Bible. But I know this, whether Dan Brown intended for this book to be a stumbling block to the faith of countless people or not, Christ’s ultimate enemy, Satan, certainly did. His intentions are clearly stated in

1 Peter 5:8 ‘Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.’

The enemy knows exactly what he’s doing! He is planting seeds of doubt, because if we doubt the validity of the Bible then we doubt it’s message and by default eventually doubt Christ. I’ll tell you where the confusion comes in as you read the book. It’s right in the beginning, just after the acknowledgments, before the book itself even begins. It says this
Read from book
I read the DaVinci code 2 1/2 years ago. I actually hadn’t heard of the book. I had someone bring it to me and say, I read this and it’s a little confusing. Read it and tell me what you think. I’ll tell you what I thought as I read it, I thought I can’t put this thing down, I wonder what will happen next. My next thought was, ‘man this book is going to mess some folks up.’ Fast forward 2 1/2 years and look at the fallout the book has created. Amazing! I found no less than 88 different books that have been written to debunk the contents of this one book. Many wonder what the big deal is all about but as you read the book or watch the movie, as I did this weekend, you realize that The DaVinci Code challenges the most fundamental basic teaching of the entire New Testament. So the issue becomes deciding what you can or cannot believe about the validity of the Bible.
Despite all of the attacks over the centuries, the Bible has been supernaturally preserved.  Just one illustration of this will suffice.  You may have heard of Voltaire, the noted Frenchman who died in 1778.  He was quoted as saying that one hundred years from his lifetime Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history.  But what has happened?  Voltaire has passed into history while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world. In fact, fifty years after his death, Voltaire’s house was purchased by the Geneva Bible Society.  The house of this man who predicted an end to the Christian faith became a printing press where thousands of Bibles were produced and distributed. Now that is irony!
The Bible has been uniquely preserved because Almighty God wrote it and is taking care of it. 

Isaiah 40:8 says “The grass withers and the flower fades away, but the word of our God shall stand forever.”

Anyone who sets out to destroy the Bible is not going against man; he’s going against God, and that is why such attacks will always fail. 

Sir William Ramsey, a gentleman regarded as one of the greatest archeologists in history, set out to disprove the Bible by doing research in Asia Minor to show that the book of Acts was not written by Luke, but by someone in the second century as he had been taught. He studied the topography, antiquities, and society of that culture and what did he find? "Luke's history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness." and "...this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians." What is truly amazing is that once the Bible was used as a guide to find other insights into the life of this community, much more was learned through minute details that never would have been found without it!
Another example is found in the book of Daniel. Daniel speaks of a king named Belshazzar of Babylon. Because of this reference, the book was dismissed as fictional due to the fact that there was no mention of a king with that name in existence other than Daniel's account. It was later discovered that the reigning king at that time, Nabonidus, had appointed Belshazzar as his co-regent while at war away from Babylon. Daniel was accurate, and the historicity of the Bible was proven once again.
One more, the name of Pontius Pilate (the man who eventually sentenced Jesus to death) was unheard of outside of the Biblical record, to historians this obviously cast a major shadow of doubt on the validity of the account of the crucifixion. However, in 1961 two Italian archeologists discovered a record of his service as the Prefect of Judea in the region of Caesarea...the Roman capital of Palestine, exactly when and where he should have been to line up with scripture!
Archeology plays an amazing role in proving the Bible accurate.
In validating any archeological writing there are two key questions that must be answered:

1) How close to the original writing are the earliest copies?
2) How many copies are there?

By those who have actually set out to investigate it, the bible has proven overwhelmingly accurate.

The Bible stands uncontested as the number one book of all time with the greatest number of ancient manuscripts. For comparison purposes, before I give you the stats on the Bible, let me tell you about the number 2 book of all time it’s number of ancient manuscripts. It is “The Iliad” by Homer.

There are 643 copies that we have in our possession. The time frame between the original manuscript and the earliest copy is 500 years.

That’s actually very good because we also have Plato’s “Republic”, which is considered to be very valid in it’s content with just 7 copies. There are 900 years between original and manuscript.

Listen to this, the New Testament has over 24,000 copies or partial copies that we have found. The earliest copy we have is 50 years from original manuscript.

So think of this, if you really let it set in, it is truly mind boggling: when you hold the Bible in your hands, you hold a personal message from the loving and living God.
Close:
So if you’re still wondering what the Bible is good for, read what David wrote in Psalm 19:7-9:

"The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether."

Would you like your soul restored?  Do you need wisdom?  How would you like to have a deep, abiding joy in your heart?  All of these things are found in God’s Word.  It is sufficient; it is accurate; it has everything you need to be truly happy.

Billy Graham:
If the Bible is true, then nothing else matters
And if the Bible is false, then nothing else matters