WAS THERE A DA VINCI CONSPIRACY? - PART 3

                                    WAS THERE A DA          VINCI  CONSPIRACY?

          PART 3

(copied from
  Y-Jesus.com)


Let's accept for the moment that Teebing's proposal  might be true. Why, in that case
would the council of Nicaea decide to promote Jesus to Godhood?

"It was all about power,"  Teabing continues.
Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning
of Church and state. Many scholars claim that 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.

In many ways, The Da Vinci Code is the ultimate conspiracy theory. If Brown's assertions are correct, then we have been lied to -  by the Church, by history and by the Bible. Perhaps even by those we trust the most, our parents, our teachers. And it was all for the sake of a power grab.

Although the Da Vinci Code is fictional, it does
base most of its premise on actual events (the
Council of  Nicaea) actual people (Constantine and Arias), and actual documents (the Gnostic
gospels). If we are to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, our project must be to address Brown's accusations and separate fact from
fiction.

Constantine and Christianity

In the centuries prior to Constantine's reign over the Roman Empire, Christians had been severly
persecuted. But then, while entrenched in warfare, Constantine was reported to have seen a bright image of a cross  in the sky inscribed with the words "Conquer by this."  He marched into battle under the sign of the cross and took control of the
empire.

Constantine's apparent conversion to Christianity was a watershed in Church history. Rome became a  Christian Empire. For the first time in nearly 300 years it was
relatively safe and even cool, to be a Christian.

No longer were Christians persecuted for their
faith. Constantine then sought to unify his Eastern and Western Empires, which had been badly divided by schisms, sects, and cults, centering mostly around  Jesus Christs' identity.

These are some of the kernels of truth in the Da
Vinci Code, and kernels of truth are a prerequisite for any successful conspiracy theory. But the book's plot turns Constantine into a conspirator.

So, let's address a key question raised by Brown's theory:  Did Constantine invent the Christian doctrine of Jesus' divinity?

next post  11th April