Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" raises a lot of good questions.  What do we actually know about the ancient church ?  What actually happened during those first years ?  Was there a conspiracy or cover-up then, and is there one now ?  The DaVinci Code has rightly turned the topic of church history into an Indian Jones adventure.  However, it turns out that what scholars have discovered about the ancient church is even more amazing and interesting than the version Brown presents in his runaway best seller.   Five of the most important questions raised by the book are addressed below.  Just click on the one you are most interested in.

•   Was Jesus God? What did the first Christians think and what about the Council of Nicaea?
   
•   What about the bible - How did we get it ? Is it really the word of God?
   
•   Were the earliest gospels suppressed ?
   
•   What about the sacred feminine? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?
   
•   What is Christianity, really ?
  
   

Additional Resources:

Rev.  Langdon Palmer, one of our pastors, is a student of the early church and his article "Deciphering the Da Vinci Code" was recently published by Christian History Institute.   You can receive a copy of the article or ask pastor Palmer questions by writing us at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com, or you can read it on line by going to http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses2/glimpses190.shtml
 

Recommended Book: Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Darrel Bock, PhD
 

PDF of answers to specific Da Vinci Code Questions:
  Josh McDowels Research Notes
Note: This is a 167 page PDF document.  It is best used by looking for the issue you want in the table of contents on page 3, and then viewing that chapter on line.  This document is less scholarly but still helpful.

What about the Gospel of Judas ?

 

Can you crack the Da Vinci Code ?
Meet the Challenge and Join the Fun!  Follow the clues and you will eventually find yourself somewhere in the Philadelphia area standing on a large rock in the middle of a river at a party in your honor!  There you will meet everyone else who was able to solve the mystery and crack the code... there will be food and cheesy prizes too!  Will you be there ?

 

Here's how it works:  There are six clues to solve.  The first clue is given below.  At each of the five Sunday services in the Da Vinci code series you will find another clue in the bulletin.  Each time you solve a clue, email your answer to Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com - and we will tell you if you are on the right trail.  Solving all six clues will allow you to figure out where and when the celebration gathering will be held.   Crack the code and join the adventure!

First Clue:

One thousand, six hundred and eighty one years ago, at the Council of Nicaea in 325, there were two main opponents arguing for two different positions about who Jesus was.  One came from Alexandria. Their names both started with the same letter.  That letter is also the second letter in the last name of the Tom Hanks character in the Da Vinci code - a name that he happens to share with one of our pastors !   Who were the two opponents and what is the letter of the alphabet ?

You can also get the answer by deciphering this code:
 Athanasius and Arius - the letter is A

Email us your answer at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com

Second Clue:
 

Based on the ancient persons you discovered in Clue Number One,

Eliminate the Un-Orthodox brother and you are left with just one.

Now you must dig deep to continue the fun…

In which of his festal letters was the New Testament canon first sung ?

Email us your answer at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com

Third Clue:

Oh foolish hipsters loving Gnostic fare

Thinking you’ll find liberation for women hiding there

But they must become men in a gospel of recent fame,

He didn’t really write it, but tell me, what is this doubting apostle's name?

(hint: John 20:27)

Email us your answer at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com

Fourth Clue:

Oh mortals, listen today and you will hear his name

Excommunicated in 144 A.D., he picked the gospel of Luke &  saw the OT as lame

He holds the key to separating the wheat from the chaff

The true gospels don’t wander down his Gnostic path

(Hint: the first 3 letters of his name are the same as the first 3 letters of one of the four gospels)

Email us your answer at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com

Fifth Clue:

Oh mortals, why do you listen to the charlatan’s  tale

As if twas my body that was the Holy _____

Buried deep in the scriptures the truth lay sleeping:

My liberator came with the sound of Rachel weeping
Who am I ?

(Hint: she is all over the place at http://www.southridgeworship.com/mary_magdalene_&_the_role_of_women.htm)

 

Email us your answer at Info@SouthRidgeWorship.com

Sixth & Final clue:

And now oh Mortal, close is your reward - oh so sweet

Take the first letter from answers 1,3,4,5 to complete
the address where the truth will be found:

 http://www.southridgeworship.com/davinci  _ _ _ _.htm
for it will lead you to the holy ground …