leave the us then
Da Vinci Code

Replying to Trap FeedBackerfreedoom of religon is that. You have yours and we have ours. You don't like usa go home. You don't pay taxes for seven years and get free food stamps. That is you don't pay taxes on anything houses cars and everything else. If I went to your country would they be that nice to me if I was not a muslim?

I bought the book but before I had chance to read, the movie came along. So I watched. Now there is no reason for me to read the book, I know all the twists :) :)

So only problem with the book is, when you know the end... all fun is gone!

This post has been edited by Janissary: May 23 2008, 05:50 PM

The Da Vinci Code is a fictitious story based upon real research outlined in the book 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'. In this book, researchers help to explain the truth of the roots of Christianity. Some key points:

1. Jesus was the son of Joseph, who was descended from King David, so Jesus had a legitimate claim to the Throne of Jerusalem.

2. To discredit Jesus' claim, Caesar invented the Immaculate Conception, making Jesus the son of God instead of the son of Joseph.

3. To further strengthen his claim to the throne, Jesus married a Benjamite woman named Mary from the city of Magdalene. Remember that, although King David was the last King of Jerusalem, God promised the throne to the tribe of Benjamin, who were slaughtered by other Jewish tribes. At the time of Jesus, Jews were divided on whether the next Jewish king should be descended from David or the Benjamites. By marrying a Benjamite woman, Jesus made a strong case that he met both criteria, though it would truly be the son of Jesus and Mary who would be the most qualified.

4. To discredit Jesus claim, Rome edited the Bible to paint Mary of Magdalene as a prostitute. Pope John Paul apologized for this before his death.

5. At a wedding that Jesus was attending, a house servant came to Jesus' mother and told her that the wine was all gone. Mary informed Jesus, and Jesus magically turned the water into wine.
First, why would the house servant complain to Mary? Because Mary was the mother of the groom! This was Jesus' wedding!
Second, Jesus complained that Jewish weddings always served wine inside the house, but served water to the people outside the house, i.e. the poor who couldn't attend the wedding inside. This indicates that the wedding was of an important person. Jesus thought it disrespectful and snobbish not to serve wine to the poor attendees, so he had swapped barrels of water for barrels of wine outside. Well, when the wine inside ran out, Jesus simply instructed the house servant to fetch a barrel from outside. Thinking those barrels were full of water, the house servant and guests were surprised when they discovered the barrels were actually full of wine! No miracle here, but Caesar was trying to make Jesus seem miraculous, so he had it turned into a miracle in the Bible.

6. According to Jewish custom, on the honeymoon of a King, his bride is commanded to anoint his feet with oils. Mary of Magdalene did this in the Bible, affirming their marriage and his status as the rightful King of Jerusalem.
Caesar rearranged these stories to create the impression that the woman was a prostitute trying to gain favor with Jesus. In the Bible originally, Jesus had visited a den of whores to save them. This story was wholly separate from the story of Mary anointing his feet, but by placing these stories near each other in the Bible, Caesar created the impression that it was a prostitute who anointed his feet, and that the prostitute was Mary of Magdalene.

7. Caesar commissioned 3 writers to create the Bible. Apostle means 'scribe' or 'writer' in English. The 3 apostles were merely 3 writers hired by Caesar to create the Bible. The word 'scripture' merely means 'writings' in English. The Apostles submitted their writings to Caesar, who then edited the stories to his ends.

8. Caesar's issue was this: Rome was conquering many different peoples, each of these peoples having their own religions. Since most of these religions described their Godsent Kings differently, it was difficult for Caesar to keep track of all these religions in his attempt to convince people that he was their godsent king. Caesar dreamed of one religion in the world, with Caesar as the Godsent King. Jesus presented a religion that was universal, with only one God in the world, and one prophet. Unfortunately, Jesus was the prophet. In order for Caesar to be the prophet, he had to get rid of Jesus. But he couldn't. It was Jesus' religion after all!
So Caesar came up with the brilliant idea of elevating Jesus into a demigod, much like the Greek religion. By turning Jesus into the son of god, Caesar eliminated Jesus as a messiah, creating a job opening for himself as the prophet or Pope of Caesar's new Roman Universal (Catholic) Church.
By turning Jesus into the son of God, Caesar also discredited Jesus as a rightful King of Jerusalem based upon his blood relation to Joseph. This was important since Caesar was the King of Jerusalem at the time! By turning Mary into a prostitute, Rome discredited the notion that Jesus was married and might have a son. This son could cause the end to Roman domination in the Mideast, having a powerful argument that he was the blood of both King David as well as a Benjamite.

9. This Caesar died before assuming the title of Prophet, or Pope, of his new Roman Catholic Church. The next Caesar was a pagan and had no desire to assume the throne of the Church. So the Catholic Church Cardinals began the long tradition of electing a Prophet from amongst themselves.

10. In the time of Jesus and immediately after, there were many people who beleived in Jesus' teachings. These people new the truth of Jesus, that he was a mortal man with a family, that he was married, that he did not perform true miracles, but symbolic ones (water into wine, etc). There was evidence of these facts in Jerusalem, so Rome sent an Army to destroy Jerusalem, trying to kill all who knew Jesus and obtain any evidence of the truth. Notice that the writings of Jesus' disciples were omitted from the Bible. This is because their writings contradicted some of the writings by Caesar's apostles. Some of those disciple's writings, now dubbed the dead sea scrolls, were discovered. They confirm that Mary was Jesus' wife and that Jesus did not die on the cross. Jesus actually watched the crucifixion and laughed. Another part of the Dead Sea scrolls has Jesus talking to a new disciple. However, the conversation that they have also indicates that this meeting occurred years after the crucifixion.
11. When Rome destroyed Jerusalem, his brother Joseph of Armathia and his wife Mary escaped to Greece. From there, Joseph traveled to what is now Great Britain. There, Joseph built the first Christian Church, which still stands today.
Mary traveled to modern day France. There, she allegedly lived with her son Jesus and a second son. These were both allegedly sons of Jesus of the city of Nazareth.

12. In an attempt to destroy later followers of the real Jesus, the Catholic Church launched the Crusades. During the Crusades all Christians who were not Catholic were killed, their property seized. This was an attempt to kill the real Church of Jesus and to find all evidence that the Catholic Church had distorted the truth. According to 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail', descendants of Jesus were murdered at this time.

13. According to the book, the Knights Templar smuggled evidence out of Jerusalem as the Romans were destroying the city. This evidence is presumably the family of Jesus, as well as writings that tell the true story. The truth of the Templar Knights is allegedly known to the Freemasons and Rosicrucians.

14. According to rumors, descendants of Jesus still live, and soon they will come forward. Whether this will happen, and whether anybody will believe it is hard to guess. According to other rumors, these descendants will be exploited by the world's elite to create a global govt. which strengthens their grip on the world's wealth and resources. The "New World Order".

Leonardo Da Vinci was a member of the Freemasons. It is rumored that he placed clues about Jesus in his art. The book, "The Da Vinci Code" is a fictional guess as to what might happen if descendants of Jesus emerge. It would harm the Catholic Church, so they might try to assassinate them, as they did long ago during the Crusades.

This post has been edited by mikeyboy63: May 23 2008, 08:38 PM

1. Don't you think God would have given Jesus (Joshua, or Yeshua in Hebrew) a legitimate claim? Even if he was descended from Joseph, I'm pretty sure that the Throne of Jerusalem was nonexistent at the time.

2. Why would Caesar make up the Immaculate Conception? If anything, if it makes Jesus the Son of God, that only elevates his status even higher up compared to Caesar. So what motive did he have?

3. Isn't this a reference to "The Lost Tomb of Jesus", which made that claim that Jesus married the Magdalene? Anyway, how do you know that Joseph wasn't of Benjamite descent as well as Judaist? How do you know if one of the wives in those 30 generations wasn't a Benjamite? Then Jesus would have no motive to marry a Benjamite woman, or marry at all.

4. [no comment]

5. Did he now? Where in the Bible does it say that he complained? (Maybe I'm missing something...)

6. Well, how did you know that the Magdalene (I'm not saying Mary for either the virgin or the Magdalene because I might mix them up) did that of her own will? And is the King of Jerusalem the only person whose feet can be "anointed" with oils? Seems kinda fishy...

7. Didn't the letters and gospels come from more than seven authors? (Let me count... Matthew, Mark, Luke, John wrote the gospels... I know Paul and Peter wrote a lot of stuff... John wrote Revelation, so that doesn't count... but I'm pretty sure there's nore than 7 authors.)

8. Huh... you seem to be supporting Christianity? Are you sure someone else didn't create the Roman Catholic Church?

9. So Caesar wanted to be pronounced the prophet of God? I didn't know he was religious...

10. Well, if he only performed symbolic miracles, then what was the point? Unless the miracles were genuine, then they would be interpreted as tricks. The people back then weren't stupid, you know. They would most probably discredit Jesus if he was prone to playing those tricks, and they wouldn't be welcoming him into every city that he was arriving in.

11. Are you sure Joseph went to Britain? They were Catholic for an awfully long time too, you know...

12. I thought the Crusades were to claim Jerusalem for the Catholics against the Muslims. Anyway, all your evidence (notice I'm not putting it into quotes, unlike some people...) comes from the book. Don't you have any other sources?

13. Are the Freemasons still alive today? (And the "Rosicrucians", for that matter...)

14. [no comment]

Not all your stuff is pure bull, but some people will think it is.

It is probably the best book ever as far as a story line goes. It's not fantastic writing like the great classics, but the story is to complex and creative that you can't put it down. This museum curator was part of a secret society that protects the holy grail, and he is the last of the brotherhood alive. He gets shot, and before he dies he leaves little codes and secrets in the da Vinci paintings and stuff that, if if followed, lead to the holy grail. His granddaughter doesn't know about the society and so he wants it to be found so it's not lost forever. One of his clues leads her to Robert Langdon, the main character, which brings him and the granddaughter together. He is a professor and genius when it comes to symbology. It's cool because it's action-packed but also smart. He uses his brain to figure out the clues that all come together in the end, and the ending is amazing. There are good guys that turn bad, clues that seem to be something they are not, and it's a fantastic mystery/adventure novel. However, don't see the movie before the book because they COMPLETELY change the ending. It's upsetting and not nearly as cool as the book's ending.

These aren't my views. I'm quoting a book, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". So it would be the book that's bull. There are several other books along the same lines. One ends with the ominous sentence..."maybe the west is ready for a king. Even America has tired of its failed attempt at democracy."

My view is that, regardless of the truths of it historically, the people behind this are elitists who may attempt to create a New World Order by pulling a descendant of Jesus out of obscurity and promote 'his' kingdom in the west. I hope most Christians will see through it and reject it.

Caesar was most likely an Atheist using religion to manipulate the masses. There were many Caesars. Most people fought Roman imperialism. Caesar had the smart idea to have his minions study the religions of the various tribes around Europe and the Middle East. Most religions had several common denominators, one being that they had some promise from their god or gods to send a king, or, messiah, or prophet, or demigod to rule over them. Caesar would then try to claim to be that god sent king according to their beliefs so they wouldn't resist him. Caesar liked the idea of Jesus, that there was only one god. However, Jesus was the Messiah, so where did that leave Caesar in his quest to be the leader of this religion? By elevating Jesus to son of god, Caesar could be the prophet. That was Caesar's motive. He didn't want to outrank Jesus. He wanted to create a church and be its leader, the pope. He died before the church was completed. Bear in mind that Jesus was already dead.

I said the servant "complained" to Mary. Poor choice of words, but irrelevant to the point, and I'm not quoting the Bible. I'm quoting the other book (loosely). This same story was told to me by a freemason when I was young.

I don't support any given religion. I'm quoting a book. Caesar created the Roman Catholic Church. His Apostles went to Jerusalem and gathered together the books contained within the Bible. They're not the originals. They've been edited.

The reason Jesus performed certain rites was to confound the Jewish hierarchy. Jesus was a rabbi, but because of his teachings, the Jewish hierarchy would not allow him to rise above that station. It's been over a decade since reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail, so I can't remember some of it. I don't remember the different titles in the Jewish hierarchy, but I know Jesus wanted to rise higher. Just as Catholics have priests, cardinals, popes, etc. the Jewish hierarchy was similar. Jesus was a Jew. There was no Christian church yet. Jesus wanted to be "Pope" of the Jews. I remember one example from the book.

When someone was excommunicated from the Jewish community, they were basically 'dead' to the Jewish church. Only a religious figure higher than a rabbi, say a "high priest", was allowed to forgive the person and bring them back into the fold. Bringing them back required a ritual resurrection where a high priest brought the person back from their "death". Jesus performed this ritual for Lazareth, who had been excommunicated. He wasn't truly dead. Jesus was accompanied by a high priest in the Jewish church who was a supporter of Jesus' teachings. This high priest approved of Lazarus' rebirth into the fold. Jesus then told the Jewish Hierarchy "I have raised Lazarus", meaning that Jesus must be a high priest since rabbis aren't allowed to perform the ceremony! Jesus was a very smart guy thinking outside the box, and frustrating Jewish leaders. This is another example of Caesar turning a rite into a miracle of raising the dead. Lazarus wasn't literally dead.

I erred in saying Joseph went to England. Jesus brother was named James. It was James who went to England, though obviously it wasn't England at the time. There were no Catholics when James lived. He lived during Jesus time. It was Jesus' older brother. The remains of his church are still there. I'd have to buy the book and read it again to find the exact location.
BTW, since James was Jesus' older brother, how was it that his mother Mary was a virgin? The only excuse the church can come up with is Joseph must have been married previously and had a son with his first wife. Weren't Joseph and Mary teenagers?

You're correct about the Crusades. I meant to say Spanish Inquisition.

Yes the freemasons still exist. They're everywhere. My brother in law is a freemason.

The point to all of this is to let Dan Brown fans know where Dan Brown got the background story for the Da Vinci Code. He didn't just make it up. He got the story, or background info., from reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Skull & Bones are another group associated with the freemasons. Most U.S. Presidents over the last 40 years were members of Skull & Bones including both Bush Presidents. I believe Ben Franklin was a freemason, though I may be wrong. And, of course, Leonardo Da Vinci was a freemason.

This post has been edited by mikeyboy63: May 28 2008, 09:46 AM