Pulling a "Da Vinci"

I hope Leonardo will forgive me but I would like to start using his last name with somewhat of a different twist: the act of a Da Vinci occurs when someone believes the word of someone or anyone but God. Let me give you an example of someone pulling a Da Vinci.

In the recent article in Maclean's (Apr.3'06), Michael Baigent (author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail) is said to have begun The Jesus Papers with the following story (as told by Maclean's): Years ago a respected Anglican cleric told Baigent that a long-dead, famous churchman named Canon Alfred Liley (1860-1948) had told him that he, Liley, has seen indisputable evidence about 1892 that Christ was still alive in 45 CE, long after the Crucifixion. Baigent is sure he will never see the proof, but he firmly believes it. The story is, in effect, a version of Catholicism's apostolic succession - a true knowledge, passed from one pair of trusted hands to another and to another, over the course of more than a century. (p. 36)

That is a classic Da Vinci under my new definition. He pulled a serious, blatant Da Vinci without looking back. Baigent puts his belief in a Canon and on evidence he will never see with his own eyes - and he firmly believes it.

We may ask why? And why this craze over The Da Vinci Code? Here is what I think. If the Bible is true and if Jesus is who he says he is and if he lived a perfect life, died and rose again, ascended to heaven - if all of this is true, then all who know this truth and this Jesus must bend their knee and confess Jesus as Saviour and King. They must come in repentance and faith and find life alone in Jesus. The ultimate heart of the battle is not the truth and untruth of the Gospels (although that is a serious battle) but a battle of the heart. Men and women refuse to believe they are sinful and Jesus is the only answer to their problem.

So, when someone pulls a Da Vinci go ahead and tell them about the trustworthiness and the authority of God's Word but don't stop. Tell them the good news story of the historical Jesus who answered this question the following way: Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. (John 6.28-29) Believe in Jesus, repent of your sins and follow Him - He alone is our hope.