Dealing with Davinci

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West Side Church of Christ

What About this Council of Nicea?



Dvc: Leonardo Da Vinci’s quote: Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals , open your eyes.
Leigh Teabing’s character goes on to say that Da Vinci was describing the Bible.

When talking with those who are caught up or at least interested in the Davinci code and it’s claims, it is important to discuss the need to look at both claims equally critical (the Bible should not be measured by a much more difficult standard than any alternative theory).
Having said that, the burden is still on the believer to give an answer for his/her hope (1 Peter 3:15,16) and as we do this we remember as Peter says to do it with gentleness and respect with those who we are engaging!

Important to remember is that just because one disproves the claims of the Davinci code, one still hasn’t ‘proven’ the claims of traditional Christianity. This is not a dialogue just to rip apart the book but hopefully to lead one to investigate the man of our BOOK!
Much of the dialogue with anyone interested in the book and contrasting it with the Jesus of faith is the claims the book makes concerning the actions of Constantine the Great and the famous council of Nicea. We must be wary that proving what the real history is of this council does not prove we have the correct history of Jesus. Some may always question:
how can we know the correct decisions have been made from his time until now?
Why can’t we believe that it might have happened to something similar to this?

Some thoughts to consider:
How do you describe Jesus accurately?
Imagine that we are 1700 years in the past and this question has not been that widely discussed as it is today.

Look at our scriptures one would say:
  1. John 1:1-4,14
  2. Philippians 2:5-11
  3. 1 Timothy 2:5,6
  4. Hebrews 2:17,18, 4:15
Is he God?
Equal to God?
Similar to God?
Less than God but more than man?
Was he simply a man?
Was he a man who became God?

Great indeed is the mystery of godliness—1 Timothy 3:16

How do we determine if history is correct?
  1. Multiple attestations—the more records of the same event, the more accurate a story to have occurred.
  2. ‘Criterion of embarrassment.’ Those who would be considered hostile sources conceding points against them in history would make the story more accurate.
  3. Filtering the bias of the historian.
Dvc: ‘Who chose which gospels to include?’ Sophie asked. ‘Aha!’ Teabing burst in with enthusiasm. ‘The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.’ (p.251)
Could this be true?
How do we know it is not?
How do we know that the Catholic Church didn’t simply make up their own Bible that would not necessarily reflect the true intentions of Jesus Christ?

Dvc: Leigh Teabing says ‘Christians and pagans began warring and the conflict grew to such proportions that it threatened to rend Rome in two. Constantine decided something had to be done. In 325 A.D., he decided to unify Rome under a single religion. Christianity.’ (p.251)
Doesn’t that sound plausible?
Who is to say it didn’t happen that way?

Dvc: ‘Originally,’ Langdon said, ‘Christianity honoured the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan’s veneration day of the sun.’ (p.252)>br> Where did Christians come up with the first day of the week stuff anyway?

Dvc: ‘Teabing declared ‘until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet…a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal….Jesus’ establishment as the Son of God was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea….A relatively close vote at that.’ (p.253)
You mean history would have been different had the vote gone the other way?
No one would have seen Jesus as any different than say Elijah or Isaiah?
In that sense, he would not even have wanted to start a new religion.

Dvc: ‘Teabing:the twist is this, because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling his life as a mortal man….From this sprang the most profound moment in Christian history…Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible.’ (p.254)
Could it be possible that we might just never know what the original Christianity was supposed to be like?

Dvc: ‘any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus’ life had to be omitted from the Bible.’ (p.264)
What do we do with all of this?
Can we recognize some people we know at least entertaining the thoughts that there could be truth to this and the church has lied for centuries even to the point of believing her own lies?
Are we poor blinded souls?

Where do we go from here?
Before doubt overwhelms us and confusion sets in, let’s look at Constantine and the council of Nicea. Without a doubt, Constantine the Great changed the direction of the church and the council of Nicea was a monumental moment in that change.
Did the two do what the claims of the Davinci code assert?

Let us notice documented history between the emperors of Rome and the Christian church:
Nero (54-68 A.D.)—persecuted Christians with an appetite for it. Accused Christians of setting Rome on fire to deflect accusations against himself (which could have been wrong in themselves). Christians were then made subjects of sport, some being covered with animal skins and dogs allowed to go wild on them, others nailed to crosses, others set fire to, some at night to serve as lanterns particularly in Nero’s own garden. Eventually society felt sympathy for them but not Nero himself. (Paul, Peter and other great church leaders killed in this time.

Vespasian (69-79)
Titus (79-81)—this father and son team, who were responsible for the defeat of Jerusalem, did not actively persecute Christians. They had relief from the tyrant Nero.

Domitian (81-96)—a real maniac (described by John as the beast in Revelation) brutally persecuted the Christians. Felt threatened even by Jesus’ own possible relatives.

Nerva (96-98)—mild against Christians.

Trajan (98-117)—issued edict to ‘leave Christians alone unless an accuser gives his name and then if the Christian refuses to supplicate the gods-> punish them.
Christianity appears for the first time to be illegal according to Imperial law!
Ignatius is put to death during this time (110 A.D.) Pliny the younger worked for this emperor as an investigator of Christians.

Hadrian (117-138)—like Trajan—simple cries for Christians to be put to death would not be heeded unless a responsible complainant & trial & conviction.

Marcus Aurelius (161-180)—both the populace and the government attacked Christians. Blamed them for even natural disasters to the empire (their unwillingness to worship Roman gods made the gods angry). Polycarp, Justin Martyr both put to death around this time. Christians charged with atheism, incest & cannibalism!

Septimius Severus (193-211)
Coracalla (211-217)—after a breather, persecution was renewed and continued under these two emperors.

Maximinus (235-238)—pagan fury against Christians allowed to vent itself without check. Again, earthquakes & such caused pagans to slaughter Christians.

Gordion (238-244)
Philip (244-249)—Christians not molested by their rulers. Origen is the first one for a long time, if ever, to express the belief that the gospel will supplant paganism.

Decius (250)—renews old ‘policy’—all Christians brought before a judge and must offer sacrifices to the gods of Rome.

Valerian (253-260)—goes after all Christians of rank & distinction. Cyprian & Sixtus are put to death in this reign.

Gallienus (260-268)—reversed father’s policy and restored all exiled bishops. For 40 years the church had some rest but the worst persecution was still to come.

Diocletian—in 303 sought to exterminate the Christian religion. All scriptures were to be destroyed by fire. This edict went to Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Italy and Spain! Note, what those faithful to Rome were to burn were the scriptures that had become used throughout the Roman Empire (all this before Constantine’s time). These scriptures were well known to pagan authorities as the foundation and support of the Christian religion!
Eusebius (270-340 A.D.) the bishop of Caesarea wrote about which scriptures these were:
he then lists the same 27 books in our New Testaments and while he admits that 7 were controverted by some in the past, they were still recognized by most (Hebrews, James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Revelation). Please note that these 27 books were recognized as the foundation of the church before Constantine and the council of Nicea ever took center stage.

Constantine the great—in 313 after taking full control of empire issued edict for full toleration of both religions.

The church had no aid from an arm of flesh, the whole might of the Roman Empire was victoriously encountered by the unarmed and unresisting adherents of the Christian faith. Imperial Rome, the conqueror of the world was herself overcome by the bands of Christian disciples whose dauntless courage was more than a match for all her power.

What of the claims then?
  1. The canon or what books belonged in the New Testament was never discussed in the council of Nicea! This was never on the agenda at all. Constantine commissioned the printing of 50 Christian Bibles for the churches in Constantinople, but these were the books that were already settled as the canon (as evidenced by Diocletian’s wish to burn them all). The delegates at the council of Nicea decided nothing as to what books should be in the Bible. Jude:3
  2. There is absolutely no historical evidence that Christians and pagans ever warred. It was not until after Constantine that the church would ever be organized to be able to fight in war (Christianity was only 5-8 % of the population). They heeded the command in Revelation 13:10, 14:12—with incredible dedication.
  3. Sunday may very well be the official veneration of the sun but Constantine did not give this holy day to the church—Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1,2, Matthew 28:1. The church, long before Nicea, observed the 1st day of the week—Justin Martyr (100-165): ‘and on the day called Sunday, there is a gathering together to one place of all those who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits…’
    Pliny the younger (pagan investigator for Trajan): ‘Christians come together on a ‘fixed’ day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a God.’
  4. Jesus was not considered simply mortal before the council of Nicea!
    Here is where the dvc confuses a little half-truth with the truth. Long before the council Jesus was celebrated as the divine Son of God and the only Lord of the earth. Ignatius : ‘God Himself was manifested in human form.’ (105 A.D.)
    Justin Martyr:     ‘Being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God’; ‘The Father of the universe has a Son. And He is even God.’ (160 A.D.) Tertullian: ‘Christ our God’ (200 A.D.) Origen: ‘No one should be offended that the Savior is also God.’ (225 A.D.) and many more.
    John 20:28 The debate at Nicea was not over the divinity of Christ, this is the dvc’s mistake. It was how do we understand his divinity in light of his human characteristics?
    How can Jesus be both God & man? (1 Timothy 3:16,17)
    This question still confronts us today. The question at Nicea was
    ‘How was Christ divine?’ not
    ‘Was Christ divine?’
    (By the way, the close vote was actually only 2 voted against the creed of the over 100 bishops that attended the council! Arius: Christ was more than human but less than God. Athanasius: Christ has the same essence as God the Father.
    Hence the resultant creed was formed:
    We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father, through whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men and our salvation descended, was incarnate, and was made man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into heaven and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost. Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made out of nothing; or who maintain that He is of another hypostasis or another substance than the Father, or that the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change, them the Catholic church anathematizes.
  5. Far from the gospels being excluded the ones showing his humanity, the gospels that were excluded were the ones who showed him more super-natural (non-human) and the ones included were the ones that showed his humanity!
    1 John 4:2,3—we know from scripture that Jesus hungered (Matthew 4:2), wept (John 11:35), grew anxious (John 12:27,28), slept (Mark 4:38) and felt sorrow (Mark 14:34)
What about Constantine the Great?
There was great civil war in Rome following the abdication of Diocletian. Constantine ascended to the throne in 312 A.D. Following this he issued the edict of granting to all Christians the full power of living according to their own laws & institutions. Both religions would be tolerated. Constantine was well disposed to Christians but at the start there was no evidence he saw it as the only true religion. The first edict meant liberty of religion in the Roman Empire.
By 324 A.D.—Constantine did see the advantage of Christianity as opposed to paganism and gave an edict that no other religion was legal but Christianity. He abolished the liberty of religion and the church now was totally free and also powerful.
Constantine destroyed paganism from the state.
Constantine began to also exercise some control over the church. Called together the first universal (catholic) council at Nicea in 325 A.D. for the purpose of uniting the Christian religion.
Constantine did seek to attempt to reimburse the church for all the sufferings it endured from persecution.
Serious problems however came about because of this council and emperor’s decrees:
  1. Nowhere is the church ever called to be a democracy! When are humans ever called to vote on issues of God?
    We may agree with the Nicean creed about who Jesus was, but they also voted on the proper date of Easter(not even found in the Bible), indulgences for those who were excommunicated, what kind of penance should be performed for those who weakened under persecution and many others.
  2. Church now became the thing to do.
    No longer did it cost to be a follower of Christ but it sure paid to be one! Luke 9:23—the cross you bore became one of power & strength.
  3. Church buildings with countless riches poured into them still stand today as a testimony not to the church’s triumph but perhaps one of it’s greatest failures as they were built on the guilt and funds collected while the poor were hurting and starving.
  4. A new power began to rise: the power of the bishop, who soon were not answerable to anyone except the council.
  5. The Bible while being upheld was now slowly being removed from the people’s hands and it was the decisions of the councils, soon to be popes that people had to answer to!
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