There are a lot of weird religious stories in the news. I think it all comes from the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. Anti-religious segments think that they can finally take pot-shots at Christianity due to the fact that “the Code” reveals a cover up about Jesus’ true identity.

The truth, however, is that there are no new “revelations” in The Da Vinci Code. It’s all based on old allegations that have been disproved by Agnotist Scholars, some for centuries. For example, Dan Brown contends that Constantine was the first to label Jesus as divine (around 300 A.D.). However, ancient writings from as early as the first century show that all Christians considered Jesus divine at that time. There are also several Bible verses that STATE that, but some people want to skip that. Even if you don’t believe the Bible, it is still considered to be fairly accurately passed down from the time it was written (1st century). I would go into the other falsehoods in The Da Vinci Code, but several sites already so it.

If you enjoy the Code as fiction – great. Just realize it is fiction.

The latest story is this whole deal with Jesus asking Judas to betray him. This is claimed to be from “newly” uncovered documents. Huh? How come I first read this exact quote over 10 years ago?

“You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

Ummm….. Yeah. Clear as mud. I would go out and betray my mentor if he said that to me. No problem. But this is what “scholars” claim is the proof that Jesus conspired with Judas. Give me a break.

The Gospel of Judas has been mostly disproven as an original source. All of the Gnostic gospels (the ones that The Da Vinci Code is partially based on) are controversial. Here is the main reason why:

“But Simon Gathercole, a New Testament expert at the University of
Aberdeen, said: ‘The so-called Gospel of Judas is certainly an ancient
text, but not ancient enough to tell us anything new. It contains
religious themes which are completely alien to the 1st-century world of
Jesus and Judas, but which did become popular later, in the 2nd
century. An analogy would be finding a speech claiming to be written by Queen Victoria, in which she talked about The Lord of the Rings and her CD collection.”‘

People seem to have a lot of opinions about Bono from U2. I personally like him. I think he has a lot of good stuff to say. He’s not perfect. He’s a little too honest with his imperfections for most Christians to like him, and he’s too religious for non-Christians to like him. There is now a video online of his recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast:

He makes an interesting point about the crisis in Africa – does anyone really care? There are as many people dying everything month in Africa as died in the South Asia Tsunami. But very few seem to want to do anything about it. And the thing that really got me was the fact that people dying in Africa (for the most part) are dying from preventable diseases.

I think this is the best quote of the speech:

“Stop asking God to bless what you are doing. Get involved in what God is doing, because it is already blessed.”

Bono didn’t say who told him that quote – he attributed it to someone else. And I think that I have heard pastors echoing the same sentiment. But it is still a great thought.

I also think that the words from the U2 song “Crumbs from Your Table” are extra powerful:

“Where You Live Should Not Decide … Whether You Live or Whether You Die”

These words are kind of the foundational theology behind organizations like the ONE Campaign and others like it.