The book claims to be giving factual history in a fictional setting. That is the problem. Most of the "history" is false and intentionally anti-Christian in general and anti-Catholic in particular..
As one example, the book says (in the words of supposedly distinguished historian, Sir leigh Teabing)...
The bible is a product of man, my dear, not God...
More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion.... The fundamental irony of Christianity! The bible as we know it today was collated by the Pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
According to the book Constantine was.. a lifelong pagan who was baptised on his deathbed, too weak to resist.
There then follows a long re-hashing of the exploded Hislop "Two Babylons" rubbish about how Constantine mixed pagan religion with Christianity. Mary and Jesus are Isis and Horus. Jesus Christ was mixed with the pagan sun god and Krisna. Sunday comes from Sun worship.
Then comes this passage: "Right," Teabing said. "Jesus' establishment as 'the Somn of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicea.'
'Hold on. You're saying Jesus's divinity was the result of a vote?'
'A relatively close vote at that,' Teabing added. ' establishing Christ's divinity was critical to the further unification of the Roman Empire and to the Vatican's power base... now the followers of Christ were able to redeem themselves only via the established sacred channel - the Roman Catholic Church... It was all about power...
Because Constantine upgraded Jesus' status almost four centuries after his death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man... Constantine commissioned and financed a new bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ's human traits, and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.'
The passage then goes on to state that those who opposed Constantine were labelled heretics. "Teabing" alleges that the Dead Sea scrolls contain proof of this, but "Of course the Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. And why wouldn't they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda -"
The quotations above are taken from just 4 pages in the 500 page book. The theories are presented as FACTS by characters who are presented to the reader as authoritative, learned and as having thoroughly researched the matters concerned. Real names and places are thrown in to add further veracity to the lies and falsehoods that Brown presents here.
It is amazing to find so many falsehoods pressed into so small a space. An attempt to list hem:
1. The early church DID NOT see Jesus as just a mortal man.
2. Constantine was not baptised when "too weak to resist".
3. Constantine DID NOT take "pure" Christianity and graft in pagan religion, mixing Jesus and the Sun God.
4. The Council of Nicea did NOT hold a vote on Jesus being Divine or mortal.
5. Constantine did NOT decide the contents of the bible.
6. The early church was NOT composed of venial men seeking power at all costs, and willing to lie and decieve to obtain it.
7. The "omitted gospels" do NOT describe a mortal "good man" Jesus, but are mostly obvious forgeries.
8. The Dead Sea Scrolls do NOT confirm any of Brown's theories, or "higlight glaring historical descrepancies and fabrications" in the gospels.
9. Sunday is the Christian day of worship because of the ressurrection - NOT in onour of the Sun God.
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