To christians only: Can you clear this?

Question

I'm a 14 years old girl, and I'm rather confused of these things:
1. Do you think that "The DA Vinci Code" may be true? (I read it before and found it interesting and so many facts, u no!)
2. How do you know that Jesus was really born on 25 december?
3. Do you think that "the Gospel of Judas" is true?
4. Why can't we see God?
thx and Merry christmas to you all! Peace be with you!!

Answer 1

1. Dan Brown did use some factual information, but not all of it connected in the way he made it out to be. When I first read it I questioned some of the same things you did, but you have to remember that on the front of the book it says 'novel'. If youlook for the book it will be in the fiction section. He didn't write a biography of DaVinci or Jesus or anything. He took a lot of circumstantial evidence that certain things happened and made it seem very factual. I'm sure there are skeletons in the Catholic church's closet, but it doesn't compare to much, much larger body of work that has helped so may people over through the years. As far as you believing the 'facts' he presents, that's up to you. That's why there are books like that around so you question yourself and question what you believe. If you just accepted everything that was fed to you then you wouldn't be able to appreciate it. Discovering what you believe in and what you have faith in is all part of the fun of growing up.

2. I think that December 25th may just be an arbitrary date that was picked. I don't really think that there is something mystical about that date. The fact that His birth is celebrated is the important part. Too much emphasis is put on proving or disproving beliefs and things like that. It just seems more important to know that it is important if you know what I'm saying.

3. Who knows? It may be or it may not be. Does it change what you believe in? Do you think there could be something in it that would alter you life in some way? If you believe in the Bible and the Gospels that are already there then how much more do need to show how to live a good life and to treat others with respect? That is what the whole thing is about anyway.

4. That's the hardest question of the four you asked. I think it just depends where you look and how you're trying to see God. I see God in my 10 month old son. I look at him and say how wonderful an entity God must be to give me something so beautiful. If look at the utter complexicity of your circulatory system then you have to know that something much more owerful than us had to figure that out. If you look hard you can see God, maybe not in the way you're talking about, but His works are everywhere

Merry Christmas to you also!

Answer 2

Hmm... good questions, I'll try to answer them.

1. The Da Vinci Code is fiction with facts enmeshed in it. The facts make it more realistic that is why it's hard to determine if it's purely fiction or non-fiction. But to be clear, it's really just fiction.

2. How do I know that Jesus really was born on December 25? There are artifacts and scrolls to help provide us a clue to when Jesus really was born. But here is another question, when was the calendar system invented? Was Christ born before the calender system or after the calendar system?

3. The Gospel of Judas is controversial yes. But let us not believe anything immediately for we have to examine evidences first before making conclusions. Well, the Gospel of Judas as I know is not included in the Bible because it isn't coherent with the other gospels and that there are a lot of heretical groups in the past that may have produced such text.

4. It's faith that makes God real and that is all that matters. We are only creatures that He created, are we really that worthy to see the creator after being so impure? And this doesn't prove that God isn't real too because there are a lot of things here on earth that we can't see but we do know and feel that they do exist.

Answer 3

1. NO

2. Jesus was NOT born on 12 - 25. He died on the Jewish Passover which is the first full moon after the spring equinox, and he was 33 years and 6 months old when he died. Counting back six months from the end of March / early April brings you to the end of September / early October, when Jesus was actually born.

Christmas is an invention of the Roman Catholic church to pacify pagans who practiced rites and revelries.

3. NO

4. God does not live in this physical universe. God is eternal. He had no beginning. He has no end. His life never began, because He always has been. Time is His invention. Time is only pertinent to the physical creation. His residence is the heavens of the heavens. It is His power that continues to sustain the entire physical universe. If He so chose, He could turn EVERYTHING off, just like a light switch. He chose to share conscious existence that He alone possessed, and therefore created other invisible spirits, and then the physical universe, and, finally, humans.

Peace to yous, too.

Answer 4

1) No the Da Vinci Code is far from truth, it is just fiction that twists history, and stains many historical figures and facts along the way.

Taken from Wikipedia: "The book opens with the claim by Dan Brown that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents [...] and secret rituals in this novel are accurate"; but this claim is disputed by almost all academic scholars in the fields the book discusses"

Another example is that the book said Mary Magdalene was of the tribe of Benjamine, but Magdala (of which her last name is derived) is in northern Israel while the tribe of Benjamin was in the south.

Also the book purports that the Gnostic Gospels are more reliable than the Gospels in the Bible, but whereas the Gnostic Gospels date from the late 2nd Century to the 4th Century, the oldest known fragment from the New Testament dates back to within 60 years of Christ's death.

Also he states that Gnostic Gospels were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is false, all the manuscripts at the Dead Sea Scrolls related to the Old Testament, but one of them actually affirms something Christ said. Jesus quoted Isaiah and said something about the Messiah, but none of the Old Testament manuscripts up until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had the Messianic quote Jesus gave, but it was there in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were dated to be older than any known Old Testament manuscript, and pre-dated Christ.

The book states that at the explicit demand of French President François Mitterrand, the Louvre Pyramid in Paris was constructed with 666 panes of glass but it actually has 673.

The reference to Paris having been founded by the Merovingians (Chapter 55) is false; in fact, the city was settled by Gauls by the 3rd Century BC. The Romans, who knew it as Lutetia, captured it in 52 BC under Julius Caesar, and left substantial ruins in the city, including an amphitheater and public baths. The Merovingians did not rule in France until the 6th century AD, by which time Paris was at least 800 years old.

Eehh just read Wikipedia I dont like cutting and pasting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_the_Da_Vinci_Code

2) He wasn't born on December 25th

3) No the Gospel of Judas is not true

4) We can't see God the Father because he is a Spirit. Thats why Jesus is called "God manifested before us", because Jesus is the closest thing we can see to the image of God - though Jesus is the Son of God, not the Father.

Answer 5

The generally accepted doctrine on that is that if you do not accept Jesus NOW in this life you will go to hell after this life is over. I do not accept that teaching but do not reject it either. Which puts me in a quandary. I grew up believing that all people will get a chance to be told the entire truth (the Christian church today does not have the ENTIRE truth) and satan will be locked away during that time so that he can't influence you from the invisible spirit realm. that way if you or a muslim hindu or whatever fails to receive Jesus it will not be from confusion it will be flat-out rejection and THEN you can go to hell because at that time you will have chosen hell. I do not have a problem with that doctrine but i have a problem with the man who taught it. so i do not have a stand. So i have not cleared anything up for you but only given you two point of view

Answer 6

Christ was CONCEIVED on Dec. 25th and born around Sept. 28th or 29th. You may trace that date back when Elizabeth Mary's Cousin was 6 months pregnant with John. Elizabeth's husband Zacharias was high priest during the course of Abiaiah which was that time of year. I can see that you are in need of teaching and are a babe in Christ in need of the Milk of the Word, and YOU MUST have that before you are ready for the MEAT of the Word. Another simple thing is this. In the Gospel of Luke when the Angels came and announced the Birth of Christ they were feeding there sheep and there is NOTHING to feed them in the field in the Winter Time. The weather in Judea is similar in the US. You will only LEARN from someone WHO KNOWS how to teach. You know I am sure what Christ said about the "blind leading the blind" RThere is alot of Spiritual Ignorance in this world today and Spiritually Bling people giving advise that do not know what they are talking about. GET a Strong's Concordance, and use it with your studies. It takes the words of the Bible and translate it back to the origional languages of the Greek, Hebrew, and go to the Liabary and check out a Book on the translations of Amaric also. The Bible HAS some BAD translations in it, and if you have a copy that is like the King James which I recommend, it states in the front that to check the translation carefully. When King James had the Bible translated the scrolls were not yet discovered and there was nothing to go by but man trying to do the best they could. Now to answer your question above in the order you have wrote them:

1--No it is TRASH

2--Already answered

3--NO

4--God is SPIRIT, but was seen through Christ Jesus His Son. He CAN however let us see HIm if He desires, BUT flesh and blood cannot enter heaven.

Answer 7

1. I have read it and I agree with you it is a very interesting fiction, as Dan Brown, the writer also admitted in the beginning.
It is indeed a well written novel, but very poor historical facts.
2. Jesus was not born on the 25th of December, 1 AD, as any intteligent person will know, both logically and also historically, because it is too cold for the shepherds and sheep to survive if they were outside in the open plain of Efrata. Then it is historically proven that Herod the Great, or Herod Agrippa died in February 4 BC.
3. The Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas were written between 140 and 250 AD, and were given the names of the disciples who had been dead long before those time, , and so they were not first hand witnesses of the events like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who lived contemporarily with Jesus, thus were first hand witnesses.
Those so called gnostic gospels contain things that are contrary to the narrations in the four original gospels.
Dan Brown twisted the facts. Any students of ancient history know that the Council of Nikea did not decide about the Divinity of Christ at all. All the disciples and the gospel writers were unanimous about the Divinity of Christ, and there were no possiblity of the so called facts mentioned by Dan Brown concerning Mary Magdalene having secret relationship with Jesus, or the Pharisees and Priests would have used that as a very valid ground to stone Jesus or to annihilate His teachings. All the twelve disciples, except Judas, were martyred for their faith. They would not have done that if those things mentioned by Dan Brown really happened.
4. We can't see God because we are sinners. Those Roman soldiers fell down like dead when they saw just an angel at the resurrection of Jesus. Moses was the only one who has talked with God face to face, but with a veil on his face.
That's why Jesus had to be born as a human being so that He can reveal God to us. Only after our bodies are changed after the resurrection at the second coming of Jesus and we are given immortality will we be able to see God face to face and live with Him in heaven.

Answer 8

hey sweety,
I will write you what i believe, this is all i have,ok?........;
1.Christians do not believe that maybe it is true cause they think that Jesus could never have sex, because they think that sex is a sin.. However, they forgot that Jesus was a God but a HUMAN also, that means that he eat food, he drinks water, he had all the phychic needs that we [humans] have. So it is normal to make sex also..that doesn't change the fact that He was/is/will be always THE MESSAIA, the perfect GOD..
2.We arenot sure about when he was born, but we want to celebrate His birth so we define that day as His birth..

for the other 2 my answer is just ''Don't know''
i hope i helped you, in a way..
xxxooo

Answer 9

Jesus was probably not born on Dec. 25. This is actually a Pagan holiday.

Answer 10

Are you addressing church people? You say Christians, but I don't know any Christians.

The religion of chuch people is nothing like the religion Jesus had.

As for question 2, nobody claims to know when Jesus was born.

As for question 4, we can't see God because he's imaginary; and most people know that. How old are you anyway?