ENEMIES TO CHRISTIAN FAITH
The most interesting aspect of this phenomenon (impression) of a bit of truth and a great deal of fiction clubbed together in the context of suspense and thrills, that led millions of people to scratch their heads and wonder what goes on on in this world. Under these strange circumstances, Christians must be ready to answer any type of questions because what “Dan Brown” has presented in his book “The Da Vinci Code”, appear to be just warmed heresies, and the theories of conspiracy and argument amounting to nothing. So Christians are warned to be ready always to answer unpredictable questions from pagans or unbelievers.
The writer Dan Brown has a wonderful skill in confusing the readers by these many contributions to the public. As a narrative author, he appears to confuse a lot of people. The characters he depicted in his works speak something nonsensical in regard to the Bible. For instance, one character speaks about the church where people do not believe in the divinity of Christ until 325 AD. He ignored the fact that even the most liberal Biblical scholars believed the Gospels, which clearly claim the deity of Christ.
These unbelievable stories were written in the first century AD, with these natures of attacks being quite common in those days. According to history at that time people have been living in different way of thinking without caring for God, though the word of God was available even to a common man. So. We can presume their life must have been like Pharisees who led their lives as hypocrites. Many people were invited to acquire spiritual knowledge instead to living the life of superficial Christians. But nobody came forward to honour this proposal as they indulged themselves in the sophisticated life of the day.
In such conditions they were unable to follow the real path of true Biblical Christianity. Even today millions and millions of people are unable to acquire basic knowledge about Bible and God because they did not find interest in it.
178
The Redemption Plan of God They don’t find interest in possessing Biblical information. They don’t know how they should live as true Christians and humbly obey God for salvation. The Biblical scholars are more worried regarding the future of so called Christians, then the teaching and preaching in the churches.
This critical situation gave scope to authorities to feel that church is in dangerous position. We find still some people who were well acquainted with Biblical knowledge. There is no doubt as some problem in all churches and in all Bible teaching universities. And in the churches some times the situation would go from bad to worse. It is not surprising if a large number of scholars and readers like the book called “The Davinci Code”.
If they try to attack regular church goers who know very little the mode of counter attack with their Biblical knowledge to the arguments presented in the book “Davinci Code”, their knowledge would not be sufficient for that purpose. The church attending members must be in a position to understand the method of counter attack along with enough Biblical matter, they can do anything and everything. This condition shows Christianity is in difficult situation. And this attack must be not on a particular doctrine of Christianity but on the fundamental principles of Christian faith itself.
The most amazing claim we can make in this post modern culture is that God has spoken in the old Testament especially in the Book of Deuteronomy wherein we are introduced to God, Who speaks with us and one of the greatest demonstrations is about “love” He showed upon us. He spoke to us so that we can genuinely know Him. Whenever we talk about the word of God, we must believe the word is true and fact before we read it. It was true before we read it. It will be true even after we die. This fact the believers must always keep in their minds.
It’s truth is eternal and the truth is rooted in our own verification or in our personal affirmation for it is rooted in the very character of the existence of the God Almighty Who speaks with us when we are reading the scripture. We are not constructing truth but we are addressed and guided by truth. The “Dead
179 Enemies To Christian Faith sea scrolls” are found in cumran caves in 1947 by a shepherd boy. They are in Hebrew language and the book of Isaiah was one of them.
Those scrolls at present are exhibited in the United states. They are the big attestation to the reliability of the scripture. In recent years a lot of attention has been paid to the archeological discoveries particularly to the Dead sea Scrolls. The scholars who were looking into the Biblical historical documents, like the book of Isaiah, found this as the same text, that virtually the concerned authorities are using the original manuscript of Isaiah as the fundamental text for the modern translation.
When we consider the fact we are looking at a writing which was about 2500 years old, and still we are using the same text as the basis for our modern translations with minor differences. This is the promise that God has presented His word.
According to The Davinci Code there are some other Gospels which appear to be more authentic than the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Every body will be surprised at this information, because all these days we have been considering only the above said four Gospels as authentic historical documents regarding the life of Jesus Christ from the earliest times. It should be a matter of great confidence to us that the early churches were led to realize very quickly the difference between the true witness and false witness.
The church could have that much responsibility in the early centuries and at the same time the church has fulfilled its duty increasingly well. Therefore when we have to encounter these “Gnostic” Gospels such as the Gospel of “Judah”, which was recently released by the “National Geographical Society”, we find these documents, what the early church said was not true to the congregation, or authentic or authoritative.
This new discovery put the Bible readers in utter confusion. We must see this as a great testimony to a fact that God has not only given us Bible for our regular reading but also we have regular guidance from the church in order to understand the true Gospel and the false Gospel.
180
The Redemption Plan of God A note worthy point we have to remember in this connection is that even the early churches and church goers used the same Gospels we are using today. These early writings had to be directly attributed to an apostle and then to be recognized as true and authentic, universally and through out the churches and finally in all denominations of the world. Added to that, churches have great confidence and knew who Jesus was on the basis of authoritative witnesses, that were written about Jesus in the Gospels.
Then, can we expect , cultural and spirituality transfiguration in a post modern world that which rejects any form of objective authoritative truth ?. Our opinions might be very few in our life’s plan and in such a case, it is not as if to have the Bible as part – A and if it does not work we can move to plan – B, that is we have nothing beyond the Bible. We can plan, we are all by the grace of God and by His own design left with the Bible as our sole authority for our faith and true Christian living.
If the church suggests some other means of validating Christian message it means the church must be confusing the congregation as well as the world. At the end of Bible itself will show to be just as powerful in this generation as it has been any time in the past because it is God’s living world – living and active and sharper than any two edged sword ( Hebrew 4.12). the task and authority of the church remains the same to teach and to preach the word of God.
The believers can understand the truth of scripture more perfectly than such, heresies in The Davinci Code. The Christians must dive deep into the cultural development that assured them. The Christian has all the responsibility to defend the truth of the word of God in the Bible under any circumstances before the neighbors. The Christian must be careful about the neighbors who try to put some unnecessary questions about the world of God or Christianity in order to defame God in the presence of unbelievers like those who reveal in The Davinci Code and believe what is said in it.
This novel The Davinci Code is also pictured by the Holy wood concerned people and undoubtedly Muslims, nations of both believers and non believers
181 Enemies To Christian Faith must have witnessed it out of curiosity as it involved particularly the life of Jesus Christ. So some non – Christians or heathens may try to put some questions as what they saw in the movie.
As true believers, we must try our best to defend Jesus and the truth said about Him in the Gospels. Christians must speak before the unbelievers with humility at the same time with courage and clarify all their doubts about Christ as He revealed Himself in the Bible who he was. And finally as Christians we may be left with two choices – we must have strong belief with the Christ of Bible or we must have an imaginary Christ in our minds and then move forward according to our wish.
If the Bible is not our authoritative source to follow, then there is no other authoritative source to Christians and all of us to in crease our faith in God. How can we live in submission to the authority of God to honour and glorify Him ?. We are accountable to Biblical Christians to obey , to know, to study and to teach the world of God. We are accountable to every single truth that is clearly mentioned in the Bible.
We must not read the Bible just for reading sake, but to know the perfection of God. So while reading it we have to feel God is speaking with us directly. At that time, we must be very cautious because we are in the presence of God. Therefore, we must try to read the word God most reverently.
A true Christian must receive whole heartedly what God says, and then be thankful to Him because He loves us too much. He will take us out of darkness and guide us to walk in the light of the holy book to understand Him through that book. Heresy is always temporary but too dangerous. Some times it occurs and goes away on its own. Where as Christian faith is everlasting and more important.
The truth of Christian faith is not only eternal but transforming also. Heresy may be interesting to inquisitive minds. But Gospels would save humanity and transform them into saints and protect life out of death. They can have
182
The Redemption Plan of God everlasting life. The achievement of this salvation is more exiting and more exhilarating than heresy can offer to the people in the society.
Scripture is nothing but the breathing of God and it is useful for teaching, preaching, rebuking, correcting and turning into righteousness. We can find God’s word as a guidance of life’s challenge. So, true Christianity is nothing but fighting. The exact meaning of truth is that it implies vast quality of genuine religion hence genuine Christianity. Many people will be going to the churches every Sunday as Christians. They remain in the church record with that brand and die with the same. But we can count true Christians out of them.
Such people are called namesake Christians. We never see them fighting in support of their religion or spiritual fight. But some scholars say it is not the real Christian life according to the Bible. It is not that kind of religion Jesus founded or the Gospels preached. It is not that religion which produces Holiness. So the true Christianity is nothing but fighting. The true Christians are called believers and soldiers marching into the battle field . onward Christian soldier Marching as to war with the cross of Jesus Going on before.
The believers must behave as soldiers from the time of their conversion into Christianity until death. As believers we should not think about ourselves only. We must live for others also. That is fundamental principle of real Christianity. Some times we may have to spend sleepless nights either in meditation or in some noble work. As a rule the Bible suggests us to do something to others in our life. Then with whom a true Christian should fight ?. Who is his enemy ?. It is not with other Christian or with a pagan. The main fighting of the believer is with the world, with the flesh and with the devil. Unless we get victory over these three things, our other victories in this world are of colossal waste. If we are not fallen down. We must fight the battle continuously with more vigor, against the corrupt heart, against the busy devil and with the sinful world. Whether we win the battle or lose it, that must be our ultimate goal.
We must fight the flesh. Even after conversion the heart and mind of some people will be filled with devil and evil doings. But the heart of the believers
183 Enemies To Christian Faith must be free from such imperfections in this material world. It is really pitiable thing to see our heart going astray. In such critical situations Jesus Christ bids us “watch and pray”(Mark 14.38). our spirit may be ready to leave all such things but the flesh is weak. Due to that there will be a constant struggle, there by we need daily prayer, which appears to be inevitable. “Apostle Paul said I despair my body and bring it into suggestion”. The true believers of Christ should have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires uninterrupted.
We must fight the world - The world is a beggar enemy to a true Christian, because there are many pleasurable things for a modern man to enjoy. Such things naturally cause hindrance in his progress. Man is said to be a bundle of desires. If one want is satisfied another want will be in its place. But these things we can circumvent with our daily prayers. Prayer conquers all our weaknesses. Our desires to have regular touch with the worldly things are our enemies, spirituality and block our way of life. These worldly things finally come in the way of our eternal advancement. So the first step a true believer has to take is to come out of such desires. If we are closely associated with them it means we are enemies to our merciful God.
In 1 John 2.15 it is said “if any one loves the world, the love of the father is not in Him” and in Romans 12.2, it is said, Do not be conformed to this world”.
We must fight the devil - The first and foremost enemy to mankind is the devil (Satan). He has not yet died. Since the time the fall of both Adam and Eve, He has been trying to ruin the soul of men with his crooked plan. He always walks like a roaring lion to find some one to devour. He is an unseen enemy. He is always near to us, and moving around us. He is on our way, wherever we go. He is near our bed. He is like spy watching all our movements. He has been a liar from the beginning. His lying started first with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The only aim of the devil is to take revenge against God, he has been trying to take revenge against God’s creation (the people). In such conditions we need the guidance of our Almighty God, if we want to come out
184
The Redemption Plan of God of his clutches. A suitable passage is worth to note in this context from “Ephesus” . Only by watching and praying , fighting and putting on the whole armour of God.
True Christians are called to be soldiers of war and behave as such from the day of their conversion into Christianity, till the time of their death. We are not supposed to live the happy life religiously without any security. Some readers of this article might think that the statements are hard to digest. And it is clearly pointed out in scripture in the first book of Timothy 6.12. fight the good fight the faith, lay hold on eternal life. Therefore the Christian warfare is a non-stop warfare. It is not an ordinary one.
If we study the lives of the disciples of Jesus we can understand how miserably they were persecuted and killed by the Roman authorities . so, Christian life is not a bed of roses, but it is full of thorns. As real warriors we must put on the whole armour of God, so that we may be able to stand firmly and fight against the devil. We are not fighting against the flesh and blood but against principalities against power, against the rule of darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Only in such circumstances we must wear the whole armour of God, so that we may be able to with stand the evil day. As said in Ephesians 6.11- 13, withstand first in the faith be strong and be brave. If we meditate upon these above said Biblical examples, what strikes more to our minds is that they teach us one great moral lesson. Christianity is nothing but a struggle a fight and a warfare. The flesh and evil are enemies to God. So either we must fight the enemy the devil with the sword of the God or lose the battle. That is the ultimate result of a Christian.
The Davinci Code in Nutshell - This is a blatant (disapproved ) and Anti -Christ Novel written by Dan Brown. Yet it became very popular in the world and was called Block Buster Novel with 454 pages. Though the main theme appeared to be Anti – Christ, it won the flood of popularity and about 40 million copies were sold in the market and the Holly Wood authorities produced a picture also.
185 Enemies To Christian Faith As mentioned in the book the main subject of the novel is treasure hunting in historic places and big cities. This treasure hunting is not for money or gold or any such thing. The search was for the Holy Grail ( a cup of bowl, supposed to have been used by Jesus Christ at the time of the last supper ). In the middle ages it was believed that whoever will passes that Holy Grail cup have everlasting life because of the power that the cup has. That was one of the crusaders belief and this very cause prompted them to go to Jerusalem in search of that bowl many times during 12th and 13th centuries by holding cross in their hands. They tried their best to locate the cup but in vain. It is also said in The Davinci Code that some people went in search of the Tomb of Mary Magdalene because it was believed the tomb contained some four or six chests or boxes full of papers with valuable information. These two incidents made the crusaders rest less at least for two centuries. And these two incidents location of the Holy Grail and the tomb of Mary Magdalene are the main stories in that novel. The Davinci Code. It is also said the Roman Catholic Bishop of New York city planned to bye that Holy Grail for twenty Million dollars if it was found. And the pope of Vatican city tried his best to secure the secret information about the Holy Grail and finally the entire Roman catholic Mission tried tooth and nail to acquire the secret of that Holy Grail. And in conclusion the story appears to be only to degrade the Godliness of Jesus Christ.
186