I am an avid reader and a couple years ago I picked up the book, “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown which I am sure most every one of you has heard about or read. Honestly, I thought it was a very enjoyable book that had some good action, intrigue, mystery, and a compelling story. I am also a Christian and understood that the book was complete fiction with very little true facts in it. However, millions of copies were sold and it turns out that many readers actually thought the story was true. I enjoy a good book as much as the next person, but when a book results in people believing in make believe stories then something does need to be said about it to clarify what is truth and what is fiction.

And boy did authors and experts say something about this book right away as they sought to educate the ill-informed public regarding the false story stated as fact by the author. The first book I read was actually an e-book on my PDA titled “The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?” by Hank Hanegraff and Paul Maier. I then recently received “The Da Vinci Code Breaker: An easy-to-us fact checker” by James L. Garlow and wanted to get my review up before the movie was released for public viewing.

If you are not familiar with The Da Vinci Code then the only thing I’ll say about it is that the main fictional premise that drives all the controversy is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and apparently had children. Just to be clear here, Jesus never was married, He is God and walked the Earth as a man named Jesus, He was crucified, and He rose again to save all of us willing to follow His teachings and accept Him as our personal Savior. So as you can see The Da Vinci Code is obviously a fictional story.

Even though I am educated enough in Christianity to know the book is pure fiction, I wanted to check out The Da Vinci Code Breaker and read what the author had to say about the book. The book is organized like a dictionary with terms, names of people and places, art history, and other information in alphabetical order. There are over 500 total entries in the book and I am sure everyone will learn something from it. This arrangement allows you to quickly pick up the book and look up a term as you read through The Da Vinci Code or as you discuss the book with others. I picked up the book and read it from cover to cover and have to admit I actually learned quite a bit about Christianity and much more.

Some of the most interesting facts I read included an in-depth definition of Gnosticism, timeline of the Crusades, a detailed look at the canon including why writings were included or excluded from the Bible, and many other terms that I have heard of before yet I was unfamiliar with.

I am sickened when I hear that people actually think The Da Vinci Code is some kind of reference book that presents the facts of history and am seriously thinking about skipping the movie when it is released since I don’t want to support any intentional misrepresentation of the facts of history. Then again I do understand that most every movie produced by Hollywood is fictional and I watch them for my own personal enjoyment. I recommend you check out The Da Vinci Code Breaker so you will be prepared to discuss the movie with friends, family, and coworkers who will be watching the movie and may be actually believing the story. One good result of a book and movie like this is the easy way it allows you to start a dialog with people about Jesus.

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