The Davinci Code Syndrome - Using the Berean Filter to Decode Truth from Fiction
The first time I read the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown I was fascinated by it. It was a work of fiction, but it felt absolutely true. At the beginning of the book, it even says this: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” I happened to be on a flight to Paris when I was reading that book, years ago. One stop among many was the Louvre’, which, as you know if you’ve read the book, is the setting at the beginning of the book. In The Da Vinci Code, the character Robert Langdon claims that the Louvre’ Pyramid was constructed with exactly 666 panes of glass at the "explicit demand" of President François Mitterrand. The novel notes this as a "bizarre request" and a point of interest for conspiracy theorists who associate the number with Satan. Well, as fascinating as that was, I had to count them myself… twice in fact. The number was 673, and I later corroborated it with others who actually did the math for the construction. So much for the Da Vinci Code being true. It didn’t ruin the novel for me, but I do always consider the truth of what I’m hearing. That’s when I arrived at what I call the Da Vinci Code syndrome… take something maybe less than true and sprinkle it with things that are true, and you end up with something that, on the whole, appears believable. And that’s what happened. If you remember, the Da Vinci Code sparked somewhat of a phenomenon. People were investigating Freemasons and Illuminati, and all of religion became the playground of folklore. I have to admit, I got sucked into too, even though I had come to realize that the DaVinci Code was pure fiction.
I guess what I walked away with from that experience is a sense of discernment. That’s the reason for today’s podcast. The video in the sources is an interview between Steven Bartlett and Chase Hughes. It’s fascinating, and Chase is very credible in his field. But I don’t walk around the planet with Chase Hughes spectacles. I rather like the biblical worldview, and that’s where I find my truth. I’m finding that the same Berean Filter we developed for scriptural analysis works equally well in discerning the biblical truth and falsehood in content not derived from scripture. The article is really taking that video and applying biblical discernment to a real-world example. I’m not criticizing the content. Chase believes every word of what he is saying. He in no way is trying to be deceptive. However, that doesn’t mean he is right. For me, the bible is what we should lean on for truth. It’s not always easy, and frankly, beyond my gut instinct, I could not have come up with that article without leaning heavily on the Berean Filter we developed. It asks: What does Scripture actually say about this claim? Where does the claim align with the biblical text? Where does it diverge? Where is Scripture silent, and where is it explicit? It does not ask me what I want the answer to be.
We live in a world where “Truth” is relative. Or to put it another way, there is no absolute truth. I love hearing someone say that because they rarely recognize the contradiction they just stated as an absolute. There is an absolute truth. I think you need to look no further than the Bible. It has never failed me. And it won’t fail you either.
Notes for the Davinci Code Syndrome
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