Has anyone here read the da vinci code ? I havent read it yet, but i would like to know why isit that the book is being listed as "blasphemous" ?

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I'm reading it right now, but I know the premise.

The story behind the book originally started with another book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail. The book's authors investigated several mysteries involving an area of France where a Catholic priest found some old papers and cryptic messages.

Long story short (though I recommend reading the book), the authors hypothesize that a bloodline of French king's was eliminated by the Catholic Church and the priest who found the papers discovered why. The "why" is because the Merovingian bloodline (the "true kings") were actually descended from Jesus Christ; these kings were preventing the Catholic Church from having absolute power within France.

When the Holy Roman Empire was created, supposedly the Catholic Church killed the Merovigian king. Prior to this, the Merovingians were allowed their power by the Church due to their lineage from the Christ. The death of the Merovingian allowed a more favorable king to be installed in France, which gave the Church the control they wanted. The new king, King Phillip IV, ended up killing the Knights Templar because he wanted their money.

The biggest "blasphemy" both Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code suggest is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that she got pregnant. She fled to France with Joseph of Aramethia and had a child, which led to the Merovingian bloodline. A secret society, the Priory of Scion, was created to protect this knowledge. The Priory had many important leaders, including Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Da Vinci is claimed to have put small "tells" in his paintings, hinting at the truth of Jesus and Mary. Because the Catholic Church would lose it's power base if the truth were revealed to the world (that, contrary to Church teachings, Jesus was married and had a child and his bloodline still exists). Not only would they lose much of their power over Catholic believers, they would also have to admit that they had killed one of the descendents of Jesus to get more power.

That's the (very) abbreviated version of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the background to The Da Vinci Code. The Code is a novelization of most of these hypothesis, hence the "blasphemous" nature of it.

If you have more questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

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WoW, thanks for the information ! It really does sound exciting.

Did dan brown got all those information from actual sources ? or did he simply made them up? for if he really did some research, than i would say this book should be classified as partial non-fiction than.

But if dan brown were to simply made the whole blashpehmous story up, than i do wonder what is his motive for doing so =X

Interesting read indeed; Can't help but to wonder if theres a slight possibility that what dan brown written is true .

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I Loved that book, i don't think i know anyone who didn't.
yous hould also try Angels and Deamons. It's also by Dan Brown.
I Love all that conspiracy stuff

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Xrum!

The Da Vinci code was incredible. Angels and Demons was a little more hokey, but it was good nevertheless. Just stay away from Digital Fortress. That book was terrible.

Read your first line. That should explain what is his motive is... :-)

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According the the preface to the Code,

The History Channel had a show about Brown's book. He based the background of the novel not only on Holy Blood, Holy Grail but other "blasphemous conspiracy" books.

My guess is that, not only did he want to create contriversy which would boost his sales, but that he wanted to expose people to an alternative hypothesis. Though much of the evidence for the "blasphemous" viewpoints is circumstantial, it's compelling.

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Speaking of, Irving Wallace wrote a book I greatly enjoyed called "The Word". It's about a new gospel that was discovered written by James, the brother of Jesus. A very interesting premise with a few good twists.

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Cow: You're a lawyer too?
Mooseblood (mosquito): Ma'am, I was already a bloodsucking parasite. All I needed was a briefcase!

sounds like a really good book. gonna have to stop by barnes and noble to get both of them

Very interesting book indeed than. A non fiction or fiction book, all base on how u want to see it

Hmm i think time for me to dl an ebook of it and read it on my pda. Sounds interesting enough; ie: to provide an alternative view to the bible(which is never wrong).

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