I recently finished reading Dan Brown’s book The Lost Symbol and thoroughly enjoyed the captivatingly woven tale. From a fictional perspective it was very intriguing. From a Christian perspective it was slightly off kilter but not too far gone so as to blatantly offend. Before I begin my evaluation of the book I would like to explain my view of the author. I find that in all themes Dan Brown chooses there is a legitimate issue being identified and a subsequent fictional tale surrounding this issue. I suppose, were Dan Brown to function in a spiritual gifting setting he would readily be identified as either a Teacher or Prophet. That’s how dead on his sensing of needs is. I do not, however, feel that Mr. Brown functions in this arena and so the solutions he arrives at fall short of biblical accuracy and encompass much broader solutions than simply those that align with Scripture. In my book, Made In Their Image, I go into much greater detail concerning the accuracy of his concept in The DaVinci Code. (Notice I say concept not factual or fabricated data presented…but you’ll have to read the book to understand *wink wink nudge nudge*.) With that being said I will begin.“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion, A Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ …’The Stone which the builders rejected…a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’” I Peter 2:4-8.
The setting in The Lost Symbol is amidst the world of Freemasons. The underlying philosophy behind Freemasonry and its building concepts is not evil and can in fact be aligned with much of Scripture. The problem I have with Freemasonry as a belief system is its understanding of truth. Truth takes on many different forms in Freemasonry because it means something different to each man. This dabbles far too much into the area of “but every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. Judges 17:6 But the core beliefs of Freemasonry are not all that different from those of Christianity: brotherly love, salvation, morality, charity, faith, and relationship. But they lack a unifying element: the bond of the Spirit which is only available through Christ. So in essence what you have is many different faiths attempting to reconcile with one another and arrive at truth. As wonderful and peaceful as that sounds… it’s not possible. According to Scripture the only way, light, and truth is Christ and all else is darkness. Based on that one must question what kind of bond or yoke is created by aligning with other faiths. Paul says it best in II Corinthians 6:14 “…for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” The bond of brotherly love is not wrong… which is what Freemasons are striving for. But if you are attempting to bond with another outside of Christ then it won’t work as God intended. If I am living for Christ and trying to excel in life but others are attempting to bond with me out of darkness and have no light in them then they become parasitic leeches who will ultimately drain the light out of me.
The second main theme in the book is that of Noetic Science. Noetic Science deals with the study of the mind and its relationship with the divine intellect. The form it takes in the book is that of changing physical matter or circumstances with ones mind – “the power of focused conviction and intention.” Theoretically then, the more minds, the more power, and the more that can be accomplished. It sounds far fetched but it’s not really. Based on Jesus words in Matthew, “Where one or two are gathered together in My Name, I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20) this is a very real concept. Christianity has been relying on the concept of Noetic Science for nearly 2000 years now (longer if you factor in the similar elements of Judaism). Jesus also said that “faith can move mountains” supporting the theory that one’s mind can change physical matter. One of my favorite quotes from the book concerning this concept is the following: “If thoughts affect the world, then we must be careful how we think.” Very profound… guard your thoughts, submitting each one to Christ.
Dan Brown uses several Scriptures throughout the book but unfortunately they are used out of context, which was annoying to the teacher in me. (ie: our bodies being the temple was twisted into an understanding that we are gods versus its true meaning that God lives in and through us.)
The most profound concept of all in the book was concerning the Word. Unfortunately this was misunderstood as well yet still accurately noted if you place it into the right context. The author failed to grasp the idea of Word become Flesh and attributed Word to spoken words of wisdom given by all famous prophets and further attributes the Word to the Bible, Koran, Torah, and Vedas. I rather like my own picture of what the Word made Flesh looks like. You remember in the movie Wizard of Oz when the good witch materializes out of particles of glitter? All these tiny little particles coalesce and come together to form the image of Glenda. Now try and apply that picture to the Word of God as Christ. The very words of God throughout the ages all travel through time gathering together until one day they simply burst forth as does all conception into the product of the Incarnation transforming what God thought and spoke into physical matter – Jesus Christ. The Word is not some conglomeration of letters on a page… but a very real person who always existed and was the very fruit and essence of God and became manifest here on earth in the person of Jesus.. The Lost Symbol or Word is not then just any book containing wisdom; it is Christ Himself. But what the author did get right was the fact that the Word is lost to us.
I have heard many complaints over the past decade or so concerning the ever evolving teaching of the Word. It never fails regardless of the age lived in that the Word begins to gradually transform into a twisted, manipulated understanding to fit whatever is “good in our own eyes”. With increasing frequency the Word tends to support whatever we wish instead of being what it was truly intended to be towards sin – “a stumbling block and a rock of offense.” Instead it begins to reconcile sin with itself which is impossible for Truth to do. We have lost the Word. It’s about time we start looking for Him again with a fresh and renewed vigor and passion. Now THAT would truly change our world.
The last thing I will mention as an important point was the statement of the author that the Ancient Mysteries are synonymous with the Word. While perhaps he may not have grasped what he wrote, since his understanding of the Word was confined to written sacred texts, that is the absolute truth right there. The Word is Christ. And as Paul so adequately penned in Ephesians chapter 3, the mystery is Christ. So the Ancient Mysteries are indeed the Word, who is Christ… not Buddha, or Mohammed, or Shiva… but Jesus Christ.
So all in all, I would definitely recommend The Lost Symbol due to its level of interest and captivating plot but knowing your Scripture is essential to avoid any deception that may lead you into error. If the author quotes a Scripture, make sure you research it and know its true intended meaning. Far too often these days I see teachers play on the ignorance of the masses. News Flash: We no longer live in the dark ages… work it out yourself. If you have a personal relationship with God then you have the capacity. I hope you can enjoy the book as much as I did. But if I catch wind of you taking on Masonic vows I will be sorely disappointed.
