If, like me, you were raised in the church, Sunday School was a core component of your church experience. In Sunday School, we concentrated on the Biblical fundamentals (Jonah and the Great Fish, Noah and the Ark, David & Goliath, etc.). Quite appropriately, memory verses, skits and songs are popular at that stage. However, rather than progressing along the journey, many of us remain stuck at that first, fundamentalist, level. In every other area, we recognize that critical analysis is one of the characteristics of an adult, but this is rarely evident in the adult Christian.

I suspect that this is why, for example, "The Da Vinci Code" has caused a lot of concern for many faithful adult Christians. Dan Brown's fiction adventure, cloaked with enough historical facts to make even the scholarly do a double-take, proposes two theses:

Jesus was a married man and fathered a child and Jesus was merely a mortal.

The problem, I believe, is not with the theses proposed in "The Da Vinci Code". The real problem is that adult Christians have not been empowered to address them and thereby de-cloak them of their mystery and power to impact one's faith. Using memory verses to debate these theses is like using beach-pails to put water on a forest fire. 

In the conversations I've had with adult Christians about "The Da Vinci Code", I've responded by stating that, in my opinion, if conclusive proof were revealed today that Jesus Christ actually was married and had children, this would not destroy my faith.

The New Testament is completely silent as to Jesus' marital status. The various New Testament writers either did not know or did not think that this was relevant to who Jesus was.

But, you may well contend, what about the second thesis? I agree that this one is more difficult and, although space does not allow for a detailed commentary, a brief reflection is worthwhile. The New Testament's witness stands in clear opposition to the works that the Council of Nicea rejected-works like the Gospel of Phillip-that were written by Gnostics.

Gnostics believed that all matter was evil and had to be sublimated to the divine ethos.
Dan Brown has twisted the Gnostic "message" so that his readers are left believing that these texts stated Jesus was only mortal. The opposite is actually true: these texts claimed that Jesus was only divine and denied His humanity.

When researching the scriptural basis for the personhood of Jesus, many of us would immediately refer to the familiar Birth Narratives in Matthew and Luke. However, it is important to note that the Birth Narratives were written two generations after Jesus' lifetime and are not biographies. In this context, they were framed by a need to demonstrate that Jesus had earthly parentage and that He was, at the same time, the literal (i.e. divine) Son of God.

In contrast, the Apostle Paul, who wrote the majority of the works in the New Testament canon, began writing his letters within twenty years of Jesus' lifetime and, in his first letters (1 and 2 Thessalonians), Paul references Jesus' earthly life in terms of his resurrection (1 Thess. 1:10). Paul likely wrote to the Galatians next and this time he does mention Jesus' birth, in Galatians 4:4. Here, Jesus is God's son and He was "born of a woman". Did Paul literally mean that Jesus was God's biological son? That is difficult to say.

What is clearer is that Paul recognizes Jesus' earthly origins but regards His resurrection, and not His pedigree, as the central pillar of the faith (1 Corin. 15:17). Indeed, in contrast to the Gnostic writings, the witness of the entire New Testament canon is that, although Jesus had human origins, He is divine.

Critical examination is, obviously, no simple task-quoting a memory verse is much simpler.
However, we need to be equipped with the best tools to meet tests to our faith (whether that is discussing "The Da Vinci Code" or answering a skeptic's questions). Proving, if only to ourselves, that it can survive our own questions is a good place to start. If you agree, and want to be a part of a church where your Christian Education Department is serious about educating and empowering adults, please consider the following suggestions:

Educate your adults about resources such as Biblical Commentaries and Lexicons;
Equip your Adult Christian Education teachers with lesson plans for adults that are stimulating and encourage critical thinking;

Encourage the formation of Bible Study cells in your congregation and stress the importance of Bible study in your sermons and newsletters;

Explore books-by a variety of authors-on Biblical topics and consider forming a book club to discuss them;

Empower your adults (and even children) to ask questions of and about the Bible by incorporating a brief Q&A time into the Sunday morning sermon/coffee-hour.

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:15b, NIV).

Charles D. Bush is a playwright/short-story writer and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Bible & Christian Education from Anderson University. He is a member of St. George's Anglican (Episcopal) Church.