The DaVinci Myth vs. The Gospel Truth - Online Christian Library

THE DA VINCI MYTH VS THE GOSPEL TRUTH
He says of Diocletian’s persecution:
…in 303 A.D. an edict was given from Rome that
anyone just possessing a Bible (they didn’t have
to say they believed in Jesus Christ or anything
like that) —all they had to do was be holding a
Bible—and they would be executed. That is
how serious the Holy Scriptures were at that
point in time. That shows you how important it
was for the Christians to get this message out. It
also demonstrates how much they believed in
this historical message. So we have documents
1) that were a very important message, 2) that
people were laying down their lives for; 3) that
even in spite of this persecution, where they
were trying to do away with these books, where
people would be executed for these books, even
so today we have thousands and thousands and
thousands of extant copies of ancient copies of
the New Testament, far more than any ancient
book that we commonly regard as
history today. 109
There is an interesting irony about Diocletian. His
grave somehow became the cornerstone of a Christian
church. For hundreds of years, worshipers have praised
Jesus Christ there. You may say that they worship Jesus
over Diocletian’s dead body—literally!
In the Middle Ages, sometimes even the clergy
placed the Bible on a list of banned books. The Synod
of Toulouse forbade anyone to possess a copy of
the Scriptures.
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