Jesus: Tales from the Crypt - Does It Contradict Christianity?

[Woodmonkey]

Jesus: Tales from the Crypt


Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic' is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it's not a re-make of "The Da Vinci Codes'. It's supposed to be true.

Let's go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.

Israel's prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn't associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn't afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.

There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ's resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof that a boy born to a carpenter's wife in a manger is the Son of God.

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,"King Kong", whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, Canada's Vision, and Israel's Channel 8, has been a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite: Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and skeptics. Stay tuned.

The Source

[Woodmonkey]

Scholars, Clergymen Criticize New Documentary on Alleged Tomb of Jesus Christ


Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film.

"There's a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself," Cameron said Monday at a news conference. In an earlier television interview, he said that statisticians found "in the range of a couple of million to one" in favor of the documentary's conclusions about the caskets, or ossuaries.

Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries — "Mariamene" — offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, "Mariamene" is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.

The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Most Christians believe Jesus' body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City. The burial site identified in Cameron's documentary is in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.

In 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.

Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film's claims: "I'm skeptical, but that's the way I am. I'm willing to accept the possibility."

The film's claims, however, have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.

"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."

Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.

Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time," he said.

William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.

"The fact that it's been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."

Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, said the Antiquities Authority agreed to send two ossuaries to New York, but they did not contain human remains. "We agreed to send the ossuaries, but it doesn't mean that we agree with" the filmmakers, she said.

The Source

[Woodmonkey]

Good Question: Does Tomb Contradict Christianity?

(WCCO) "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?"

In the Bible, that's what an angel asks the women who are awestruck at the sight of Jesus' empty tomb. Many are now just as surprised to hear that two filmmakers think they've uncovered Christ's actual burial site and what's inside may challenge the most important event in Christianity. But what exactly did they discover?

"One of them says 'Jesus, Son of Joseph,'" announced one of the filmmakers at a press conference in New York.

He was referring to an ancient burial box an upcoming documentary on the Discovery Channel says are that of Jesus and his family. The boxes were first found back in 1980, but have been reexamined. They are said to be inscribed with the names of Jesus, his mother, his purported wife Mary Magdalene, and their son Judah.

Skeptics call this another installment of "The Da Vinci Code." Many serious scholars have called the discovery and their conclusions bunk, saying the names on the boxes were all common at the time and could belong to any family.

"I'm first of all a little skeptical," said Dr. Deanna Thompson, who heads the religion department at Hamline University. "How would they know they have Jesus?"

She says, if true, the claims would contradict basic Christian beliefs of a physical ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

"We don't understand salvation to be just spiritual," she said. "At the heart of the Gospels is a very real bodily resurrection and ascension."

However, Thompson says even claims like those being made have value.

"Religion is about asking questions," she said. "That's part of what it means to be human to ask those questions. So, rather than shutting it off, I would say ask away, but we do it out of a motivation to deepen the faith and gain a better and deeper understanding."

As for searching for historical evidence to back basic Christian teachings, Dr. Thompson said "I'm not sure our faith ultimately depends on history. It is more than just a historical claim. If it's only faith in what's seen, it's not faith."

For their part, the filmmakers say their findings do not necessarily contradict Christian beliefs of a resurrection and ascension. They note that not all Christians agree on what happened after Christ's resurrection.

Believers do think Jesus ascended to heaven, but they disagree on what that means. Many worshippers think it was physical while others think it could have been spiritual. In that case, even if Christ's bones were found that wouldn't mean the resurrection didn't happen.

The Source

[EdNigma]

I always thought it was a spiritual accent myself. So a 'tomb' does not surprise me in the least. Besides, nothing can shake true faith, nothing.

It'd not surprise me if they proved Jesus had children. He WAS flesh you know, and if he married, had a kid or 14, He'd still be holy in the eyes of God and man. Unless it was some 9 year old child like the 'other' religion we hear about.

Also, the more the churches complain, try to debunk, or are shaken by this, the more popular it'd become. Like the 'Code'. I personally don't think it'd have gotten the hype if the churches would have just laughed it off.

[milmor_1]

This story has been doing the rounds for a while now. I recall seeing the documentary on the original find.

It is an interesting concept, but difficult to prove after all this time.

Jesus Joseph and Juda were all extremely popular names in those times so who is to say it is NOT someone else and who is to say that is is NOT the Grave of Jesus, I am sure we will have plenty of specialists on both sides of the fence.

[Carnage_59]

Yeah, this story is nothing new... there were so-called "gospels" written in the 4th, 5th and 6th Centuries saying that Jesus and Mary Magdelene married and had kids.... some royalty in the Middle Ages used that story to justify their kingship was of divine origin.

The scientific method has been thrown out in favor of "science by the media" to make "documentaries". I have seen so much crap these days in documentaries.... Geraldo Rivera, eat your heart out.

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There were so many fake gospels and epistles written that there were several tomes (one famous one by Pope St. Damasus) and others .... it all finally culminated in the Council of Laodicea (in what is today SW Turkey) around 397 AD that determined the books that were canonical, that is, divinely inspired.

Now, as for the "apocryphal" books of the Old Testament that some Christian claim are not part of the Bible, I say this: Why does the ORIGINAL 1611 King James Bible INCLUDE those books??? The KJVs you see today actually came out in 1789 and left out the deutero-canonical books (the ones that non-Catholics and non-Orthodox) call apocryphal.