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 fou ndation 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: <http://israelitybites.blogspot.com/>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.

 

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/

 

 

Comment
From Horst

2-25-7

In my opinion it is totally unimportant whether Jesus was GOD's son or just a human being. GOD sent him anyway. He was a great teacher and a giganic step forward in the development of humanity. Truly spiritual Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and (non talmudic) Jews are talking to the same GOD! After all we are here to struggle in order to become better human beings. greetings

 

Horst

Comment
Alton Raines
2-25-7

 

For those inclined to actually learn something other than absolute nonsense, as in the case of this and the other similar articles debunking the resurrection, I encourage you to read the following by Dr. Gene Scott of the University Cathedral, who doubted the resurrection and through reason discovered the undeniable truth of it. http://www.resurrectionism.com/

 

 

Comment
From RKG
2-26-7

 

Concerning the article entitled, "Jesus: Tales From The Crypt":

 

My reaction is, "So what?" Attacking Christians and Christianity is very fashionable these days. If you attack any other group, such as Gays, Feminists, Jews, Muslims, people of color, etc., you're labeled "politically incorrect," "intolerant," "narrow minded" or "bigoted." But if you attack Christianity, no problem! Go for it!!

 

I'm not talking about an open dialogue based on verifiable facts, but rather, an assault based on uninformed prejudice, with little or no real evidence to back it up.

 

Why would it take 20 years for archaeologists to deciper the names on the tombs? A person familiar with ancient Aramaic would have been able to read them instantly!

 

What sort of DNA evidence do Cameron and Jacobovici have? How do they know that the DNA of the person called Jesua is the same DNA as the Jesus of the Gospels? Did they acquire a sample of Jesus' DNA from a time traveler, perhaps?

 

This nonsense is an attack against Christianity, thinly disguised as science, for the purpose of entertaining and deceiving a gullible public. - RKG

 

 

Comment
From Ravenwolf

2-26-7

 

As a believer in Christ I am surprised by the apprehension and the concern over the body of Jesus being possibly found and proposed marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalena, or even having a child, what difference does it make anyway? here is my take on this:

 

1- Jesus did live! proven.

2- He died and covered the sins of the world with his blood

3- His Soul resurrected from the grave of the flesh just as ours will and just as he said would happen.

4- There is no evidence anywhere in any scripture I can find that it was necessary for his physical body to resurrect and Jesus did not teach that either.

5- His own apostles didn't even recognize his resurrection body neither did his possible wife at the tomb since she was the first one to encounter him and I doubt anyone recognized him.

6- If his physical resurrection was important then I am certain someone would have recognized his new suit right? or wrong/ but they did not.

7- so where did the physical body go? WHO CARES! its irrelevant to a degree, his Soul went to God and it was this temple (spiritual) that raised from the dead in three days, his physical body was relatively unimportant in the entire process as far as I am concerned.

8- One must look at Moses when he died, God buried him so man wouldn't worship the body which is what most believers want to do so is it possible God hid Jesus' physical body himself knowing man would worship his body and never see the spiritual process of salvation?

9-We have the case of the missing body and nothing more, this was a problem the Catholic church had right from the get-go in the fourth century, was it possibly necessary for the church to invent the physical resurrection idea since this had the entire idea of false worship negated if the body mysteriously disappeared, no matter where it went, with God or in a secret grave somewhere.

10-with this scenereo it wasnt Jesus who deceived anyone on this account because I dont think he was speaking about his physical body but the fault rest with the church interpretation of the resurrection right from the beginning.

 

Just a few thoughts on the subject have a nice day!! Any comment?

 

Ravenwolf

 

 

Comment
From Michael

2-26-7

 

Hello,

 

I fail to see why Christians find it so threatening and conspiratorial every time someone takes a non-religious academic look at their titular prophet and beliefs. Also, in response to Mr. Raines' comment - it is clear that his view of such material is viewed through the prism of belief. However, the fact that it does not agree with his belief system is hardly reason to brand it nonsense outright, especially when article he gives as an alternative is clearly biased toward the believer's perspective.

 

respectfully,
Michael

 

Reply to Larry From Alton Raines
2-27-7

Larry

 

The physical resurrection of Jesus' actual body is of UTMOST importance.

 

1. He displayed to Thomas the nail prints in his hands and put Thomas' hand inside the wound in his side to show him it was truly his flesh body resurrected, and not another. He even said he was "flesh and bone" ("Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke 24:39)

 

2. There are only two times he was not recognized post-resurrection, and both times there was a reason why. The first was Mary at the tomb, her eyes were filled with tears and she was greatly aggitated at the missing body. It is also very likely that he was standing there partially naked, as she thought he was the gardener and in those days such workers would merely gird their loins with a cloth (if even that) rather than dirty their garments, as only the wealthy had two sets of clothing, and laborers could rarely afford clothing they could allow to suffer such grime and washing continually. The other occasion was on the road at night, when two of his followers were talking and he walked alongside them and talked with them about the event of the crucifixion, etc. He then ate with them and then they're eyes were opened to realize it was him and he vanished. Which leads to...(3)eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

3. There is evidently something about the appearance of the resurrected form which is qualifiably different (glorified) and yet fundamentally the same (the scars). OR... in the glorified state, Christ was able to hide his actual identity or appearance which he apparently could do even prior to his death and resurrection. There were three occasions in his life when he was "transfigured" in such a fashion that people who were after him lost him in a crowd or he was able to evade them at close range and not be thrown from a cliff or stoned to death. Not to mention THE transfiguration itself, on the mount.

 

4. The physical body of Jesus was prophesied to be protected from decay and then to rise on the third day: "My Holy One shall not see decay," it was written. And also, the importance of the fact that unlike the criminals with whom he was crucified, his legs were not broken, also fulfilling a prophecy that no bone in his body would be broken.

 

5. Jesus could not have married and had children because his seed would have been divine. His flesh body was not of Adam's tainted seed, but was created by God supernaturally ("A body thou hast prepared for Me," Hebrews 10:5), conceived by the Holy Spirit. Just as when fallen angels left their proper abode and state and mated with human women (Gen 6) producing the awesome giants of that time (Satan's attempt to impersonate the plan of God for an incarnation and wreck the salvation process), who knows what the seed of the very Son of God might produce? At the very least, the beginning of a lineage of people free from Adamic sin. And this he did, but instead of limiting it to mere flesh, and one family line, he delivered himself up for all, and was slain once for all, and the eternal life free from the penalty of the law of sin and death was given to all mankind by grace, through faith, in Him.

 

Comment

Laurence Gardner
2-27-7

 

In December 2004, four Israelis and a Palestinian (led by antiques dealer Oded Golan of Tel-Aviv) were indicted by the Israel State authorities on charges of having run a lucrative forgery ring for several decades. The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israeli police claimed that the defendants had created a series of biblically-related fakes, some of which had been bought for very high prices and placed in the prestigious Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

 

Since then, numerous well-known items have now been officially declared as fakes, and among those under current investigation (since it originated with Oded Golan and features in the ongoing court case) is the James ossuary. It is fully expected that the Jesus tomb ossuaries (which have absolutely no archaeological provenance) will also fall into the same Golan team category.

 

It is astonishing to see so many press entries which relate to 'bones' and/or 'disintegrated bones' in the ossuaries. There are no bones. There never were any bones. It is a felony under Israel State law to own or keep ossuaries containing bones or bone residue (even for museums). Any ossuary unearthed containing bone remnants must be thoroughly emptied and brushed out, with the items and residue re-buried in precisely the same location as the discovery. Only after that, and a sanctification of the site, can the ossuary be removed. We saw on TV back in 1996 that all of these ossuaries were completely empty and inwardly cleaned. So, if there are any bone remnants there now, then someone has put them there for the sake of the documentary and the supposed DNA testing by Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron.

 

Comment
Professor Fida Hassnain

3-5-7

 

Israel-born Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron have prepared a film, claiming that they have found the Tomb of Jesus Christ and his family, at Talpiot in a suburb of Jerusalem . The basis of their tall claim is deciphering and reading of the wedge-shaped cuneiform marks scratched on the ossuaries made of lime mortar. Both of them are not experts in the science of reading ancient Semitic scripts, like Aramaic, Kharooshti, Syriac, Siniatic or Arabic. The net result has been that they have jumped to pool their intentional conclusions.

 

I, the author of a Search for the Historical Jesus (www.amazon. com.) and the Fifth Gospel (www.bluedolphinpub lishing.com) would like to draw the attention of the archaeologists, historians and the Bible scholars to the following:

 

1. In March 1980, during construction of a building the archaeologist found 10 ossuaries and 3 skulls. The skulls and the bones were buried quickly by the Jewish authorities. As such, all the 10 limestone empty boxes remained in charge of the Israeli authorities, up till now.

 

2. In 1996, BBC produced a film on these ossuaries, but it could not incite any reaction, from the academic field. Now in March 2007 the $ 4 million film (Jesus Family Tomb) was shown on Discovery Channel.

 

3. The above would reveal that for the last 27 years none from the academic world made any claim to have deciphered the name of Jesus Christ, on any ossuary.

 

4. The ossuary said to belong to Jesus Christ is made of lime mortar, and given shape into small rectangular box, with imprinted design and pattern on the top lid only, as detailed below:

 

i) An engraved fringe at the sides

 

ii) 2 circles bifurcated by a fringe, each containing 6 triangles in the shape of a flower.

 

iii) 2 circles divided by 3 strips of s fringe decorated by 3 small circle each.

 

5. There is no inscription engraved on the 6 sides of this lime plastered box. It only carry scratches to look like a inscription, which has been done some time after the manufacture of lime box, by the use of some sharp-edged iron tool.

 

6. Out of the 10 ossuaries, 6 carry cuneiform scratching or marks. These cuneiform scratches can be assumed to read as incibed alphabets from Kharoshti, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic.

 

7. The claim made by the film makers that the words on one ossuary can be read as in Aramaic Yeshn bin Yossef is totally rejected due to the following reasons:

 

a) Bin is used by the Arabs, depicting parentage. As such the relatives of Yeshu or Jesus knew only Aramaic and not Arabic.

 

b) It is possible that some a curio dealer has got etched these words on the lime plaster, for the sake of money.

 

c) Jesus was never known as Yeshu, nor his father was never known as Yossef during their life time.

 

d) The so called inscription Yeshu son of Yossef shows that the alphabets have been altered on the right side, for it shows deeper inside incised cuts. In fact the last 3 alphabets have been changed in a crude way by first marking it with ink, then water and then erased with a sharp edged tool. Thus, it is a mutilated inscription.

 

e) On the left, the deep horizontal asterisk mark and the two dots down side have also been made by the use of water and a steel spoke.

 

8. Jesus belonged to a poor family of Nazareth and it was not possible for his descendants to build a family Tomb in Jerusalem , far away from the town of his birth.

 

9. Roman Paganism prevailed in Roman Empire ( Palestine included in it ) till 312 AD. Jesus at the time of his meeting with Paul, in 36 AD. 6 years after his crucifixion, tells him that the Romans are persecuting him (Acts 9:3-4). How could the Roman allow Jesus to be buried in a tomb in Jerusalem , when they were searching him in later years.

 

10. The Jewish brain has exploited archaeology for political ends to overthrow the Muslim presence from the Temple site in Jerusalem . It is yet to be proved that the etchings made on the lime ossuaries are as old as the ossuaries itself. The film maker is a Jew. The question arises as to why have they waited for 30 years to prove that it is Jesus Christ's family tomb. There is some political agenda behind this wild claim.

 

11. when the Tomb is supposed to belongs to one family, then why the inscriptions have been made to appear in Latin in case of Maria, in Greek in case Mary, and in Aramaic in case of Jesus who lived in the same period i.e., first century AD.

 

12. My study tells me that the genuine parts of etchings and scratching pertain to pre-Christ period, sometime between 330-559 B.C. It will take sometime for me to decipher and read these names.

 

Professor Fida Hassnain
(Submitted by Suzanne Olsson)