Is anyone surprised by this news? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Several prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth, a new study on the fallout from the popular documentary shows.
The dramatic clarifications, compiled by epigrapher Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem in a paper titled “Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support,” come two months after the screening of The Lost Tomb of Christ that attracted widespread public interest, despite the concomitant scholarly ridicule.
Look, I’m not a scholar, and I was ridiculing the find. Let’s not just credit scholars for jeering. We all thought it was shinola, too.
James Cameron really needs to get a life or something. Or find a new Aliens, ’cause his work has mostly sucked since then. No, wait. Dark Angel actually got better after the first season. I liked it towards the end.
According to the New Testament, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, and an ossuary containing Jesus’s bones – the explanations of the movie director notwithstanding – would contradict the core Christian belief that he was resurrected and then ascended to heaven.
If and when the real location of the tomb is ever found and confirmed, and if and when Jesus’ bones are found therein, there is going to be no small hubbub among competing religious denominations and leaders.
Obviousy devout Christians were offended by this. But you didn’t have to be Christian to figure out it was an eye-rolling, publicity-seeking crock.
I’m a little confused Meryl. As a Jew, I would think you’d be supportive of claims that suggest Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. Do you object purely on logical grounds about faults in their reasoning? If so, I applaud you.
John: As a Jew, I don’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, or the rest of the story, no. But that wasn’t why I laughed at the “Tomb of Jesus” story.
I pretty much figured it was a load of bull in the first place. It seemed pretty obvious that it was done as a publicity stunt, making data fit the thesis they had already declared to be proven, so to speak.
I saw Simcha Jacobovici’s film that purports to prove the Ten Plagues were the result of a volcanic explosion. It was a fascinating film, and made a lot of sense to some degree—but it completely disavowed the religious aspect of the plagues. And since I believe in God, I thought that the film was interesting, but missed the point. (Jacobovici is the man Cameron most relied on for the Jesus family tomb facts.)
And lastly, I just REALLY like being able to write “Mr. and Mrs. Jesus.” You just don’t get a chance to do that very often.
I saw Jacobovici’s film on the History Channel. Personally, I find that it strengthens my religious convictions.
Judaism has long taught that God generally does not violate the laws of nature to perform miracles, instead, He uses them.
So when I see strong evidence that shows, not only that the plagues could have occurred naturally, but also shows evidence that they did happen as his theory predicts, it strengthens the Bible story.
The miracle isn’t that the plagues happened. The miracle is that they happened at the precise time and place where they were most needed.