Ossuary with the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/james-bone-box.html Updated 2/25/07: Is the ossuary a fake? Link [wiki] - Thanks Shep)
James Cameron (yes, that guy who directed Titanic) and Simcha Jacobovici [official website | wiki], an award winning documentary director, sure are stirring up a controversy: they're making a documentary about the (supposedly) real tomb of Jesus.
From Time Magazine:
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.
Not that this whole controversy is new: there are many supposed tombs of Jesus, besides the Church of the Holy Sepulchre [wiki] on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried according to most scholars, the Garden Tomb outside of Jerusalem, Roza Bal shrine in Kashmir, and Shingo, Aomori [wiki] in Japan where Jesus supposedly fled after the crucifixion.
http://www.holyfire.org/eng/
I was seeing the moovie recently. I am surprised that the investigators clearly mentionned at the beginning of the moovie that the archeologist found the stone boxes with the bones inside. Also some skulls are standing arround in the corners of the cave. An archeologist has seen all these skeletons and apparently made an inventory of each of it. Here is an unanswered question... Who was that archeologist.. where is that report about the skeletons, and probably where are the drawings or photographs. I would expect that it would have been a routine job at least to analyze the remains in order to find out the age of the person??? Than the comment is done that because of the religious tradition of the jews a reburial was done. Now another question is obvious: I guess that such a reburial is not just done anywhere without inventory... so why is that entire moovie going arround the main trace? I was expecting that a team of investigators ready to scretch the bottom of the stone boxes in order to recover a couple bone chips for DNA analyze (which is a good way to trace all kind of info, for sure)... why such a team of "scientists" is not able to check at least the age of that individual by getting hold of the reburial place.. or to start with of the archeologist file describing the content of the stone box. That is why I felt strange about that theory.. all was tried out to malke the story look probable.. and than the most obvious control wasnt done...
.........
Also the reburried bones can be now 100% identified, since the DNA must be identical to the DNA already taken out of the stone box with the Jesus Name written on it.
.........
It would be of cause very interesting to check these bones in order to see if they could have been of a man aged like the Christian Jesus. Than it would be even better to discover the damages done to the bones on legs and hands, ribbs.. whatever.
....
But here we expect too much.... Since probably the people who made all this reportage.. already saw the archeologist file.. which they hide in the moovie... that probably.. the bones found in that box.. did not fit the profile of the Christian Jesus... who knows.. maybe they found a guy 60 years old without his teeth.. than the entire story is ridiculous...
......
Any Comments welcome!
I'll give you this, 600:1 is an impressive number in favor of the proponants of this discovery. However, that number doesn't even compare to the number displayed below. This is an excerpt from an article written by Dr. Hugh Ross.
"Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10 to the 2000th power (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)!"
Hey Rick,
When was the last time an Atheist came down your driveway with a bunch of literature, rang your doorbell, and asked to sit in your living room so they may introduce you to the kingdom of Atheism for 2 hours?
I thought not.
That being said, it's not exactly like Atheists have a loud voice anywhere in the world. I don't see where you feel threatened by Atheists. Are they assaulting you everyday on television with mind-numbing rhetoric laced with hate for anyone with alternative lifestyles or conflicting beliefs?
I thought not.
Don't refer or defer an argument onto those who did not create it. You can blame James Cameron if you'd like but you should actually look into whether or not he is an Atheist before you assume so. By the way, James Cameron is a Protestant;)
You also asked if Atheists "ever stop to think about the vastness of this universe?". Uh, yes. Generally they are called scientists and astronomers, though I don't mean to generalize. It was these same people that were persecuted and burned at the stake for daring to question the Church and its belief in geocentrism. I don't know of any clergyman who ever built a massive space telescope that could examine the depths of our universe. Atheists look for answers beyond the oversimplified explanations that the church could or can devise. It's just knowledge. Get over it.
Yes, the names in the tomb were common to that period. I wonder how many Jesus son of Josephs there were. The answer is two according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Also, the odds of A Jesus Son of Joseph, MAry, Mary, and a son of Jesus… 600:1 in favor of the proponants of this discovery.
By the way again, The Davinci Code was a rip off of "Holy Blood , Holy Grail" only DaVinci plays no part in it. If you have an ounce of ability for critical thought you might want to have a read.
Good luck kid.
2. Then, mixing Jesus with God would be wrong. Irrespective of whether Jesus was a great moral teacher, or the son of God as Church is advocating, the almighty God will always be there, and was there always.
3. I have found some very interesting articles and other links, can be found here > http://www.vedicearth.com/veda-christian.php for those who are interested.