Scholars Criticize New Jesus Documentary

[underpants]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2904732

JERUSALEM Feb 26, 2007 (AP)— Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.

"The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries small caskets used to store bones discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

"But they're not necessarily the implications people think they are. For example, some believers are going to say, well this challenges the resurrection. I don't know why, if Jesus rose from one tomb, he couldn't have risen from the other tomb," Jacobovici told "Today."

[grytpype]

1. Cancel Easter, they found the body!

[arcos]

2. LOL!! nt

[underpants]

3. Is there a witness?

LOL very funny.

[zanne]

33. I was there!

I never said anything before, because I don't want people to think I'm old.

[Bigmack]

26. I've been fighting the urge...

... to post the "Easter Cancelled" message since the story broke.

Naughty, naughty. Shame, shame. You bad!

Thanks for posting.

[Malikshah]

28. As long as you don't ...

Cancel Christmas!!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out

how many people would remain Christians if some of the dogma of the faith were under credible dispute? I had a crisis similar to this when I read "The Passover Plot" at age 13 and realized that there was a possibility that the crucifixion and resurrection didn't necessarily happen the way I'd been taught. I did serious soul-searching and decided that that didn't matter--the important thing was the message of Christ. Further exploration showed me that this same message has been repeated again and again throughout the ages, and led me to my current spiritual path.

[Redbear]

7. I totally agree.

So, how would you describe your current spiritual path?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. all paths lead to unity

you can find Truth in all of them--but the key is direct experience.

[VegasWolf]

16. That would then put you out of sync of all Christian religions. What exactly

was the message of Christ, bearing in mind that Christ never left any documents and his messages were the ideas (heavily excerpted of course) of a few gospel writers( note that King Constantine ignored the dozens of other gospel writers when he built and organized the Catholic Church vis a vis the Council of Nicea for his personal political gain ).

So then clearly if you believe in one main tenant of King Constantine's (Jesus') teachings that man should love and treat other men as one would treat himself, then clearly the concept of a Hell is absurd, ignoring evolution is absurd, and ignoring other people's right to engage in close personal relationships because they have different sexual orientations is absurd.

When I was 13. I decided it did matter. Different strokes.

:toast:

[TriMetFan]

19. Well said.

What people forget is what Jesus was teaching. Love, Compassion and Peace. And I as one that is a Church goer and teaches Sunday School, I would love that these were the bones of Christ. I think this would shut the "Christian" wacko's right up. I will be tuning in on March 4th.

[NashVegas]

5. Are There Any Sects That Disagree With the Ascension Dogma?

just curious

[displacedtexan]

6. Funny freeper reaction...

To: John Philoponus

if holocaust denial is ilegal why the hell isn't rssurection denial ilegal too????

15 posted on 02/23/2007 11:44:13 AM PST by kawaii (Orthodox Christianity -- Proclaiming the Truth Since 33 A.D.)

link

Psst. Bad freeper spelling should be illegal, imho.

[unpossibles]

8. seriesly! this is so screwn!

I don't suppose the amount of evidence is the same, but who cares? Someone's always trying to keep the white male Christian down.

[noonwitch]

15. It probably is illegal.....in Kansas, that is

Or it's one of those old laws that was never taken off the books in a place like Italy or something.

[VegasWolf]

22. Typical social conservative Republicans, they cannot spell words correctly or articulate

their thoughts in clear manner. Resurrection denial, now I have heard everything! I personally have sky people denial, perhaps that should be ilegal(sic) also?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. They're petitioning the court...

to have him reburied in the Bahamas.

[LiberalFighter]

35. Will the weepy judge try the case?

[Kagemusha]

10. Dumb question

In the history of ancient Israel, was there only one man to ever be named Jesus there?

[underpants]

12. Oprah, Mookie, Jesus

maybe it's a black thing :shrug:

[redqueen]

13. Yeah, that was my first thought as well.

Ah what the heck... it sells tickets, and gives people with nothing to worry about something to worry about. :P

[ewagner]

11. So let me get this straight

in ALL of antiquity, there was only , ever, ONE PERSON NAMED JESUS so the tomb marked, Judah, Son of Jesus must refer to the one and the only ever Jesus of Nazareth?....

Wait for the peer review of the work....

see how it squares out with what is known....

[mainer]

20. There are a other names there that make it more likely

Apparently, that particular ossuary says "Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary," plus there's an ossuary with the name Mary and another with the equivalent of Mary Magdalene. All those names, put together, make it far more likely -- statistically speaking.

[VegasWolf]

24. Isn't Jesus that old guy that was named after Christmas? nt

[fla nocount]

25. No, Jesus is the guy that cuts my lawn twice a month.

It must be him because his wife is named Maria and his son's name is Carlos which everyone know is Spanish for Judah...the film makers need to do their research.

He does a good job on the hedges as well, it's miraculous.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Claims about Jesus’ ‘lost tomb’ stir up tempest

Claims about Jesus’ ‘lost tomb’ stir up tempest
Experts blast suggestions that his bones were found in 1980
By Marshall Thompson

Updated: 10 minutes ago
JERUSALEM - Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.

"The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Cameron told NBC'S TODAY show that statisticians found "in the range of a couple of million to one in favor of it being them." Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the documentary, said the implications "are huge."
(snip/...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17345429/from/RSS/

[bleedingheart]

18. Were they found in Joseph of Arimathea 's tomb?

now that...could lend some credence to the story.

According to the gospels...Joseph took possession of the boy of Christ and he buried im in his tomb.

Even Arimathea's name written on the wall of the tomb would be a spectacular find.

[TexasLawyer]

21. War on Easter

More War on Easter by the Hollywood media elite! Lib-ruls-- keep your hands off Jesus.:sarcasm:

[VegasWolf]

23. Need to get BillO and that ugly dumb blond haired guy on this pronto!

[ewagner]

38. rofl............

Did O'lielly's production company FUND THIS EXPEDITION?

you know, so BillO could shore up his ratings?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[tanyev]

31. You know it's only a matter of time until the War on Quinquagesima Sunday.

[POAS]

27. Based on "statistics"?

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

[superconnected]

29. It would be nice if people would take a friggen theology class

Especially right wing Christians and the Christian bashing athiests.

They will tell you the shocking horrible truth that it's put in for metaphorical value and most isn't literal. You can then write off all kinds of things like Mary being a virgin, etc.

The Catholic church itself puts emphasis on that it is not literally true.

the very little known about Jesus is about 50-75 quotes that got passed down through decades before making a written book in the bible. Then it comes to Pauls book of Acts and Pauls letters. Christ is supposed to have died 5 years before Paul became an apostle - which it points out several times in the New testament and Paul says so himself.

The Christmas Story of Christs birth etc. are all known to be metaphorical.

I don't know whose worse - the uneducated Christians taking it literally or the uneducated athiests taking it literally. Both have the same thing in common - terrible uneducation about what they speak. Oh, and both tend to be very facist about bashing other's religions.

The book for the Easter story is also considered wholly insertion and metaphorical. Bible history scholars actually KNOW that didn't show up until 600 years after Christs death.

[mzmolly]

40. Good point.

:hi:

[superconnected]

30. I don't believe it.

I don't believe that's his tomb.

[sakabatou]

32. HE'S BACK!

But 'ees still dead. Awww, man.

[ngant17]

34. Jesus was probably an independent moral teacher

like hundreds of Essenes were in Judea at the time, he was just a simple man who angered the Jewish priests to the point that they had him put to death.

The earliest Christians, from around 96 A.D. up to the 2nd century A.D., conducted simplistic rituals, sang a hymn (probably in Jewish) and recited prayers. Their religion really became distorted after the 4th century, when pagan traditions like "Christmas" *i.e. Mithra, 25 Dec.), Easter (Ishtar) and paying honor to the Virgin Mary came around. It's gone downhill since then.

[LiberalFighter]

36. Jews don't speak Jewish. Their language would be Hebrew later Aramaic

[LiberalFighter]

37. There were many many variations of the Christian religion even back during the early years.

[mzmolly]

39. I don't think the important thing is what happened to Christ's mortal remains.

I believe the premise of Christianity is to follow the teachings of Christ, not to sweat the details of various legend?
I know that's not a popular opinion, however. ;)

That said, I don't trust James Cameron to be accurate after the way he slaughtered the story of the Titanic. Granted it wasn't a documentary, but he could have troubled himself to portray the events a bit more accurately. It was a compelling story without making villains of hero's and visa versa.

I find this portion of the story key: "It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave," Kloner said. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time."

I saw the original documentary and this was the ultimate conclusion of many.