Lost tomb of Jesus?

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

By Marshall Thompson

Updated: 1 hour, 7 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."

"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.

Goes against conventional wisdom
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.

Cameron said his critics should withhold comment until they see his film.

"I'm not a theologist. I'm not an archaeologist. I'm a documentary filmmaker," he said.

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

"The historical, religious and archaeological evidence show that the place where Christ was buried is the Church of the Resurrection," said Attallah Hana, a Greek Orthodox clergyman in Jerusalem. The documentary, he said, "contradicts the religious principles and the historic and spiritual principles that we hold tightly to."

How possible is it?
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.

"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."

Bone-box controversy resurrected
Archaeologists also balk at the filmmaker's claim that the James Ossuary — the center of a famous antiquities fraud in Israel — might have originated from the same cave. In 2005, Israel charged five suspects with forgery in connection with the infamous bone box.

"I don't think the James Ossuary came from the same cave," said Dan Bahat, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University. "If it were found there, the man who made the forgery would have taken something better. He would have taken Jesus."

None of the experts interviewed by The Associated Press had seen the whole documentary. Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, declined to comment before the documentary was aired.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I think that this is the Medieval relic fraud repackaged for modern consumption. Some documentary film maker ran accross a few ossuaries with some of the most common names of Jesus' day on it. Big deal. That's about as sellable as pig phylanges dubbed "fingers bones from Virgin Mary".

Cameron's evidence better be pretty strong. Color me skeptical.

They had this topic on Digg a day or so ago. I think the concept of Christ body that
rose and not his spirit is largely a Catholic/Roman concept. So even if the bones were those of Jesus it would not change a lot of mainstream Protestant churches beliefs.

My understanding is that the evidence is not very strong. They found like 10 bone boxes with names like Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary, Joseph, and Judas son of Jesus (I'm open minded enough to Jesus Christ having a kid). But those are extremely common names. They also weren't found anywhere close to where Jesus Christ and his family and friends lived. Also, the writing on the bone boxes is in some very old script, so they aren't even 100% sure they are reading it right (that's what I have gotten out of reading several articles on this).

I sort of view this as someone 2,000 + years from now stumbling accross a tombstone where the only discernable characters probably say "Bob". Is this the tomb of Bob Dylan? Bob Marley? Bob Eubanks? Bob Cat Goldthwaite? Bob the Builder? Bob Barker? Billy Bob Thornton? (see where this is going?).

I've thought about proposing an alternate hypothesis that Jesus is currently among us and working as a fry cook at the McDonald's down the street from me. But every time I give it any serious thought, the Virgin Mary appears in the hard water stain on my toilet and tells me not to.

Funny stuff, janicka.

I've seen their documentary entitled "The Exodus Decoded", which I thought was mostly great. But I'm not so sure about this one, although of course I haven't watched it yet. To me it already somehow seems like less of a documentary... not that their findings aren't interesting. Here's the trailer: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7378323140

This is the second time this stunt has been pulled. They unearthed an ossuary a coupla years ago that I seem to remember was supposed to be Jesus' brother. The result was that the blokes who paraded it around were found guilty of fraud by Israeli authorities. That time the inscription turned out to be recent, and fraudulent. DUH, they forgot there's a ton of experts who can translate ancient Aramaic.

Bill Cameron has a major motion picture in the works, Avatar, and someone close to him should tug on his shoulder and remind him to not get Christians angry enough to boycott. Otherwise he'll be quite sorry he chose to treat millions of believers in such a cavalier fashion.

At least Heraldo Rivera not involved

There is apparently already enough opposition to their conclusions by even non-Christians that I believe the filmmakers are wrong this time (it seems they are possibly right about the Exodus). However, if it's ever proven that they are correct, I'd be tempted to quote Nyan (one of my favorite fictional TV characters): "If I find evidence that my theories are wrong, it's as exciting as if they were correct. Scientific advance in either direction is still an advance."

My experience is that Christians wouldn't boycott this movie or at least not get very angry at archeological stuff. Sounds like a weak thesis, especially as the director is telling people not to comment on it. Even the experts that have seen the dig site and evidence can't comment!
TheMachine1-I was raised Evangelist and every church I went to believed in the the literal resurrection of Jesus, that means even his body left.

i'm raised baptist and ditto on the literal resurrection

Oh, come on now. Everybody knows Jesus lives in a small town in Colorado, where he hosts a public-access cable tv phone-in talk show.

Thanks! Now I have that Depeche Mode song in my head!
Your own . . . Personal. . . Jee-zus

if this was really the tomb of jesus why didnt this all come out when it was discoverd in 1980 or whenever it was? something tells me someone just wants money

Isn't Cameron notorious for being obssessed with whatever movie he's working on?? Wot's he doing with this nonsense, while Avatar is in production? Supposedly the movie is very effects laden, using the motion capture designed for Gollum. How does he spare the time ???