Fake or genuine: Men accused of forging an inscription of the 'Jesus Box' could be released Posted on 10/29/2008 7:42:25 PM PDT by BGHater
A judge is set to throw out charges against experts accused of faking a stone box that claimed to offer the first physical proof of the existence of Christ - raising the possibility once again that it could be genuine.
The discovery of the 2,000-year-old ossuary, or bone box, bearing the words, 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus', was regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries when it emerged nearly a decade ago.
Fake or genuine: Men accused of forging an inscription of the 'Jesus Box' could be released
The disputed inscription on the 'Jesus Box'
But other experts decided the inscription on the 'priceless' limestone artefact had been added at a later date.
It was dismissed as a fake and Israeli authorities began criminal investigations.
But yesterday a three-year forgery trial in Israel was close to collapse, reopening the possibility it might indeed be the only tangible evidence for the life of Jesus.
Jerusalem judge Aharon Farkash told prosecutors trying Israeli collector Oded Golan: 'Have you really proved beyond a reasonable doubt that these artefacts are fakes as charged in the indictment?
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Ping.
James in the news again. I had thought it was a fake, who knows.
I suspect the box labeled Billy Bob is fake.
Old news...already proven to be fake some time ago.
1.6 Billion to be precise.
I wish I could know the details of the trial
some time ago....??? I remember the original controversy, but this is a new development....is it not?
Bitter clingers all. :P
I wonder what BC and AD means.
There is alot of animosity to allowing anything to prove Jesus. And alot of fakes to be sure - but this one is still up in the air, from all that I have read.
The controversy has been re-ignited because a new translation shows the inscription actually says “James, son of Joseph, brother of Barack.”
From Nat. Geo. News 2003:
“In April the Israel Antiquities Authority formed two committees to examine the evidence. One was assigned the task of examining “the scientific aspects in the writing and style [to be able to] confirm the authenticity of the writing;” the other was tasked with verifying the “originality of the patina” on the stone’s engraving and the stone material itself.
The committees released their unanimous findings Wednesday: the box itself may be correctly dated, but the inscription was added at a later date.”
An old stone box has some value but add an inscription and you’ve got a gold mine!
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Thanks BGHater! There was in fact NO evidence for fakery, but the accusation was immediate, and came from scientists in name only, wannabees, and cheerleaders. Israel's antiquities authorities put together a team to railroad the artifact into obscurity, but not everyone involved cooperated, and the railroad didn't actually get built. |
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HOLD ON! Wasn't Billy Bob the 14th disciple?
Well, the Romans obviously believed something had gone on.
And they were much closer in time and space to the actual events, and were fairly competent record keepers, irregardless if we have copies of those records.
And none of us know what’s buried in the Vatican archives. They have way, way more than we will ever see.
That’s *almost* not funny.
(But I laughed anyway.)
Trust me, it’s based on a lie and will NOT prove to be genuine.
This takes nothing away from the FACT that Jesus Christ is real.
This is from last winter. Looks like nothing has changed since then.
“The case against Golan is different. He is charged with actually forging something—the famous ossuary, or bone box, inscribed, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” The government claims it found in his apartment forgery instruments and materials to make forgeries, as well as some partially completed forgeries. On the other hand, some very prominent paleographers, including André Lemaire and the highly regarded Israeli paleographer Ada Yardeni, are convinced that the James ossuary is authentic. No expert paleographer has testified otherwise. Normally, the testimony of Lemaire and Yardeni would come as part of the defendants’ case. But, for some strange reason, the government called them as its witnesses. Their testimony that the inscription is authentic would in itself seem sufficient to raise a “reasonable doubt” concerning the government’s allegation that the inscription is a forgery, thus requiring dismissal of the charge.” http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/antiquities-trial-01.asp
I’ve been following this in Biblical Archaeology Review.
The Israeli courts have handled this worse than the US courts have handled Obama’s identity.
Let me ask, with whom did Joseph have this supposed brother of Jesus? Therein we find the base for this false information.
The Israel Antiquities Authority doesn’t have the final say about whether this box and inscription are real or not. Also, Biblical Archeaology Review’s experts claimed the IAA did a sloppy job examining the box. The IAA looks like a horse’s ass in all this.
That’s the problem with private interpretation. Everyone does it from their own cultural perspective. But I would have thought most Christians would have caught this one right away. It looks like this is a Christians’ ossuary. If that’s true than the most likely meaning of “brother of Jesus” is what we would call a disciple of Jesus. The early Christians called themselves “brothers”.
The term *brother* was also used to refer to cousins in that culture.
That's one of the reasons I let my BAR subscription lapse a couple of years ago. I got tired of Hershel Shanks defending what I assumed to be a fake. I recently resubscribed but maybe I need to re-examine my original assumption. We'll probably never know for sure if this is authentic. Of course, even if it is 2,000 years old it doesn't mean it refers to THE Jesus, THE James and THE Joseph.
Ahh, so you're one of them, eh? Joseph and Mary didn't have a normal, happy family life? They were deprived of each other?
I don't believe God would work that way.
YES, I am happily one of those Christians. ;-)
And I FULLY believe they had a VERY happy and spiritually committed life.
;-)
“I don’t believe God would work that way.”
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
An inscription on an ossuary would be intended to identify the person according to his family, usually by his mother and father. For a Ya'akov ben Yoseph to also be identified as "brother of Yeshua," would indicate that the "Yeshua" in question was a) pretty darn famous, and b) that Ya'akov was a blood-relation to him.
The Bible has always said that Yeshua (Jesus) had brothers: Ya'akov, Yhudah, Shim'on, etc. If this ossuary is real, then its only confirming what the Scriptures have told us for 2000 years in that regard.
Shalom!
Christians knew it was a fake all this time.
Sex is a wonderful gift from God, meant to be enjoyed between a husband and wife. Since there is no mention whatsoever of them being deprived of anything typical couples get, the reader must assume they had the same benefits.
Sorry, but I FIRMLY believe that Mary was forever a VIRGIN.
Nothing could sway that belief. God bless you.
True but this is an ossuary and the inscriptions on them are done to fulfill the covenant handed down from father to son. (I’m going on memory here. I took a class in Biblical Archaeology before this ossuary find.) Generally the inscriptions are in two hands. First is script done by the son, naming his father and over that is sometimes the hand of an artisan who may pretty up the inscription. The fact that this inscription includes “brother of Jesus” is very unusual.
From one Christian to another, God bless you!
The written words on an ossuary are considered the only tangible evidence for the life of Jesus? What about the New Testament? Besides being the inspired Word of God to us Christians, is it not a history of the life and deeds of Jesus written by numerous eye witnesses? What am I missing?
You quite obviously aren’t familiar with the writings and teachings of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli, amongst others, on the subject or the Oral Law of Kiddushin for that matter.
There’s no Biblical proof that the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph had a conjugal relationship.
“That’s stretching things”
Perhaps but as you point out the ossuarys ID relatives
therefore they don’t have things like sect identification (Nazarene) on them them.
I don’t find it hard to believe a man who witnessed this would call himself “Brother of Jesus”.
“stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” Matthew 49
should be>
“That’s stretching things”
Perhaps but as you point out the ossuarys ID relatives therefore they don’t have things like sect identification (Nazarene) on them.
I don’t find it hard to believe a man who witnessed this would call himself “Brother of Jesus”.
“And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” Matthew 49
Jacob (James) understood Jewish rhetoric and hyperbole better than most who read the Scriptures today. Anyway, where are all of the other ossuaries claiming to be the “brothers” of Yeshua?
I’ve just scoured my bible, and can find no proof that Joseph wiped after doing his business. Guess we can’t assume anything
but it adds a little to the Controversy that Jesus had a Brother named James.
When did the practice of identifying the deceased as Christian begin? At some early point it became standard practice. This ossuary might be an early example of an unusual practice for the time. Jewish ossuary burial was a short lived phenomenon. There really aren’t that many of them.
Bill Clinton.
Arthur (Conan) Doyle.
Again, you’re really stretching to avoid the obvious.
You could hardly expect a fair trial in Israel as to whether the box inscription is real or not. They would have to acknowledge that Jesus was real, something no Jew is about to do unless they are Christian Jews.
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