'Jesus box' Exposed As Fake

CNN ^ | June 18, 2003

[Hal1950]

JERUSALEM -- A stone box touted as the oldest archaeological evidence of Jesus is, in fact, a well-crafted fake, Israeli archaeological experts say.

The box, an object known as an ossuary, was said to have contained the bones of Jesus' brother James. Carved on one side is an inscription in the ancient language of Aramaic bearing the legend: "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."

[Semper Paratus]

While most scholars agree that Jesus existed

Gee thanks for that big concession.

[eastsider]

[Salman]

While most scholars agree that Jesus existed...
Gee thanks for that big concession.

Interestingly, the scholars who disagree tend to be on the faculties of nominally Christian divinty schools such as Harvard and Yale.

[Grig]

Any chance of an examination by a group perhaps a bit more impartial?

[sasportas]

"'The ossuary is real. But the inscription is fake,' the director of Israel's Antiquities Authority, Shuka Dorfman, told Reuters."

The inscription may not be genuine, but I don't need it to certify the authenticity of Jesus the Messiah of Israel. Something like this only has great significance to the elitist liberal class.

Take note of who the officials are. They are Jews and liberal Christians. I am supposed to take the opinion of Jews and liberals? People who are forever attacking the authenticity of Jesus?

Of course, Jewish officials are going to claim the inscription is a fake, most of them despise Jesus. The entire early church were Jews who believed in Jesus as Israel's messiah, the rest of Judaism continues to this day in disbelief.

Until the opinion of others who are adept in this sort of thing, who do believe in the authenticity of Jesus, is thrown into the mix, the jury is still out.

[zeebob]

I was a christian all my life and born again since 1976; however, after years of study I had to conclude that the bible is neither inerrant nor infallible and we've all been sold a bill of goods. I no longer believe jesus ever existed. I am free!!!

[rwfromkansas]

Sorry, you were never born again if you disbelieve.

[billbears]

bump

[PFKEY]

What is truly scnadalous is that we Christians pay the salaries of these men throught various denominations support to their universities.

What is truly scandalous is that a denomination would support something as unscriptural as a university.

[esopman]

I was an atheist all my life, through undergraduate and graduate training...and then found Jesus, ha Mashiakh. Messiah and Lord. (More like he found me and had great mercy). Anyway, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1984. I am now 60 years old.

I know Jesus is/as Lord. I am free!!

However, I better pray for you.

[zeebob]

Who are you to say what I was? I just stepped out of the mind prison called organized religion.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

While most scholars agree that Jesus existed

I will never forget the day when one of my Classics Professors walked into the lecture hall full of smiles stating: "There's good news today, kiddies. Pontius Pilate indeed existed." He went on to say that apart from the Bible and Tacitus' Annales, until that moment, no other evidence had surfaced for the existence of Pontius Pilate.

[rwfromkansas]

It is impossible to fall away once you have the truth. Sorry, you were never saved.

[Courier]

Your bigotry is showing and it's interfering with your thinking.

It would be advantages to Israel for this to have been real.

Anything that reminds Christians that Jesus was a Jew and proof that Biblical figures were in actually living in Israel lands legitimacy to the Jewish claims against the Arabs.

I've never met a Jew who denied that Jesus existed.

[Aeronaut]

I was an atheist all my life, through undergraduate and graduate training...and then found Jesus, ha Mashiakh. Messiah and Lord. (More like he found me and had great mercy). Anyway, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1984. I am now 60 years old.

I was an atheist all my life, through undergraduate and graduate training...and then found Jesus, ha Mashiakh. Messiah and Lord. (More like he found me and had great mercy). Anyway, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1991. I am now 57 years old. (Or am I 12 years old?)

[Lurking Libertarian]

I've never met a Jew who denied that Jesus existed.

Nor have I, and I am a Jew who was educated in jewish religious schools.

Moreover, there's nothing on this inscription that supports any religious claims about Jesus. The box says "Jacob son of Joseph brother of Joshua," not "brother of the Lord," "brother of the man who rose from the dead," or anything like that. So there is no reason for the Israelis to be biased against the authenticity of the ossuary.

[SauronOfMordor]

In another article, the researcher says:

In her reports for Israel Insider, Altman, an expert on scripts and an historian of writing systems, wrote that the limestone burial box was "genuine," but the second half of the inscription, with its reference to Jesus, "bears the hallmarks of a fraudulent later addition, probably around the 3rd or 4th centuries, and is questionable to say the least."

which does not prove it's fake, as at a later point somebody familiar with the thing may have added the addendum in order to preserve the significance of the ossuary for future generations

[KCmark]

lands legitimacy to the Jewish claims against the Arabs.

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As a title for the land? Should the Natuive Americans get this land back? What if their religion gave them title to this land.