Posted on 02/26/2007 8:41:03 AM PST by Clive
Oscar-winning director James Cameron defended on Monday his controversial new documentary, which claims that Jesus may have been buried with a wife and son, against charges the film was trying to undermine Christianity.
Instead, the documentary that claims the discovery of the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family celebrates their existence, Cameron said at a press conference announcing the documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus."
The message that Jesus delivered 2,000 years ago resounds even today, Cameron said.
"My feeling is that his message of compassion, humility, love and forgiveness is every bit as much needed now in this divisive, materialistic and war-torn world."
But church representatives and archeologists are rejecting the claims of a Canadian documentary filmmaker who says he has found the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family, a claim that would have profound implications for the Christian faith.
"I think this is more fanciful and absurd theorizing. Every Christian knows that Jesus, the son of God and man, died and rose again on Easter Sunday," said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Catholic Church in New York, where the news conference on the discovery will be held on Monday.
"No alleged DNA test or Hollywood film is going to change that," he told the New York Post.
Cameron and Emmy-award winning Toronto filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici
say that the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family has been found, a claim that would have profound implications for the Christian faith.
"This has been a three-year journey that seems more incredible than fiction," the Jacobovici said earlier. "The idea of possibly finding the tomb of Jesus and several members of his family, with compelling scientific evidence, is beyond anything I could have imagined."
The film suggests that ossuaries once containing the bones of Jesus and his family are now stored in a warehouse belonging to the Israel Antiquities Authority in Bet Shemesh, outside Jerusalem.
The tomb where the remains were found was unearthed in the Talpiot neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the construction of an apartment building in 1980.
During the excavation, archeologists found 10 ossuaries and three skulls. Six of the ossuaries had names inscribed into them: Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamne, Joseph and Matthew.
At the time, the finding raised few alarms, as these had been common names at the time of Jesus.
Years later, a BBC crew that stumbled across the collection in a store room belonging to the Israeli Antiquities Authorities began work program that focused on the tomb.
Jacobovici's documentary uses scientific methods, including DNA testing, statistical analysis and forensic examination, not available to the BBC 11 years ago.
If the claims are correct, and the tombs belonged to the holiest family in Christendom, the discovery could shake the foundations of the Christian faith with the speculation that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene.
DNA tests conducted for the documentary at Lakehead University on two ossuaries -- one inscribed Jesus son of Joseph and the other Mariamne, or Mary -- confirm that the two were not related by blood, so they were likely married.
"Perhaps Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married as the DNA results from the Talpiot ossuaries suggest and perhaps their union was kept secret to protect a potential dynasty - a secret hidden through the ages," narrator Ron White says in the documentary.
"A secret we just may be able to uncover in the holy family tomb."
Traditional Christian beliefs maintain that Jesus was physically resurrected to heaven while more liberal interpretations have permitted for a spiritual ascension.
The claims follow years of growing interest in the private life of Jesus, fuelled by the 2003 Dan Brown novel "The Da Vinci Code," which was made into a movie last year.
In Brown's novel, which was denounced by church figures around the world, Jesus is said to have married Mary Magdalene and sired a daughter.
Jacobovici has said the findings should not threaten anyone's belief in the resurrection, as he does not argue that Jesus did not ascend to heaven at least spiritually.
But critics are already speaking out against the documentary's claims.
"It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever," Amos Kloner, professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Kloner researched the tomb for the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996.
"The names . . . found on the tombs are names that are similar to the names of the family of Jesus. But those were the most common names found among Jews in the first centuries BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era)."
In The Lost Tomb, however, University of Toronto statistician Andre Feuerverger calculates that the chances of the names being found together are 600 to one.
He says that the Maria on one of the ossuaries is the mother of the Jesus found on another box, that Mariamne is his wife and that Joseph -- inscribed as the nickname Jose -- is his brother.
Jesus' mother was known after his death as Maria, the Latin form of Mary, as more Romans became followers. Mariamne is the Greek form of Mary. Mary Magdalene is believed to have spoken and preached in Greek. Jose was the nickname used for Jesus' little brother.
Furthermore, the tomb is the only site where ossuaries have been found with the names Mariamne and Jose, the documentary's creators claim.
Another famous ossuary, inscribed James son of Joseph brother of Jesus, is also featured in the documentary.
Of the 10 ossuaries found at Talpiot, one later went missing. Many experts have speculated the coffin is that of James, which was put on public display at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Furthermore, forensic testing of the patina on the Jesus ossuary and that of James concluded they came from the same tomb.
Feuerverger says that if James is added to the equation, there is a 30,000 to one chance that the Talpiot Tomb belonged to Jesus' family.
Another calculation, commissioned by James Tabor, chair of the department of religion studies at the University of North Carolina, puts the odds at one in 42 million.
Another researcher, whose work has focused on the Middle East, biblical anthropologist Joe Zias, has rejected the claims as "dishonest."
"It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Jerusalem, and if the family was wealthy enough to afford a tomb, which they probably weren't, it would have been in Nazareth, not here in Jerusalem," Zias told CBS.
The $4-million documentary will air on Canada's Vision TV on March 6 and two days earlier on Discovery U.S.
The companion book, "The Jesus Family Tomb" (HarperCollins) by Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, has just been released.
If Cameron is right, the only message that Jesus gave was that he was a fraud and a delusional liar.
Back in 2004 - a story about an ossuary possibly belonging to the "brother of Jesus." No connection to this "family plot" that I can discern ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/17/60minutes/main661815.shtml
Seems totally likely that there are 1,000s of artifacts associated with one non-biblical Jesus or another.
Heh. They just made that up.
CitUSA resp: It's the new Hollyweird cafeteria Christianity. They pick and choose what they want but discard anything uncomfortable about the Son of God. Christ did indeed teach about forgiveness. But He also mentioned something called sin and repentance.
We didn't need Jesus to get a message of compassion, humilty, love and forgiveness. We already had that message, Jesus in his moral teaching was reiterating what had come before.
The message of Christ is the cross. He paid for our sin. Without that, we should go back to Judaism. They have an exellent good moral code.
I've sent messages to Both Discovery Communications and my local Sat TV Provider that I WILL DISCONNECT service if this apostacy airs.
Thats how strongly I feel about this....Grrrrrrr
Heck, the local TV Stations are now broadcasting Free Digital over the airways, and a digital (UHF) antenna is about 60 bucks...so I won't be completely cut off.
;-)
I have seen the special & when the tomb is opened.....
Geraldo is inside.
**shudder**
You won't miss it. We got rid of cable three years ago and get a lot more done around the house. We actually sit down to dinner to talk to each other instead of watching tv. Novel idea, huh?
You have to look at the timing of this TV documentary – right before the Easter season when Christians celebrate the resurrection.
This is just another attempt by Hollywood to try to justify their own immorality by convincing themselves that God is dead, that we have no higher authority to answer too.
Sounds like you've got stories. Spill 'em. :D
Just ask Linda Hamilton, the wife he dumped for Suzie Amis [of "Titanic"]
If you're the one who's going to pay me to watch it, welcome to FR!
Just because somebody may have come up with DNA evidence that one family are genetically related, (duh) and their ossuaries bore the names similar to those in Scripture, it is an even greater stretch to think these are the same persons' boies as those in Scripture.
As a parallel, imagine how many families of Arabs have sons named Mohammed buried in tombs throughout the mideast, with their descendents renaming their tombs after perceived holy names.
Had the researchers been veritable, they would have first hypothesized the evidence of Christ's resurrection was so astounding that other families in that era renamed their entire families after Christ's associations.
Shhhhhh...
They have DNA from God.
I thought further study determined that the "brother of Jesus" portion of the inscription was as phony as the Bush National Guard memos.
I read this article this morning:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/26/D8NHFDRG3.html
I thought this part was particularly interesting:
"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.....Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name 'Hanun.'"
So does this mean that they are just hyping up the movie for $$$$ and their theory is debunked in the film itself???
marinamuffy
Geraldo would give the documentary 10 times more veracity than Cameron now carries. But I suspect even Geraldo would have turned this gig down,...ethics you know...
The first two are true enough. As for the second two... well, a doctor with a little flashlight will be along shortly to examine his source for those statements.
I thought further study determined that the "brother of Jesus" portion of the inscription was as phony as the Bush National Guard memos.
The big mistake was that the inscripion was in Times New Roman....
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