Posted on 02/26/2007 3:50:03 PM PST by Laissez-faire capitalist
Filmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded...
...Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypotheses 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."
Ancient semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher...
William Dever, an expert on near eastern archeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archaeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.
"The fact it's been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emiritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Many people believe it is for real. They say the carbon dating which didn't put it back to Jesus's era included some bacteria that grew hundreds of years later and new modern tests would show the shroud is much older and possibly the real thing. - tom
I need to try to remember to put a little laugh at the end of my jokes!
:)
susie
thanks go to GoLightly and xcamel for compiling the list (thus far) of such topics:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789769/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1789966/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790456/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1790579/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790608/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790818/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790884/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1790953/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791244/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1791251/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791352/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791365/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791383/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791513/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791544/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791583/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791588/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791610/posts
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I wrote my own opinions about this here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/162516/james_cameron_claims_he_found_the_tomb.html
My husband (currently in Iraq) also mentioned that he and some buddies were watching Fox News not 20 minutes ago and that Fox was just talking about James Cameron and his "find," but more about the fact that Christians aren't going out and parading around and threatening to attack people like the muslims did over that stupid cartoon.
How many times has that happened in human history? Maybe, never?
This "Jesus tomb" is utter nonsense, but the "da Vinci Code" has already proven that there is an enormous market for anti-Christian nonsense. This isn't surprising, since people who want to absolve themselves of responsibility for their sins have an enormous incentive to get rid of Jesus the divine Law-giver.
Your tagline is hilarious!
To Sister_T:
But, to Muslims, Jesus was a prophet and is coming back one day.
Yes, they believe that Jesus didn't die on a cross, but went to heaven bodily. If Jesus's ossuary was found, to them, that would be a slam on their belief that He is alive in heaven, bodily.
The Jewsih leaders said that His disciples took the body.
How could they take the body if Romans were guarding the tomb of Jesus.
If the Romans took the body, and wanted to squelch this belief that Jesus rose from the dead, they both would have come forward with the body of Jesus and put an end to the spreading of this belief.
The Jewish leaders said that His disciples took the body.
How could they take the body if Romans were guarding the tomb of Jesus.
If the Romans took the body, and wanted to squelch this belief that Jesus rose from the dead, they both would have come forward with the body of Jesus and put an end to the spreading of this belief.
I did a paper for Sunday School on the resurrection. Here is my take on the reaction of the soldiers:
The Reaction of the Jewish Officials
A Roman soldier was no coward. He was specially trained, tough-minded, well-equipped warrior. But notice the reaction of the soldiers who were protecting Jesus tomb when they felt the earth move and saw an angel roll back the stone (Matthew 28:3). The shook for fear of him, and became like dead men (verse 4)
They probably realized that they had more to be afraid of than an angel. Their training told them that keeping watch was an important commission. They knew that various punishments were handed out to soldiers who couldnt stay awake on guard duty. Sometimes they were beaten; other times they were set afire. Most of the time they were executed. These brave, well-armed men had no way to stop the angel, so they had double reason to be afraid.
But look what they did next. They turned themselves in. Facing sure punishment, they still felt that they must report this amazing event to their superiors. Once they had spilled their story to the chief priests and elders, their fears turned to relief. The officials, realizing that sending Jesus to His death had not accomplished their purpose, decided to concoct a story. They bribed the soldiers to spread the news that His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept (Matthew 28:13).
The soldiers must have done what they were told, for Matthew commented that the story began by those chief priests was commonly reported among the Jews until this day (verse 15). Devised in the face of the fact of the resurrection, this fabrication stayed alive for many years among those who refused to believe that Jesus had risen.
It wouldnt have taken much effort to refute their story. First, if the disciplines had indeed been able to steal the body of Jesus, how would the guards have known that it was they who had stolen it? Didnt the story go, while they slept? Second, it seems preposterous that a group of men could have sneaked up on highly trained, albeit slumbering, soldiers without waking them. And then to think that they could have moved the stone, unwrapped 100 pounds of grave clothes and spices, folded them neatly, lifted the body, and carried it away while the soldiers slept is even more ridiculous.
Yes, the officials knew that Jesus had risen. Their reaction proves it. Their bribe verifies it. And their hastily concocted story authenticates it.
Some more info from my Resurrection paper:
There are some theories that have been proposed by the opposition to explain away the resurrection. Looking carefully at the logic of these ideas, we will be able to see how they fare when stacked up against the evidence presented:
Theory: The body was stolen from the tomb. In this theory, the disciples are the culprits. They sneaked up to the stone, rolled it away, and walked off with Jesus body. Thats why it wasnt there when the women, John, and Peter arrived at the tomb on the first day of the week.
Objection to the Theory: Why would the disciples want Jesus body? Who was it who appeared to all those people later? How did the disciples sneak past the guards? Why would an angel lie about the reason for the tomb being empty?
Theory: The authorities took the body. Knowing that the disciples had an unusual interest in Jesus, the authorities - - both governmental and religious made sure they would not see Him again. They opened the tomb and took the body.
Objection to the Theory: Why didnt the authorities produce it to disprove the claims of Peter and others just a few weeks later? What turned the disheartened disciples into fiery proponents of a new cause if they had not seen Jesus again?
Theory: Jesus friends went to the wrong tomb: It had been a terrifying week for the disciples and the others who had grown so close to Jesus. Therefore, they became disoriented and went to the wrong grave. Thats why they found an empty tomb.
Objections to the Theory: Whose grave clothes did John and Peter find? What was an angel doing at someone elses gravesite? Is it possible that they all forgot their directions at the same time?
Theory: Jesus only fainted. This theory says that Jesus didnt die on the cross. Instead, He fell into a deep swoon. Then, when He was placed in the tomb, He was revived by the cool, damp air. That explains His later appearances.
Objections to the Theory: What caused the soldiers to misinterpret the evidence and certify that Jesus was dead? Why didnt Joseph notice that Jesus wasnt dead when he wrapped Him in linen? How did Jesus, who had been nearly dead just days before, push away the stone and walk about town in perfectly good health?
Theory: Jesus friends saw hallucinations. The resurrection makes a nice story, says this theory, but the disciples never saw any of the things they thought they saw. In fact, some say, they hallucinated, seeing images in their minds that corresponded with what they wanted to see.
Objections to the Theory: Is there evidence that suggests that 11 people can hallucinate the same image? How about 500 simultaneous, identical hallucinations? Can people drag out hallucinations over 7 weeks, in many locations, and under various circumstances?
Finally, what does Watergate have to do with the Resurrection?
Former presidential counsel Charles Colson tells how his Watergate experience can be used to support the testimony of the first-century men who said they saw the resurrected Jesus. In his book, Loving God, here is Colsons testimony:
After being told by John Erlichmann about the break-in at the DNC headquarters in Washington, and in the months immediately following the 1972 election, John Dean walked into the Oval Office and said, Mr. President, there is a cancer growing on your presidency> Now, if you stop and figure it out, you will see that the Watergate cover-up actually lasted three weeks or less. Now put yourself in our position. Here we are, the 12 most powerful men in the United States. All the power of government was at our fingertips, but we could not keep a lie together for three weeks. The most powerful men in the world could not hold on to a lie. So weak is man that we couldnt do it.
Are you going to tell me that those powerless apostles who were outcasts in their own land could be stoned, persecuted, and beaten, some for 40 years, never once denying that Jesus was raised form the dead? Impossible, humanly impossible - - unless they had seen the risen Christ face to face. Otherwise, the apostle Peter would have been just another John Dean. Hed have gone in to turn states evidence. He had already done it three times!
If Jesus was raised from the dead, as I am absolutely intellectually positive that He was - - and the evidence of history is overwhelming, its not only a matter of faith, but a matter of deepest intellectual conviction.
In conclusion:
If Jesus is, as the resurrection asserts, God Himself who has come to our rescue, then to reject Him, or even to neglect Him, is sheer folly. That is why Jesus is not, never has been, and never can be just one among the religious leaders of mankind.
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