In other words "We can't prove it."
Posted on 02/25/2007 10:33:09 AM PST by steadfastconservative
New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetic laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Jonah.
The DNA findings, alongside statistical conclusions made about the artifacts--originally excavated in 1980--open a potentially signficant chapter in Biblical archaeological history.
A documentary presenting the evidence, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," will premiere on the Discovery Channel on March 4 at 9 pm ET/PT.
On March 28, 1980, a construction crew developing an apartment complex in Talpiot, Jerusalem, uncovered a tomb, which archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority excavated shortly thereafter. Archaeologist Shimon Gibson surveyed the site and drew a layout plan. Scholar L.Y. Rahmani later published "A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries" that described 10 ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes, found in the tomb. Scholars know that from 30 B.C. to 70 A.D., many people in Jerusalem would first wrap bodies in shrouds after death. The bodies were then placed in carved rock tombs, where they decomposed for a year before the bones were placed in an ossuary.
Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus."
"Such tombs are very typical for that region," Aaron Brody, associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of California's Bade Museum told Discovery News. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
Uh gee. And Yeshua (Jesus' real name translated Joshua today), Miriam (Mary's real name after Moses's sister), Joseph, Jonah, Judah, and Matthew were not at all common names in ancient Israel? Its enough to make me want to cancel my Satellite subscription. Wish we could choose to omit certain channels from our billing.
Indeed. To coin a phrase, this whole line of reasoning is a dumb as a box of bones.
In the name of the Commissar, the Comrade and the Holy Proletariat... Amen.
I think this was already posted on FR, but if it's a different article about the same story, I'm sure you'd like to keep your finger on the pulse.
In other words "We can't prove it."
This is simply false. There is nothing in the DNA analysis that could suggest this is the remains of Jesus. Any "scientist" who connects their name to such a demonstrably false claim should have their degree pulled.
Previous posts of this story from various sources:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790884/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790818/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790608/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1790579/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790456/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1789966/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789769/posts
My first thought on reading this was that it "supports" Islamic theology while attempting to destroy Christianity. I don't understand the DNA "excitement" other than that just the mention of DNA somehow sanctifies a conclusion. Junk science at its worst.
A son named Jonah? Now that's a whale of a tale!
Actually it doesn't even support Islamic theology. According to Islam, Isa ascended into heaven, and will return to convert the world to Islam in preparation for Judgement Day. The alleged body of Jesus would discredit Islam's theological claims as much as Christianity's. And Muslims would be the ones who would do something violent about it. If there's any hilarious (and I have a dark, morbid, and blatantly immoral sense of humor) about this, is Cameron's attempts to discredit Christianity--attempts that will fail--will earn him a Fatwa from Wahhabi-esque imams.
But this is just bad archaeology (the archeologist who found the site has disowned the conclusions Cameron presents), bad science (what exactly is DNA going to prove?), and worse history. Yes, the disciples of Jesus willingly died terrible deaths for a known lie, a "manufactured myth". The Romans and Sadduccees had all the ample opporutnity to fling Jesus' dead body around, but couldn't, which is why the Sadducceees accused the disciples of sneaking the body out of the tomb--because the body wasn't there. The lack of functional common sense on the part of the so called "enlightened" is dangerous.
Good grief, here we go again with this gnostic stuff, during another Lent.
Did any of you read the entire article?
Any comment about the statistical analysis of name frequency? Can you argue with the analysis that the chances are 600:1 that this is it?
I'd think Christians would be excited about this find?
i'm sure you know as well as anyone that you can "statistically" prove whatever you want to prove. it's all conjecture, based on the FAITH that Christ was not God.
"excited that the Christ was not resurrected and that he lived with mary magdalene, ala the davinci code?"
I never read or saw it, though I heard about it a little. I thought there were age-old stories that had happened, I'm not an expert in this area.
"i'm sure you know as well as anyone that you can "statistically" prove whatever you want to prove."
No, statistics don't "prove" anything. They establish things like likelihood, margin of error, and similar things. It's a branch of math, and the usefulness of correct statistical analysis can be proven, literally. In this case they compared the sample (names on the ossuaries) with the known frequency of names at the time, and determined the chances were 600:1 against it being a different family. It could be the 1 in 600, or it could be that the known frequency of names is incorrect, or it could be that the math is incorrect.
"it's all conjecture, based on the FAITH that Christ was not God."
No, I asked about a mathematical calculation that asserts to show statistical likelihood. That's totally unrelated to faith.
No amount of evidence that Jesus was a mere human, no matter how great or how credible, would shake the faith of devoted believers. However, this new information might serve to dissuade potential new converts, although "born again" experiences rarely occur for intellectual reasons, I've observed. If people want to believe something badly enough, they're going to believe it, no matter what. Evolution, for instance, didn't much dent Christianity, even though it's a widely accepted scientific theory which directly contradicts the Bible.
Slings and arrows are fine, it shows that secular people are still trying.......
Cameron might be upset that the hack Dale Brown sold so many books and he is trying to horn in on the Gnostic action.
Thanks Kevmo for the ping, and thanks GoLightly for the handy list of all the topics (thus far) posted about this documentary (or possibly crockumentary).
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