Sinking Credibility: The media and the bones of Jesus

Director James Cameron’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Titanic was a documentary about the wreckage of the doomed ship. The film contained so many shots of Cameron in a deep-sea submersible that one critic named him “Captain Nemo.”

In an upcoming Discovery Channel special, Cameron claims to have found an ossuary containing the bones of Jesus. How does he know? Through a combination of Sesame Street and The DaVinci Code.

The ossuary is inscribed “Joshua, son of Joseph”—names that are not exactly rare among first-century Jewish males. So Cameron also points out the nearby ossuaries bearing names of people associated with Jesus—most importantly, “Mary,” as in “Magdalene.”

Actually, it doesn’t say “Mary” but “Mariamne,” which—according to some people—was what other people called the Magdalene. This is good enough for Cameron, who considers it natural that Jesus would be buried alongside his so-called “wife.”

See what I mean about The DaVinci Code? If do, you are not alone. Archaeologist Amos Kloner, who “did extensive work and research on this very tomb and its ossuaries” ten years ago, said “it’s a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever . . . ” Lawrence Steigler of Harvard told National Public Radio that Cameron’s claim “sounds rather preposterous.”

When even Harvard and NPR call your bit of revisionism “preposterous,” you know that you are way out on a limb. Then again, Cameron is far from the first person to dash his credibility to pieces against the stone that was rolled away that first Easter.

Like others, his ultimate explanation for what happened that Sunday morning is a cover-up. Like others, he has no explanation for why the Apostles would be willing to die for what they presumably knew to be a lie. I know a thing or two about cover-ups and conspiracies: No conspirator willingly dies for what he knows to be untrue—or, in the case of Watergate, even go to jail. The closest men around the president of the United States testified against him to save their own skins. You’re going to tell me the Apostles maintained their story at the cost of their lives? Impossible.

What’s worse than Cameron’s “preposterous” claims is the credulous reaction of the media.

At the website Get Religion (which analyzes the media’s coverage of religion), Daniel Pulliam put it this way: Many “news organizations [are] reporting [Cameron’s] words as gospel truth.” He’s right. A headline in the New York Times’s blog read “Raising the Titanic, Sinking Christianity?” Time followed, proclaiming that “this time, the ship [Cameron’s] sinking is Christianity.”

While Newsweek magazine did manage to quote Cameron’s critics, as Pulliam pointed out, “their words [were treated] as equal to that” of the moviemaker—who, by the way, admits he’s not a “theologist or an archaeologist,” just a filmmaker.

Pulliam is right when he says that “at this point” the coverage of this story “is an embarrassment to reporters.” And they wonder why they are held in low esteem among believers?

Stories like this and the fuss over the “Gospel of Judas” are slickly packaged revisionism. After the revisionism has been shredded, the only thing sinking beneath the waves is the media’s credibility.

When you say that Jesus had long hair, are you talking about the Jesus of the Bible, or another Jesus? The Jesus of the Bible did not have long hair, because the Apostle Paul said that it is a shame for men to have long hair (I Cor. 11:14). Also, the Bible uses masculine pronouns in reference to Jesus. Jesus is the Son(not Daughter)of God, and the Son(not Daughter)of man. Jesus is called a prophet (not a prophetess). He is called a man. He is called Lord (not Lady), Son (not Daughter) of David, the King (not Queen), King of kings and Lord of lords (not Queen of queens and Lady of ladies), etc. The Jesus of the Bible is a masculine Jesus.

The "Jesus" with long hair is a feminine Jesus. The "Jesus" with long hair is not the Jesus of the Bible, but "another Jesus," which Paul warned us about (II Cor. 11:4). For information about the "Jesus" with long hair, see www.reformation.org. It gives background information about the "Jesus" with long hair. It says, among other things, that the "Jesus" with long hair is rooted in pagan religions.

Leviticus 19:27

27. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Number 6:5

5. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

But, of course, we are under the law of grace, because Jesus Christ came for the end of the law ( not to do away with the law, but, end means, to cap it off, to fulfill it, to satisfy the righteous demands of the law ).
But, of course, we have those Christians who want to quote and demand that we live by certain laws( 10 Commandments, giving % 10 of their income ), and ignore others.
Adam and Eve didn't have barber shops to go to ( before the fall, and after the fall ) and most certainly didn't have any tools to cut their hair.
Orthodoxed Jewish men wear long hair lockets on the side of their temples of the face, considered long hair.
If this dogmatic belief were to be taken to it's extreme end, might as well tell men not to have long beards also, Paul didn't state clearly what he meant by " Long hair "
Samson had long hair, and the covenant was that he was not suppose to cut his hair.
It does not mean a man is not masculine...
If it was a commandment from God, he would not allow the orthodox Jewish men wear it, and Samson would not have had long hair.
I also believe that the shroud of Turin is authentic, the real shroud of Jesus Christ.. and it clearly shows that Jesus Christ had long hair.
You got Christians who believe you should not eat meat, or pork..... there is a point were people can become to legalistic and forget that we are under the law of Grace.
Those who live by the law will be judged by the law, not only that, but, those who live by the law must keep everyone of them.
The Holiness Pentecostals are famous for this.
Galatians 3: 10-13
10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Galatians 2 : 14-21

14. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

15. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

17. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

18. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

19. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

We are saved not by keeping the law ( because NO ONE can keep the law fully according to God's very own standards, except Jesus Christ ), we are saved by grace alone.
We are saved unto ( to do them ) for good works, our salvation is not bought by man's works or keeping the law.

Here is something to ponder, to think about, there has been a " Singleness Movement cult " that has been going around Christianity for years, and it is all based on what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7: 7- 10

" 7. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

8. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.

9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

10. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

But ? they conveniently ( The Singleness Only cult people ) left out this verse just before Paul said that,,, " 6.But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. "
SO ? Paul was speaking out of his own ( opinion, not a commandment ) ,,, and there are a few places in Pauls writings were he was stating his " OWN Opinion " not a commandment from the Lord, and we are not sure what Paul was taking about about long hair ? was it long hair ? or beards ? and Paul in those days had a Roman hair style.
About Marriage ? how can we reconcile what Paul said in 1 Cor 7 about marriage and being single, and what God had said himself ( before the fall, for before the fall, it was GOOD ) God said " it is not ( GOOD ) that man be alone " who is right then ? God or Paul ?

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