Free Republic

JERUSALEM — Work has begun to save the holiest shrine in Christendom. It won’t be a simple patch-and-paint job. This is the alpha and omega of restoration projects. They are going to repair Jesus’ tomb — with titanium bolts. Over the next nine months, a team of Greek conservationists will restore the collapsing chapel built above and around the burial cave where the faithful believe that Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after the Crucifixion. To fix the chapel, which is buckling under its own weight, the crew will have to enter a few square meters of the...

The domed chapel at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is called the Holy Edicule and is built above the site where Jesus was believed to have been buried in a tomb. (William Booth/The Washington Post) JERUSALEM — Work has begun to save the holiest shrine in Christendom. It won’t be a simple patch-and-paint job. This is the alpha and omega of restoration projects. They are going to repair Christ’s tomb — with titanium bolts. Over the next nine months, a team of Greek conservationists will restore the collapsing chapel built above and around the burial cave where the faithful...

The origins of the Papacy can be traced to St. Peter, one of the original disciples of Jesus. The current pope, Francis I, is the 265th successor of St. Peter. Needless to say, all 266 popes are male. Yet, during the middle ages, there existed a story about a pope who was actually a female in disguise. The name of this supposed female pope was Joan. Who was this mysterious Pope Joan, and did she really exist? The statue that still stands in Rome is Joanna with a papal crown.(ericcostanzo.com)The first written account of Pope Joan can be traced to...

Jesus Burial Tomb? Recently, questions have been raised regarding the historicity of the death and resurrection of Jesus. These issues emerged from the directorial genius of James Cameron and is entitled, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus." This new Hollywood-quality documentary is set to air March 4th, 2007 on the Discovery Channel. However, this documentary is poorly supported by the historical and scientific data, regardless of how well the film has been made. Good TV, Bad History & Science "[The Lost Tomb of Jesus] will make good TV but involves a bad critical reading of history. Basically, this is old news...

John Robson The Ottawa Citizen Friday, March 02, 2007 Well, it's Lent, when Jesus-debunking news stories rise from the dead. This time it's a tomb with the whole family gathered, including his wife and kid. Unless it's just the dusty bones of decency and good sense in those boxes. In a way it's a backhanded tribute that, to the modern mind, Christianity is like a train wreck: gruesome, but they can't look away. Newspapers don't greet major Buddhist festivals with claims that Siddhartha Gautama was a cokehead, or open Ramadan by saying Mohammed was -- (do NOT fill in this...