Attack on Resurrection

[Christina]

Here comes the new Da Vinchi code.................................................................................................. WorldNetDaily.com reports: “The Oscar-winning director of ‘Titanic’ is expected to announce in a news conference tomorrow that his next film project is a documentary suggesting Jesus wasn't resurrected, was married to Mary Magdalene and had a son.James Cameron is producing ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus,’ claiming the discovery of 10 stone coffins in a Jerusalem suburb in 1980 is actually the family crypt of Jesus of Nazareth.The 90-minute film will be shown on the Discovery Channel at a later date.The film makes the case that Jesus had a son named Judah with Mary Magdalene.Prominent Jerusalem archaeologist Amos Kloner is disputing the claims, saying, ‘It makes a great story for a TV film. But it's impossible. It's nonsense.’Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, claim also to have DNA evidence to back their story.Jacobovici is trying not to alienate the faithful, by suggesting the ascension into heaven by Jesus could still have occurred spiritually if not physically.‘People who believe in a physical ascension – that he took his body to heaven – those people will say, 'Wait a minute,'‘ warns the director.The news comes a year after the release of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ movie, based on the best-selling novel of 2004 by Dan Brown, both of which also claimed Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus.James Tabor, chairman of the religious studies department at the University of North Carolina who is interviewed throughout the documentary, says it will not be so easy to dismiss this work.‘This is archaeology,’ he claims. ‘We've got the casket. We've got the bones. I think we can say, in all probability, Jesus had this son, Judah, presumably through Mary Magdalene.’The coffins reportedly carried the names of Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua. Some archaeologists who studied the find point out those were common names in Israel 2,000 years ago.A statistician is brought into the documentary to suggest finding that combination of names in a first century crypt at 600 to 1…”

 

[For Life]

Bring in a statistician to tell us the odds of the Son of God coming to Earth to save all mankind.Bring in a statistician to tell us the odds of everything we know being created by God.People are silly. God is great and not able to be comprehended fully by us silly people. Not even by statisticians and archaeologists.

 

[Christina]

Mike Heiser and theological researcher Darrell Bock share their thoughts. The finding of ossuary boxes from a 1st century tomb is actually "old news," dating back to a 1980 discovery, Heiser pointed out. Bock concurred, calling it old evidence being given a fresh spin. The theory that the boxes once contained the bones of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is "a lot of hype," he said, and though their names were inscribed on the boxes, those names were very common in the population of that era. If it was truly Jesus' family tomb wouldn't it be found in Galilee, he asked. Heiser noted that even the archeologist who made the original discovery was skeptical of the current claims. In the second 90 minutes, Glenn Kimball, an expert on ancient manuscripts, and investigative mythologist William Henry appeared. Such tomb claims are prolific, Kimball declared, citing Japan, Kashmir, Africa, and Western Europe as other places where Jesus has been said to be buried. Henry mentioned FDR's interest in finding Christ's casket in China (view related images). He commended James Cameron and his crew for putting together an interesting investigation, but he believes the real issue worth exploring is the resurrection, the bodily transformation/ascension.

 

[Broken Crusader]

Even my Jewish Orthodox freind understands this annoucement to be offensive to Christians.

 

[tomwebster]

They have been attacking on Resurrection for years, they are not going to stop. I know better, that's what counts. No big deal!

 

[Christina]

(tomwebster;7505)
They have been attacking on Resurrection for years, they are not going to stop. I know better, that's what counts. No big deal!
You are so right Tom Christianity the Resurrection are a matter of Faith it always has been always will be.

 

[Ron 31]

Forgive my ignorance but how can we know that the DNA found here is that of Jesus? I thought that we would have to have the DNA of Jesus to compare it with. Wonder if Cameron managed to obtain the DNA of Jesus for comparison? Any experts of DNA here to explain how this works?

 

[HammerStone]

Don't you know Ron, all scientists have a bottle of Jesus DNA on hand just in case they ever find him! Seriously though, as far asI can surmise, the DNA test would merely prove that one of the bodies (a female one) is unrelated to the male one that is supposedly Jesus. What this proves, I don't know. These are common names and it would not be a stretch considering there is no name for the wife if I recall correctly. The DNA really means nothing for anyone with any sense.

 

[tomwebster]

(SwampFox;7624)
Don't you know Ron, all scientists have a bottle of Jesus DNA on hand just in case they ever find him! Seriously though, as far asI can surmise, the DNA test would merely prove that one of the bodies (a female one) is unrelated to the male one that is supposedly Jesus. What this proves, I don't know. These are common names and it would not be a stretch considering there is no name for the wife if I recall correctly. The DNA really means nothing for anyone with any sense.
I watched for a few moments while waiting for something else. What they were trying to say is the unrelated female was Jesus's wife, Mary M. But I also think they said that potentially, Jesus brother, James bones were there. I thought they said the box Jesus was to have been in was empty. All I can add.

 

[Christina]

The film and book suggest that a first-century ossuary found in a south Jerusalem cave in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus, contradicting the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Ossuaries are stone boxes used at the time to store the bones of the dead.The filmmakers also suggest that Mary Magdalene was buried in the tomb, that she and Jesus were married, and that an ossuary labeled "Judah son of Jesus" belonged to their son.The scholars who analyzed the Greek inscription on one of the ossuaries after its discovery read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master."Before the movie was screened, Jacobovici said that particular inscription provided crucial support for his claim. The name Mariamene is rare, and in some early Christian texts it is believed to refer to Mary Magdalene.But having analyzed the inscription, Pfann published a detailed article on his university's Web site asserting that it doesn't read "Mariamene" at all.The inscription, Pfann said, is made up of two names inscribed by two different hands: the first, "Mariame," was inscribed in a formal Greek script, and later, when the bones of another woman were added to the box, another scribe using a different cursive script added the words "kai Mara," meaning "and Mara." Mara is a different form of the name Martha.According to Pfann's reading, the ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher," but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha.""In view of the above, there is no longer any reason to be tempted to link this ossuary ... to Mary Magdalene or any other person in biblical, non-biblical or church tradition," Pfann wrote.In the interest of telling a good story, Pfann said, the documentary engaged in some "fudging" of the facts."James Cameron is a great guru of science fiction, and he's taking it to a new level with Simcha Jacobovici. You take a little bit of science, spin a good yarn out of it and you get another 'Terminator' or 'Life of Brian,'" said Pfann, who briefly appeared as an ossuary expert in the documentary.In Israel on Tuesday for a screening of the film, the Toronto-based Jacobovici welcomed Pfann's criticism, saying "every inscription should be re-examined."