Posted on 02/26/2007 8:07:03 AM PST by Clive
JERUSALEM (AP) — Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by the Oscar-winning director James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets.
“The Lost Tomb of Christ,” which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.
One of the caskets even bears the title, “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
Most Christians believe Jesus’ body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City. The burial site identified in Cameron’s documentary is in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.
In 1996, when the BBC aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.
“They just want to get money for it,” Kloner said.
The claims have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.
“The historical, religious and archaeological evidence show that the place where Christ was buried is the Church of the Resurrection,” said Attallah Hana, a Greek Orthodox clergyman in Jerusalem. The documentary, he said, “contradicts the religious principles and the historic and spiritual principles that we hold tightly to.”
Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film’s hypothesis holds little weight.
“I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into this,” Pfann said. “But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear.”
“How possible is it?” Pfann said. “On a scale of one through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it’s probably a one, maybe a one and a half.”
Pfann is even unsure that the name “Jesus” on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely the name “Hanun.”
Kloner also said the filmmakers’ assertions are false.
“It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave,” Kloner said. “The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time.”
Archaeologists also balk at the filmmaker’s claim that the James Ossuary — the center of a famous antiquities fraud in Israel — might have originated from the same cave. In 2005, Israel charged five suspects with forgery in connection with the infamous bone box.
“I don’t think the James Ossuary came from the same cave,” said Dan Bahat, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University. “If it were found there, the man who made the forgery would have taken something better. He would have taken Jesus.”
Although the documentary makers claim to have found the tomb of Jesus, the British Broadcasting Corporation beat them to the punch by 11 years.
Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, declined to comment before the documentary was aired.
James Cameron vs. Christianity...hmmm...somehow I think I know which side will win this argument.
When will the DNA results be published?
Well, then, that explains why the women, the disciples, the Jews, and the Romans ALL went to the wrong tomb when they looked for Jesus's body. They all thought he was buried at the site of the Holy Sepulcher, when in fact he was buried in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.
I've been monitoring the news for any signs of rioting and widespread disorder since this story broke....but then I remembered with which religion the story dealt.
Kind of like "An Inconvient Truth".....
Or not.
Early favorite for next year's Oscar.
The Cameron Code.
Cameron isn't a theologian or an archaeologist.
They've already done Raiders of the Lost Ark -- so finding the Ark of the Covenant is passe'. Let's see, what's the biggest story we could come up with? How about finding the tomb of Jesus . . .
Cameron and Geraldo should team up.
because the common belief among skeptics is that the
story about the resurrection of Christ is just
a story....so why would they use the historical
documents that talk about Christs' work as a basis
for anything historical...?
I wonder if the mDNA they analyzed was not from a worker
on the bone box, or some bug, or eukaryotic plant material....
I would like to see the results.
no riots in the street,
no fatwas,
no James Cameron becoming the room mate of Salmon Rushdie,
just atheists and hedonists who are being hypocritical when it comes to attacking christianity.
At best, if not and out right forgery, it might be A "Jesus"
But it's not THE "Jesus" who was THE "Christ"
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tomb/tomb.html?dcitc=w99-502-ah-1024
Details about the documentary next week on the supposed Jesus Tomb.
Why am I not surprised that Jesus was married and had a son?
Second Tuesday of next week...
I wonder why christians aren't taking to the streets and threatening violence against this man and the channel for running this bunch of lies? The islamic radicals would have already been out there and the liberals would be championing their right to a supposed injustice. Let's get a lot more vocal about this kind of attack against the faith of millions of people around the world. Of course, we should not be surprised that a non-believer could supposedly provide proof of a tomb. Jesus said they would try to do that.
I think you are absoluly right.
These fake tombs have been poping up for centuries.
How many churches in france claim to have the "holy foreskin" of christs circumcision as a young jew?
how many fake crosses?
how many fake gospels?
Cameron will creat a backlash against his movies. He must no longer get residuals for titanic.
Ummm. You don't believe that, you're not a Christian. Kinda by definition, don't you think?
In follow up, I am not suggesting that christians should be anything like the islamic radicals. It is behavior that is a fundamental difference between christianity and any other world religion. We must simply let people know our displeasure in ways that helps people see that Jesus is alive in us--with love, compassion and care just like He did.
Muslims foundation is weak and any exposed flaws must be removed so the rest of the world never see their imperfections. Even when it means killing thousands to do so. They justify such actions with rhetoric and never seek forgiveness.
This doesn't even rise to the level of The Passover Plot. Does anyone remember THAT one?
That has got to be one of the funniest (also insert word stupidest) things I've ever read in my life.
We know the liberals were out to shine last night-and so one of their own is out to make sure we remember him this morning. Why doesn't Mr. Cameron go out and film a documentary about the "clinton war machine" does it exist? Who has been dealt with because of it? Why doesn't he investigate the truth about the "Lincoln Bedroom" during the Clinton years in the White House? How many US secrets fled through that room? Why doesn't he investigate the claims in Mr. Carter's most recent book?
Many Mexicans are named Jesus. Maybe they are descendants. Maybe they should file lawsuits laying claim to the bones or at least a share of the profits from their exploitation.
Bit outside my expertise, but was he from NAZARETH by way of BETHLEHEM? And a POOR carpenter, to boot?
Yeah, he'd have a nice upper class tomb.
LOL.
Titanic is gone from the must have library. No longer will we tolerate it as a Feb 14 mushy romance movie.
This is about the Hollywood set attacking Christianity.
These were disproven as fakes for this claim YEARS ago.
Cameron is trying to do a fake but accurate story.
It needs to be noted that muchof the Old Testament and New Testament writing has been proven through archeological work and also through other documents. So, why now try to disprove the one important fact in all of Christianity? The other facts are out there--why not accept this one as well?
Thereby separating the sheep from the goats.
"Jesus [a.k.a. Joses or "Joseph"] has been a common name in Palestine for centuries."
I meet Jesus and his mother Maria the other day. Jesus cuts my lawn. Young Maria sells home-made tamales. Daddy Jose is a carpenter.
Maybe they're the holy family.
(Yes, this was sarcasm, pointing out the absurdity of this claim.)
Sounds a bit like the Da Vinci Code. You have to go a far stretch to believe this guys work or words. What is his motivation? Does he honestly think that true Christians are going to fall for this nonsesne? Who is he trying to convince--the already non-believer? You have to be willing to step over a complete body of evidence to fall for this.
James Cameron, like all good milque toast liberals, is affraid Hilary Clinton will b*tch slap him and make sure he understands who is whose female dog.
Lets see a documentary about Mohameds blood lust and pedophilia. That when we see some real documentarian courage.
BTW, I have no dog in this fight, but it seems to me that even by secular archeological standards, this whole premise does not stand up to scrutiny.
I was trying to think of something crafty like that - such as seeing Jesus' grave in Mexico...
Cameron is a high ranking member of the Illuminati..... /so
This should be filed under:
Anything for a buck.
Apparently Barak is willing to take on the Hitlary and her ilk. Mr. Geffen seems quite content to go on the offensive as well. Hollywood shone last night but without one of their "stars"--where was there any reference to Clinton at all? It would seem if they all had decided on her, we would have heard about it. BTW-Al finally got to give his acceptance speech.
His Hebrew name was actually Yeshua or Yehoshua.
I was a crypto custodian and analyst! My first take is these materials are the remains of none other than James Hoffa which were moved from their resting place at the 5 yard line in Giants stadium in the Meadowlands!
His intent is to niche sell to the same wacko crowd that buys moore's european america bashing books, algore's communist envirowako fairy tail, and that Denis Kucinich is running for president because he has a chance and not just for the federal matching funds.
Why would the power brokers of hollywood be so antichristian?
They attack before was that Christ did not exist.
Then the attack is trying to give gravitas to already proven forgery gospels.
If there is this much money in documentaries based on forgeries, IMAGINE what the money will be for the Arkansas to NYC Clintonista bully squad story.
Oops. I stand corrected.
I think Cameron is out to make money, nothing more, nothing less. Don't care what they say about me, as long as they spell my name right.
A lot of people will tune in to watch it, if only to be outraged and/or offended by it.
Hey, maybe James Cameron has heard about this Joshua fellow, and he can research whether there's a guy named "Joshua" mentioned in the Old Testament! (Have an assistant read the thing, perhaps.) If there is a "Joshua" in the Jewish Torah, and if the guy did anything important like, say, stop the sun in the sky by raising his arms, then gee whiz, it's possible that two thousand years ago there might have been at least a couple of Joshuas running around Jerusalem, no? Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua of Nazareth, and I don't know, maybe at least one other?
And if Cameron wants to research even further, he might find even today that there is one, or two, or maybe three thousand Jewish guys named Joshua, right here in New York!
I think Cameron might be able to solve the mystery of the "Joshua" gravesite, if he finds out that Jesus/Joshua was actually a common name for Jewish men in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago. But what do I know; I'm not a big important Hollywood director out to debunk the "opiate of the masses."
/sarcasm off/
What rot, as usual.
This thing has "scam" written all over it.
If you don't believe that Jesus existed, than what is your interest in this topic at all?
I don't think Gandalph the Gray existed either, but I still like discussing the Lord of the Rings.
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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