Jesus: Tales from the Crypt

[Seen the light]

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2007/02/jesus_tales_from_the_crypt.html

Basically, filmmaker James Cameron says he has proof (DNA tests, archaeological evidence, biblical studies) that he knows where Jesus was buried, he wasn't resurrected, and he had a son with Mary Magdalene.

Sorry if this has been posted already, I didn't see it. Thoughts on this? I'm skeptical at this point, but just the news of the press conference has the potential for something HUGE I think.

[Prophet 451]

1. Um, how?

Last I checked, we don't have a DNA sample for either God or Joseph.

Jesus probably was never resurrected (assuming he existed), he might very well still be buried somewhere in the holy land but to take a set of caskets bearing common names of the time and assume they are this particular set of people with those names, strikes me as wishful thinking of the highest order.

[Vidar]

7. My guess would be through his brother, the apostle James,

It should be interesting to follow this.

[Prophet 451]

8. OK, I'll but that

But how would one isolate James' DNA roughly two thousand years later? Do we even know what happened to him or if he had any kids? I suppose, if one were both determined and lucky, it could be done but it's a real stretch to see how.

[Vidar]

15. Thought of that too. Last I knew, they couldn't extract DNA from skeletal remains

2000 years old. No answer.

[mitchum]

13. Couldn't one use a DNA sample from that magical moment of the host...

or wine?
I don't really need that sarcasm thingie, do I? :)

[Prophet 451]

17. Nah, I thought that too n/t

[Meshuga]

24. The names Yeshu or Yeshua were common nicknames for...

...Yehoshua at that time like we see the names Jim, Bob and Bill nowadays.

[Tyo]

2. Finally something about Jesus the man...

without all the fairy dust. I can't speak to the truth of Cameron's claims. But as for Jesus, he's always been much more impressive and real to me minus the trappings of resurrection and divinity.

[Ignacio Upton]

5. Even without the portion of divinity

He was someone with a lot of good ideas who shook things up when they needed to be shaken up. He was also the most influential Jewish person in history.

[BurtWorm]

26. Nonsense!

He is very likely nothing but a myth.

Total nonsense--and an insult to Jewish people of all ages in history, and to all real humans in general--to call this mythological god-man "the most influential Jewish person in history."

[graywarrior]

3. Can I just say, Jesus H. Christ!

[Pattib]

4. The fact that the Freepers are freaking over this, Saturday night...so much better now.

I read this on my news home page from Time magazine. There will be a press conference about this Monday. I had to go the Freeperville first. My favorite post was someone who stated, "Jesus is in heaven, it is written, I need no more proof than that." Alrighty then. The fact that the story states the "coffins" contain the bones of not only Jesus, but his lover/wife Mary Magdelane and a son really pushed them over the edge.

[Seen the light]

6. Dare I ask for a link? nt

[Pattib]

10. A freeper link? Oh the horror.

I thought you were asking for a link to the initial story, then I realized you posted it. Sorry, just go to freerepublic.com and type in jesus in the search. Hundreds of posts already over there.

[spoony]

21. Do you also hate fellow liberals?

Because a good many are Christians who do believe in the Resurrection. Do you take joy in their world being attacked as well?

[brettdale]

9. His Press conference is monday

I doubt he has real DNA evidence proving anything at all.

BUT, if he did, I'm sure the MSM wouldn't say a word.

[walldude]

11. James Cameron is an ASSHOLE

Why do you think that the man who directed the highest grossing film of all time has not made another movie in 10 years? Yes he's produced some IMAX and some TV stuff but no movies. The reason is because no one will work with him. His crews hated him, and I do mean hated. Actors won't even discuss him. And let me just say that if you really believe that after 2000 years of historians, archaeologists, scientists, and religious figures trying to find concrete evidence of Jesus's life and death that the one person who managed to actually do it was the guy who directed The Terminator, then I have some beach front property in Oklahoma to sell you.

[Seen the light]

12. Hmmm......well

All I can say is...."Good point!"

[ngant17]

19. if all truth originates from the Judeo-Christian bible

then DNA cannot exist, as nothing about it is ever mentioned in the bible. Nor do single-cell bacteria exist for that matter.

Likewise telescopes and electron-scanning microscopes are the devil's handiwork! Astronomers and microbiologists are obviously Satan's familiars who try to deny the reality of the immutable Word of God contained in the bible. Or at the very least they are heretics.

[CJCRANE]

22. I'd guess that

James Cameron didn't find the tomb*, same as he didn't find the wreck of the Titanic, that doesn't stop him from making a documentary about it.

*in fact it seems it was found 27 years ago by Israeli construction workers.

[NashVegas]

14. Didn't Mary Magdalene Die in Southern France?

Hmmm?

[AlCzervik]

16. this seems really Geraldoesque.

[struggle4progress]

18. The press conference is marketing for the book "The Jesus Family Tomb"

(sometimes listed as "The Jesus Tomb") which goes on the sale about the same time (published by Murdoch's Harper-Collins) with a forward by Cameron.

Various publication dates Feb-Apr 2007 can be found on the web, including 27 Feb 2007, the day after the press conference
http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/172807

On of the book's authors, Jacobovici, already did a TV-docudrama about the so-called "James ossuary," which various people claimed held the bones of James, brother of Jesus:

Thursday 24 July 2003, 19:41 GMT

Toronto, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- - Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) declares the James ossuary a fake - but is it?

An open forum featuring Israel's leading scientists will discuss the authenticity of what may be the greatest archaeological find or forgery of the millennium.

The panel will be held Sunday July 27 at the Jerusalem Cinemateque at 19:30 following the Israeli premier of Simcha Jacobovici's documentary, James, Brother of Jesus which had exclusive access to the story and aired in over 150 countries world wide. The film uncovers the exclusive details surrounding the controversial discovery of Jesus' name inscribed on a first-century ossuary or "bone box".

If the owner, Oded Golan, is out on bail he will be present at the forum ...

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=105853

Bone box on trial
James ossuary is at the centre of a Jerusalem court battle where the seamy side of the trade in ancient artifacts is exposed
Jul. 1, 2006. 01:00 AM
STUART LAIDLAW
FAITH AND ETHICS REPORTER

... The exact origins of the ossuary are not known. Golan, one of the largest collectors in Israel, says he purchased it from an Arab antiquities dealer in the mid-1970s for about $200.

... The ossuary spent the next 15 years in his parent's apartment, including a stint on the balcony. At one point, it may have even been used as a planter,
though no one can remember for sure ...

http://msn-list.te.verweg.com/2006-July/005590.html

So Jacobovici has previously wasted our time with a documentary about a supposedly important ossuary -- which was utterly without provenance. Now, I suppose, we shall be subjected to empty speculation about whether the previous ossuary bears any relation to this "family tomb" group

[xchrom]

23. ...

''If the owner, Oded Golan, is out on bail he will be present at the forum ...''

:spray:

[charlie]

20. Ooh, a nail-biter

We'll know Monday if the marshmallow peeps industry has a future. I'm on the edge of my seat...

[varkam]

25. I'm selling my peeps stock.

:D

[progressoid]

27. Just in time for Easter! Coincidence?

No - marketing.

BTW, according to CNN, this place was found in the 80's.