Lost Tomb of Jesus story shows shakiness of Christianity

Sunday the Discovery Channel will broadcast a documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus." James Cameron claims to have found evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered a son named Judah.

And that he didn't ascend bodily to heaven, since his body was buried.

Lots of Christians and scholars are in an uproar, for different reasons. Scholarly types are critical of how the archaeological evidence has been interpreted. True believers are offended that anyone would try to demolish the foundation on which Christianity is built.

For the bodily resurrection is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian Faith.

Here's what I find most interesting about all this hullabaloo: it points to how shaky Christianity really is. Cameron's documentary likely will be shown and then quickly forgotten, because he seems to be making a big deal out of not much.

But if solid evidence did come to light that Jesus wasn't who the Bible says he is—God's divine son—then two billion Christian believers would have their rug of faith ripped out from underneath them.

That's the risk when your religion is founded on an individual person rather than universal reality.

David Kuo asks why so many people are out to disprove Jesus and Christianity, while so few take on the Buddha and Buddhism. Well, David, one reason is that Buddhism does just fine without the Buddha. In Zen, even better without than with.

I like to take my spirituality with a heavy dose of science, topped with some creamy skepticism. That's how it goes down best for me.

So when I see people worshipping a man who may never have existed, about whom nothing solid is known, yet is the being upon which they depend for their eternal salvation—that strikes me as bat-shit crazy.

Imagine how scientists would react if somehow it turned out that Isaac Newton wasn't who we thought he was. Maybe his wife, or gardener, actually wrote the Principia and Newton was a fraud.

No big deal. "Newton's" laws of motion would still guide the planets around the sun. All that would change is the credit line attached to the first discoverer of those fundamental principles of the universe.

That's because science is founded on facts that are independent of any person, while Christianity is a faith personified, through and through.

No Jesus as he is claimed to be, no Christian religion. No Isaac Newton, just a yawn for the practice of science.

To my mind the lesson to be taken away from "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" is that if your conception of reality is founded on the presence or absence of some bone fragments in an ossuary, you're on really shaky existential ground.

I recommend finding firmer footing before a more reputable researcher than James Cameron leaves you in metaphysical quicksand. (In my opinion you're already there; you just don't know it yet).

Comments

[Roger]

Brian,

The only issue that come to my mind, is one of Grave Robbing. Did Cameron get permission to remove the remains from the burial site? Other than that, there is no big deal here. The stock market dropping 400 points yesterday is more interesting.

[Beth]

I agree. I don't see what all the hype is about. I think it might even be great if this was the tomb. I know that Jesus existed, and others should too. If you're interested (as I was) about the official information its all up on the site: www.jesusfamilytomb.com

[Chris Rosebrough]

I've written a comprehensive rebuttal to claims and evidence of this film. Please read it and decide for yourself.

You will find it at http://www.extremetheology.com/2007/02/archeological_i.html

[Edward]

I have found James Cameron's tomb, which proves that he is not bodily resurrected. Well, yet... the tomb is in the, you know, future.

So he may still resurrect.

Unless the tomb I found is in the past. Then, as you can see, he is resurrected. And making movies.

Now we will have to treat each other in a Cameron-like manner: Love one another; practice charity; forgive trespassers. And we can all go looking for the cup he drinks wine out of -- quests are great for team-building.

Faith won't be necessary, we don't have to believe in James Cameron. We have him to lead us.

Or, will have him to lead us in the future.

Or had him, and now he's back so... we don't really need him to lead us, since we are doing, you know, okay.

So far.

[Brian]

Chris, theologically we'd probably disagree on almost everything. But your analysis of the Jesus Tomb makes a lot of sense to me. Nice work. It's refreshing to see a devout Christian use logic and crisp reasoning to make his case. I find this ability lacking in most fundamentalists.

[Cortney]

Clearly hot/controversial topics get more viewers. They are not out to "Discover" truth but sell airtime.($$$$$$$$$$$$$) Jesus Tom Discovered! brought to you by Chips Ahoy Cookies.

[Marcel Cairo]

Why didn't you say this was sponsored by Nabisco Chips Ahoy... that's like my favorite cookie in the here and the hereafter!! BTW, I have it on good word that chocolate is next to godliness, of course I cannot prove that, but then again, I cannot prove that the Keebler elves are gay either.

:-)

[benandante]

Cameron's primary theme: hucksterism as a virtue.

[tao]

For those who are not yet up to speed and who are still under the spell of religious propaganda and influence pollution...

"JESUS" NEVER REALLY EXISTED:

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/

http://home1.gte.net/deleyd/religion/appendixd.html

http://www.atheists.org/christianity/didjesusexist.html

[Ashwin R J]

I am a Christian and a "believer" at that but by "believer" I dont mean belief in fancy stories of miracles and about people coming back from the dead. The essential cornerstone of Christianity has to be the belief in the kind of society it represents. " Love one another as I loved you" - is perhaps the most simple way to put it. The act of suffering is actually the real process of giving up ones sense of self and selfishness and becoming one in love and harmony. This is perhaps the most apparent but least understood cornerstones of Christianity. In other words even if Jesus is just a myth the fundemental belief is what really matters. But like all major religions throughout the ages Christianity has become just another form of Paganism with its rituals, customs, idols and temples(churches).

[Jeremy]

As an ex-Christian, I have no particular vested interest in this - but I think that if Jesus's tomb was found, mainstream Christianity would adapt by following Paul's teaching that Jesus was resurrected as a spiritual body and not as a physical body. The empty tomb stories would be seen as legendary elaborations - similar to the virgin birth narratives (which Biblical scholars already regard as mythical). The TV program's suggestion that Jesus could have been physically resurrected, only to be die some years later in Jerusalem, seems completely bizarre. Of course, fundamentalist Christians will continue to believe that the earth is flat, the world was created circa 4000 BC, Jesus had no human father, and was physically resurrected and ascended bodily into heaven - regardless of any historical and scientific evidence.

[Gordon Olson]

Gee, what a nice thread of restraint and sanity. Was the internet created for THIS kind of thing?

[Gordon Olson]

www.CountYourBreath.com

[tim]

People often set out to disapprove of things that are good. could you imagine being james cameron and finding out that Jesus didnt exist or that he did and James Cameron himself could pull the carpet out on all of the Christian faith.Wow then he might actually be more popular then Anna Nichole Smith or Miss "Bald Headed" Spears. Can you imagine!!!! He cant either, and that is why he will never find that proof. This world was built on faith and religion, and that is why you see it falling apart so fast now adays because we have lost that belief. Nice try Mr.Cameron but your better off trying to prove that Darwin repented and accepted Christ before his death and admitted his lies that he told for all those years then to discredit the divinity of Christ.