Standing Strong |
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What’s all this about the Jesus tomb being found? Continued... |
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What are the questions that can’t be answered that throw such doubt on this find?
If "Jesus" and "Mariamene" weren't related maternally, why jump to the conclusion that they were husband and wife, rather than being related through their fathers?
The first use of "Mariamene" for Magdalene dates to a scholar who was born in 185, suggesting that Magdalene wouldn't have been called that at her death. Why is this ossuary attributed to her?
Since the custom was to bury the dead in their home town, why would Mary and Joseph’s family tomb be in Jerusalem instead of Nazareth? Middle East researcher and biblical anthropologist Joe Zias states, "It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus; he was known as Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Jerusalem, and if the family was wealthy enough to afford a tomb, which they probably weren't, it would have been in Nazareth, not here in Jerusalem.”
Why was the James Ossuary, which has been labeled a forgery, cited by Cameron and Jacobovici as one of the reasons for the tomb‘s validity? CBS News correspondent Mark Philips reports “The archeological establishment has lined up to label this claim as bunk. This is the second time The Discovery Channel has been involved in a disputed claim about an ancient tomb,” reports Phillips. The man at the center of the previous case is now facing trial for forgery.” Asbury Theological Seminary professor Ben Witherington, an early Christianity expert who was deeply involved with the James Ossuary, says “there are physical reasons to believe it couldn't have originated in the Talpiot plot.” St. Andrews' Bauckham defends his probabilities, noting that Jacobovici was comparing his name-cluster to the rather small sampling of names known to have been found on bone boxes, while his own basis for comparison, which adds names from contemporary literature and other sources, makes the combo far less unusual.
Darrell Bock, a professor at the conservative Protestant Dallas Seminary, whom the Discovery Channel had view the film, adds another objection: why would Jesus's family or followers bury his bones in a family plot and "then turn around and preach that he had been physically raised from the dead?"
If that objection smacks secular readers as relying too heavily on scripture, then Bock's larger point is still trenchant: "I told them that there were too many assumptions being claimed as discoveries, and that they were trying to connect dots that didn't belong together."
Stephen Pfann, president of Jerusalem's University of the Holy Land and an expert in Semitic languages, appears in The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Pfann told National Geographic News that he also has doubts about the movie's claims. "I don't think it says Yehoshua [Jesus]. It says Hanun or something," Pfann said, after viewing high-resolution images of the ossuary inscription in question. |
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Isaiah 11:6 2 Thessalonians 2:15 |
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The James, brother of Jesus Ossuary found in 2002 was found to be a hoax and the finder is currently facing trial. This piece is ironically one of the pieces sited for proving the authenticity of the Jesus tomb. |
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An ossuary said to have been found in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Talpiot Jerusalem in 1980 that may have held the bones of Mary Magdalene and was found with another that may have held the bones of Jesus. |