Why are so many people so quick to believe this "Jesus bones" story?

Question

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/26/world/main2514360.shtml

Secularists often claim that Christians "don't think for themselves" -- yet when it comes to this story, they're not thinking for themselves either.

If they were, they would know that only the wealthy could afford the type of tomb where "Jesus bones" were discovered -- and Jesus and His family were anything but wealthy.

And if the secularists thought for themselves -- instead of blindly following sensationalist news reports -- they would know that Jesus was an extremely common name among ancient Jews.

They'd also know that the real pros in this area of expertise -- the archaeologists -- have to a man rejected this "discovery" as a falsehood.

Get a grip, people. These are not Jesus' bones -- however much you'd like to believe they are, in order to advance your anti-Christian agenda.

Answer 1

Well said. When it comes to Christianity, air-tight, bulletproof evidence is demanded and even if produced is not believed, but any theory that will "disprove" Christianity is taken without any doubt. And quickly forgotten when proved wrong.

Answer 2

No, I didn't believe it at first. But I went and read what they have and they have a pretty good case. It isn't a slam dunk, but it is solid. I will certainly watch the full show since they are holding many of the details.

I personally don't think it is a big deal one way or the other. But you guys do. And if you had a tenth the evidence to back up any part of your faerie tale that this guy has you would have whoever found it up for the Nobel Prize. You hear it all the time how the Ark has been found. There is a wall of rock that may or may not be petrified wood and Christians are willing to jump to every conclusion. So I am willing to run with a 600:1 odds that they have the right tomb just because it pisses you off.

Answer 3

Filmmaker James Cameron is claiming he and some archeologists found the tomb of Jesus’s family. All the casket-like things called ossuaries are empty. I wonder what the archeologists were thinking when they found an ossuary with Jesus’s name on it. I can imagine the moment they removed the lid and looked in. If it were me, I’d wonder if I was going to see one of the following:

1. Nothing
2. Decomposed stuff
3. Jesus sitting up and saying, “What in Dad’s name took you so long?”

If you put an ordinary guy in an ossuary for 2,000 years, he’d clearly be dead. But if I were opening that ossuary I’d be wondering if maybe someone put Jesus in there after he died but before he arose. And maybe it’s hard to get out once you get in. I’d be worried that Jesus arose inside the stone box, and he’d be totally pissed that no one let him out until now.

I realize that this would not be the most rational worry in the world. But I like to base my worries on an expected value calculation. So for example, a 90% chance of getting a sliver would worry me about the same as a .000001% chance of a nuclear bomb going off in the backyard. In this ossuary example, I’d be looking at maybe a 2% chance of waking up an angry Jesus. I say that’s worth a worry.

If Jesus was in there, and sat up when I took the lid off, I’d first try to judge how angry he looked. If he had that money-changers-in-the-temple look, I’d go with a joke, like “Ha ha! Turn the other cheek!” Or maybe I’d try to explain to him that the extra suffering was extra good for humanity, and after all, that’s his job. Then I’d say, “Hey, I don’t like my job either, but you don’t see me complaining all the time.”

I know that some of you will say that if Jesus could move that big rock that was allegedly in front of his tomb in the traditional telling of his life, he’d have no trouble removing an ossuary lid. But he wasn’t supposed to be in an ossuary in the first place, so obviously if this ossuary is genuine, some of the details of the story were wrong. And if God let Jesus be crucified, it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to think he’d let him stay in a stone box for 2,000 years. It makes sense to save your coolest miracle for when it’s needed most. And I think you’ll agree that this would be a good time for a messiah. And if you were God, you’d want James Cameron attached to this production. So it makes sense to me.

That’s why I’d be a crappy archeologist. I’d be afraid to open anything.

Answer 4

While I agree with your conclusion, one of your points of proof doesn't work. Jesus was, in fact, put into the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea.

Regardless, your point is well taken. This type of hoax is perpetrated every few years and people make fools of themselves in the hope that Christians will be upset by it. That's not going to happen.

P.S. These odds people are throwing around of 600:1 are one person's figures. I can find you another one that says 253,403:1. Why don't they cite him? They're not cherry picking their "facts," are they?

Answer 5

Feb. 26, 2007, 2:11PM
James Cameron's Lost Tomb of Christ faces criticism


By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press

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NEW YORK — Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film.

"There's a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself," Cameron said Monday at a news conference. He told NBC'S "Today" show earlier that statisticians found "in the range of a couple of million to one" in favor of the documentary's conclusions about the caskets, or ossuaries.

Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries — "Mariamene" — offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, "Mariamene" is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.

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 British Broadcasting Corp. 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.

Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film's claims: "I'm skeptical, but that's the way I am. I'm willing to accept the possibility."

The film's claims, however, have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.

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." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.

Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time," he said.

William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.

"The fact that it's been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."

Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, said the Antiquities Authority agreed to send two ossuaries to New York, but they did not contain human remains. "We agreed to send the ossuaries, but it doesn't mean that we agree with" the filmmakers, she said.


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Associated Press Writer Marshall Thompson contributed to this report from Jerusalem and AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll

Answer 6

You missed just one point. Good honest men died for their testimony that Jesus died on the Cross on Calvary, was buried in a borrowed grave and rose the third day. All they had to say to prevent their deaths was "I lied it never happened" and they could have live the rest of their natural lives. But No they died professing Jesus as The messiah, the God of all creation... Jim

Answer 7

It is highly unlikely that Jesus was not married. Whether these bones are his or not makes no difference. The important thing is to accept that, if Jesus was human, he would have lived like one following the same customs of the time and society in which he lived. The entire idea that Jesus was single and celibate is quite silly, don't you think?

Answer 8

I like the fact that archaeologists who are trained and educated in excavating are saying that the chances are slim of the bones being Jesus and his family. Good point.

Answer 9

Many of the atheists here on the R&S board look for anything they can run with, with the hopes of further bashing Christianity, which is their favorite target. It doesn't matter if the story is right or wrong, so long as they can use it to their advantage. Just more proof of how desperate they are to push their agenda.

Answer 10

Oh get a grip.
Even if these bones were Jesus's bones people wouldn't believe it. I personally, have no idea. It is interresting, though.