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A Hollywood director yesterday unveiled what he claimed to be the most astounding archaeological discovery of all time: the coffin of Jesus Christ.
James Cameron, the director of Titanic, was promoting a new documentary that has angered Christians with its claim that not only did the resurrection and ascension of Christ never occur but also that Jesus had a son.
Cameron used a New York press conference to show two limestone boxes that he said had once held the bodies of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah.
The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which Cameron directed and will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel this weekend, argues that the plain limestone box, known as an ossuary, was one of ten discovered in a tomb stumbled on by builders in Jerusalem in 1980, and first excavated by a British archaeologist. One of the boxes even bears the title “Judah son of Jesus”. The site is some distance from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally held to be the place where Jesus was buried.
Six had names etched into them, which were translated as Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamene (thought to be the real name of Mary Magdalene), Joseph and Matthew. Simcha Jacobovici, who directed the documentary, said that the inscription translates as “Mary Magdalene the Master”.
When the coffins were discovered, the inscriptions provoked little interest. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said that the names were common at the time. The boxes no longer hold bones because the remains were reburied after the discovery, as is the custom after archaeological finds in Israel.
However, human matter collected by the film-makers has provided DNA profiles, which suggest that the Jesus and Mariamene on the coffins were not related by blood, but were a couple.
Supporters of the claim that the coffin of Jesus had been discovered used a statistician to calculate the odds of another family with the same names. “The numbers range from 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 that there is some other family,” said Andrey Feuerverger, a professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto. Cameron called the evidence “pretty darn compelling”.
However, David Merovah, a curator of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, said: “To start with those names in a single tomb and leap from there to say this is the tomb of Jesus is a little farfetched, to put it mildly” Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said that the idea failed to hold up by archaeological standards but made for profitable TV.
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Any arguments used in here can be used as backfire to anyone that claims that the catholic story is true...
Equally, not any of the two contradicting stories of Jesus (e.g. jesus w/ son or w/o son) can be rendered true.. nor suggest its falsity... all you got to do is trust ur faith..
Hibram, Manila, Philippines
Okay, everybody who's really Christian strong says that nothing in the Bible states that Jesus could have been married, but you have to remember that ancient Christians chose what would go into the Bible, and discarded of the rest. they could have totaly erased anything supporting the theory because it would totally trash what they believed in or thought to be true. and also: there is a way that Jesus's tomb could have been found, but it's nearly impossible to tell if it's actually Jesus, because A- Jesus could have been a fictional character B- we don't have DNA for Jesus, and C- the remains would be so far decayed, i doubt that, even if we had some DNA from Jesus, that i doubt that we could have gotten an accurate sample from them.
Michael, Knightdale, United States
I don't understand the problem with the possible finding of Jesus's tomb. First, the TV program, while interesting, was hardly conclusive. And if even it were 99-100% sure of the stone ossuary findings, what does that have to do with the great life and work of the historical Jesus? It certainly would not obscure or taint my belief in his life's work., or in his spirituality and Godliness. God works in mysterious ways, and in larger ways than we can understand. If bones were there and they were Jesus's bones, so what, His work lives on, and nothing is less important than if bones were actually left for us to find, or some deluded so-called Christian men's strange evangelical take on the work and life of Jesus.
Paulette Switzer-Tatum, Aloha, Oregon, USA
My Christian faith holds that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY, that the tombs found could have contained the body of JESUS the CHRIST or a son. I think that the producers of this show are feeding off the hype from Dan Brown's FICTION!
The evidence of CHRIST's deity is all around us, we just need to open our real eyes to see that.
K Mc Dowell, South, Trinidad
um does anyone really want to know if it is jesus? i mean i wouldn't mind knowing but i think we're all better off not knowing...stuff will happen if we all somehow find out it's jesus and the whole christian nation attack us =) my views anyway...
Dane =), Ipswich, England
I've already visited the tomb in which Jesus was lying before His Resurrection a number of times. Anything else is very suspicious.
Father Bryan Storey , Tintagel, UK
Holy DaVinci Code!
Hollywood hype knows no bounds -- anything to promote a film and make money. Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron are experts in the field of DNA analysis and biblical archaelogy? DNA from an ossuary? the "remains" were buried?
Next documentary -- John Doe of Detroit is Jesus' great, great...grandson -- the biblical DNA experts Jacobovici and Cameron have proof he can even change water into wine.
Bill Young, New York/NY, USA
I think it actually is Jesus!
Nina, Seattle, Washington, United States
More proff is definitely required if it will convince sceptics such as myself. Where's Brian's ossuary, Mr Cameron?
Ian, Bangkok, Thailand
Equally I would agree that there is lack of evidence to make any assumptions or conclusions that these tombs are in fact those of the supposed; but these presumptions are no more lacking in evidence than the concept of Christianity itself. That said, I like the fact that people question this generational fanatiscism that is religion and whilst I advocate transparency and freedom to form one's own beliefs, questioning is the best form of reason, if not the only form.
Victoria, London,
Look forward to the news that the Jesus and Judah fragments show no evidence of a Y chromosome!
Jon, londonm,
I don't know - I'm a just a bit bemused as I was recently when I saw a TV film about the dead sea scrolls. We we were shown a highly skilled artist creating a torah-like scroll for a new synagogue. The unexpressed but clear implication of the episode was - could the dead sea scrolls have been an elaborate forgery fabricated in recent centuries? Same feeling here. And same scenario - a protagonist full of passionate conviction but no real evidence given that there is no evidence that the couple in the tomb - even if they were a real Jesus and MM - were Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.
Margarita, London, England