J's Cafe Nette

We’ve been able to read nothing except the tragic shootings yesterday at Virginia Tech. There is really no more we can add to it as all the blogs are covering it.

I want to turn your attention to the April 12 Omega Letter, which exposes the myth of the “found” Jesus grave and his “marriage” to Mary Magdeline and their “son”:

Cracks in the Foundation . . .

Now that the film has been broadcast and the damage done, a number of scholars who were interviewed for ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus’ documentary are beginning to rethink their assessments.

Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem published a paper entitled; “Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support.”

The original premise of the film was that Oscar-winning director James Cameron and Emmy-winning Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici had ‘discovered’ the ‘lost tomb of Jesus Christ’ and His family in a Jerusalem suburb.

Never mind that Jerusalem was ninety miles away from the family hometown. Never mind that both the Romans and the Jewish authorities, desperate to disprove Jesus’ credentials, somehow ‘missed’ the evidence they were looking for despite the fact it was a large, expensive family tomb that could not have been kept secret.

Cameron, whose anti-Christian values are no secret, evidently set out to ‘prove’ that Jesus was nothing more than an extraordinary man who lived, died and was buried in the first half of the first century. By whatever means necessary — including cooking the evidence as needed.

The film argues that 10 ancient ossuaries – burial boxes used to store bones – that were discovered in Talpiot in 1980 contained the bones of Jesus and his family. When the ossuaries were discovered, the bones they contained were buried in an unmarked grave in keeping with Jewish tradition.

But Cameron claimed there was enough residual DNA to ‘prove’ his claims. He claimed that comparative analysis determined the DNA of ‘Jesus’ did not match the DNA of ‘Mariamne’ which PROVES, Cameron claimed, that Jesus was married to Mariamne, and furthermore, that Mariamne was really Mary Magdalene.

From there, Cameron extrapolated, a third bone box, inscribed, ‘Judah, son of Jesus’ was therefore the offspring of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene. Now remember, Cameron deduced all THAT from the fact that there was NO DNA evidence linking ‘Jesus’ to ‘Mariamne’.

If there were ANY DNA that linked ANYBODY to ‘Jesus’, Cameron and Jacobvici kept that information to themselves.

Even the Discovery Channel, which aired the documentary, has begun qualifying or editing some of their claims about the film.

A statement on the Discovery Channel’s website that used to read, “a statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters…concludes that the probability factor is 600 to 1 in favor of this being the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family,” was pulled down.

It was replaced with a statement saying, “a statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters… concludes that the probability factor is in the order of 600 to 1 that an equally ’surprising’ cluster of names would arise purely by chance under given assumptions.”

THAT is a far cry from claiming the odds 600 to 1 in favor of the conclusion that they found the ‘lost tomb of Jesus’.

Another way of expressing it would be like this: The odds would be 600 to 1 against there being another family that shared the same first names as ours living in the same town as us.

That is not the same as claiming a 600 to 1 probability that the other family IS us. That would be ridiculous.

Which is why so many of the alleged ’scholars’ are backtracking from the film’s claims. Because they ARE ridiculous.

Shimon Gibson, who was part of the 1980 excavation team (and appeared in the film) was quoted by Pfann, saying, “Personally, I’m skeptical that this is the tomb of Jesus and I made this point very clear to the filmmakers. We need much more evidence before we can say that the Talpiot tomb might be the family tomb of Jesus,” he added.

Prof. Frank Moore Cross, professor emeritus of Hebrew and oriental languages at Harvard University is portrayed in the film as having ‘no real doubt’ that the ossuary reads “Jesus, son of Joseph”.

However, Cross also claimed it proved nothing. “It has been reckoned that 25 percent of feminine names in this period were Maria/Miriam, etc. – that is, variants of ‘Mary.’ So the cited statistics are unpersuasive. You know the saying: lies, damned lies, and statistics,” Cross is quoted as saying.

The DNA expert who appeared in the film, Dr. Carney Matheson, was quoted by the documentary as saying, “these two individuals, if they were unrelated, would most likely be husband and wife.” Dr. Matheson says that he was selectively misquoted.

He later said “the only conclusions we made were that these two sets were not maternally related. To me, it sounds like absolutely nothing.”

To me, it sounds like LESS than nothing.

Finally, Professor Francois Bovon is quoted in the film as saying the enigmatic ossuary inscription “Mariamne” is the same woman known as Mary Magdalene. But when Professor Bovon saw the film, he issued a disclaimer saying he didn’t believe that ‘Mariamne’ ossuary was Mary Magdalene at all. He claims he was quoted out of context.

It appears that the ‘Jesus Tomb’ film was an unmitigated fraud.

Assessment:

James Cameron is a very famous guy. He came from nowhere, (Chippewa, Ontario) to become one of the most well-respected film directors in Hollywood. (In fact, I know members of his family.)

Cameron’s first feature film was “The Terminator” with Arnold Schwarzeneggar. He wrote the screenplay for the second Rambo movie. He directed “Aliens”, “The Abyss”, “Terminator 2″, “True Lies” and “Titanic.”

Cameron has a pretty impressive resume for a kid from a little town outside Niagara Falls, Ontario. So, what would motivate a guy like that to put his reputation on the line over something as obviously contrived as “The Lost Tomb of Jesus?”

Consider this. The original excavators were Jews. The excavation itself took place in Israel. This is not a religion or location that is particularly receptive to the claims of Jesus Christ. To a Jew, if Jesus was Who He claimed to be, it means when their Messiah came, they killed Him.

The Jews would much prefer to know for certain that Jesus was not their Messiah. So finding evidence of the tomb of Jesus would be very much in their interest.

But not even the Jews who discovered the tomb was willing to make the leap of logic that Cameron did.

They shrugged it off without a second thought for the obvious reasons: He was from a poor family from Nazareth. The tomb was in the wrong place, was too expensive and, most importantly, too obvious.

Jesus was pretty famous in 1st century Jerusalem. Keeping His family tomb — in the middle of Jerusalem — a secret under the conditions of that time is a logical impossibility.

So it is hard for me to accept that Cameron really believed that the Talpiot tomb was really the final resting place of Jesus of Nazareth. But he DOES believe that Jesus was buried somewhere, so it is fair to conclude that Cameron made it his mission to prove Christianity is based on a myth.

But why? That is the question that nags me. What gain would there be, beyond a somewhat self-satisfying opportunity to say, “I told you so” — that would come at the expense of billions of the faithful?

Think, for a second, of what it would actually mean to you if there were somehow, some way, incontrovertible, undeniable PROOF that Jesus Christ didn’t rise from the dead? Something you couldn’t ignore that left you convinced that your faith was all in vain?

Imagine what it would mean for you to be convinced that there is no God, that there is no eternal life, no salvation and that we all remain dead in our sins?

Just imagine what it would do to you to discover that life has no meaning. That there is nothing ahead but the cold grave and nothingness? That when a loved one dies, that is the end for them and that you will never see them again?

Of course, for an indwelt Christian, it is impossible to imagine, since His Spirit bears witness with our spirit. We know God cannot be a myth, because we know Him Personally. The mere fact that it is impossible for us TO imagine is evidence of His reality.

Still, try and imagine, for a second, what it would mean if Cameron HAD been successful in his effort.

Why would ANYBODY want to DO that to billions of people? What would motivate a guy to throw his reputation away on such a destructive mission?

It’s because there has never been anyone in history like Jesus. It is hard to say that emphatically enough. If you want to stop a conversation, bring Jesus into it.

People will sit and babble on for hours about the latest spiritual fad, or the various claims of Mohammed, or Buddha or Zoroaster, and nobody feels particularly threatened. If anything, they are curious.

Mention Jesus and nobody is curious anymore. The conversation turns into a debate, and eventually, unless everybody walks away in disgust, an argument. People either want to spread the Gospel, or they want to tear it down. When it comes to Jesus, nobody is neutral.

Cameron set out to disprove the Deity of Christ for reasons of his own. But his efforts backfired — they served only as further confirmation of the Power of His Name.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

People don’t get that excited about dead people.

Written by Jeanette

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