The Bones of Jesus
March 5th, 2007 | 
Author: The Bones of Jesus
Tonight on the Discovery Channel is a documentary on the supposed lost tomb of Jesus. I hope to watch it if I am able and I watched the press conference about it last week which was pretty interesting in and of itself. The claim is that there has been a tomb found in Jerusalem which seems to have the bones of Joseph, Mary, Jesus, Mary Magdalene and a few other individuals. Whether or not this is actually the case or if these “archaeologists” are engaging in a lot of speculation is besides the point as far as I am concerned. Although I do believe that this would be devastating to conservative Christianity if it is true, I find it interesting and very telling to see how Christians respond to even the idea that the bones of Jesus may have been found. Here are a few responses that I have heard so far:
“There can’t be any bones since we know that Jesus rose from the dead and then ascended into heaven 40 days later. So anyone who says they have found the bones of Jesus are just wrong”
“There is no way that they can prove that those are the bones of Jesus”
“This does not effect my beliefs one bit because my beliefs are based on faith and they are not shaken by the ever changing archeological finds of the ancient world”
“There is no amount of evidence that anyone could produce that would make me believe that Jesus did not physically rise from the dead”
I do agree that for many Christians, there really is no amount of evidence that could ever be show which would make them loose faith. As we are told time and time again, Christianity is a religion of faith and you cannot prove or disprove it. Historians could unearth tons of ancient manuscripts that show that Jesus was actually a legendary figure and it would not matter. I think that this makes it evident that what at least many Christians believe is not based on teh facts at all. Their beliefs are based on faith. Faith that what they have been told is correct about Jesus and about God and about life after death. It seems that a claim like the one that is being made by the Discovery channel should give serious pause to Christians who are confident that all evidence points to a bodily resurrection of Christ and that without the bodily resurrection, there is no Christianity.
As I study the criticisms of Christianity myself and as I listen to and read Christian apologists, scholars and pastors defend themselves against the various criticisms that are out there, I loose more and more faith in the Christian position. And it is responses like some of those above that make me think that. Now maybe it will come out that this whole bones of Jesus thing is either a hoax or a very poorly put together sting of evidence but I find it very telling that many, if not most, Christians will rule out the possibility of finding the bones of Jesus before they even look at the evidence. And I have to ask myself, is this the kind of behavior that you would expect from people who are objectively open to the truth?
Jeff
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One Response to “The Bones of Jesus”
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We can certainly disprove the gospel stories through all the conflicting statements. However what is much more telling is that the whole story, can be found in Ancient Egypt. The first two chapters of Luke are more or less the same in four scenes with accompanying glyphs, in temples at Luxor and Denderah.
Most of the patriarchs have now been identified as Egyptian Kings, some of them even having the very same names, e.g. Jacob, Salim Amen (Solomon), Dyayhwt (David), Joshua (David) and so on. Jacob is even spelled the same – YKB – no vowels in Egyptian or Ancient Hebrew.
The name of Jesus has also stayed the same. The Egyptian Ever Coming Son was known as IOSA, and this is exactly the same name today, in Gaelic. (Arabic – Issa). The Son was also part of a trinity consisting of the God Uasar the father, the Son, and the Ka or Holy Spirit. There is even a painting of the Trinity on the wall of David V’s tomb and his Ka is carrying a small cross for him for his 3 day journey though the Duat or Underworld before resurrecting to his home in the Stars – Sirius.
The miracles and other events, such as Psalm 23 all relate to Egyptian theology and this can be studied in Gerald Massey’s work – ‘Ancient Egypt Light of the World’ (1907).
Recently a Christian pointed out that the Israel Foreign Ministry have mentioned a Roman Garrison and Centurion at Capernaum as being evidence. I emailed the archaeologists in charge of the site, the Franciscan brothers, and they emailed me back to say that there is no such site or remains.
The Israel Ministry it seems is trying to lure the Tourist Dollar. This is what Christianity is all about – making money so that a few priests and ministers can go on living in luxury and exert power through mind control and the banks.