The Lost Tomb of Jesus

I watched “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” last night on the Vision channel.

I’m agnostic, so I don’t have a stake in this particular issue, and I found it quite interesting. The hypothesis that is presented doesn’t come off as probable, but definitely in the range of possible.

There are some things that seemed a bit off to me though.

1) Why was the tomb between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and why did the producers believe that was the most likely place for it, rather than in Nazareth or between Nazareth and Jerusalem. After all, Jesus was from Nazareth, was he not? Bethlehem was just where his parents were forced to go for a census at the same time he was born. They fled thereafter, but is there any indication they ever returned and called it home?

2) How come, if it was some sort of law that if a person was known by a nickname that that nickname should be engraved on the ossuary, that Peter’s supposed ossuary was marked as Simon, his real name rather than the nickname by which he was known? And if there was a rule about ossuary markings in the first place, how come so many ossuaries don’t have any markings at all?

3)How come DNA testing was only done on Yeshua and Mariamne’s ossuaries, and not on the other? Wouldn’t it have been important to determine whether Maria was the mother of Yeshua, Jose, and/or the other men buried in the tomb? Or which of the men were brothers? Or whether Mariamne was perhaps a sister of one of the other men?

4) Why was the assumption immediately made, when Yeshua and Mariamne’s mitochondrial DNA determined they didn’t share a mother and that she wasn’t his mother, that they were husband and wife? Not only are there a number of familial relations that could explain that, but suddenly there was no mention of all the other men’s ossuaries also found in the same tomb. Since James’ ossuary (theoretically) was found beside Jesus’s, someone elses ossuary was found beside Mariamne’s. Woudn’t that be significant as well?

There were some other things I found strange that weren’t mentioned or glossed over in the show, but I didn’t take notes so I’ve forgotten them.

As for the theologian that said that finding the physical remains of Jesus would not affect his faith, he ought to read the Bible more…

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

1 Cor 15:14 -19

Fortunately for all the Christians who do not wish to question their faith any further, this documentary does not provide evidence enough to make worthless anyone’s faith.

Tags: lost tomb of Jesus, james cameron, christianity, jesus, archaeology

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