The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones. And he led me about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.
“Spirit”… That is, soul, life, and breath.
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God:
In case you haven’t heard, James Cameron (director of “Titanic,” “Aliens,” and “The Terminator.”) has become a biblical scholar, archaeologist, and refuter of the Christian faith. He produced The Discovery Channel’s up-coming Lenten PR blast, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” The program argues that ten small caskets that were used to store bones, discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980, may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family.
The Discovery Channel’s paid researchers say the study of ancient DNA (yes, they actually have a cheek swab from Jesus, and I think they got a blood sample from the cross and/or the Shroud or Turin), the old-world language of Aramaic, archeology, and other evidence lends credible (public relations stunt) support to the fact that these remains belong to Jesus and his family, but also that Jesus and Mary Magdalene (also known as Mariamena) were married and had a child named Judah (all believed to be the remains found in the tomb).
A nay-sayer, an actual biblical scholar who was interviewed in the documentary, says the film’s hypothesis holds little weight, but Cameron says his evidence is based on sound statistics. Oh yes, add statistician to the list above, and maybe potential Nobel Prize winner.
Christian Newswire in Ten Reasons Why The Jesus Tomb Claim is Bogus states:
“Unfortunately, this is a story full of holes, conjectures and problems,” said Dr. Ben Witherington, author of What Have They Done With Jesus? and New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. “It will make good TV and involves a bad critical reading of history. Basically, this is old news with a new interpretation. We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”
Witherington and other leading biblical scholars and archaeologists say there are at least 10 reasons why the “Jesus Tomb” claim is completely bogus:
- There is no DNA evidence that this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth
- The statistical analysis is untrustworthy
- The name “Jesus” was a popular name in the first century, appearing in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries
- There is no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married or had a child
- The earliest followers of Jesus never called him “Jesus, son of Joseph”
- It is highly unlikely that Joseph, who died earlier in Galilee, was buried in Jerusalem, since the historical record connects him only to Nazareth or Bethlehem
- The Talipot tomb and ossuaries are such that they would have belonged to a rich family, which does not match the historical record for Jesus
- Fourth-century church historian Eusebius makes quite clear that the body of James, the brother of Jesus, was buried alone near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries, making very unlikely that the Talipot tomb was Jesus’ “family tomb”
- The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal, but simply has the name Mary, one of the most common of all ancient Jewish female names
- By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty, making it highly unlikely that it was moved to another tomb, decayed for one year’s time, and then the bones put in an ossuary
“In light of all the incredible number of problems with the recent claim that Jesus’ grave has been found, the time-honored, multi-faceted evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is more convincing than ever,” said Dr. Gary Habermas, an expert on the resurrection of Jesus and author of The Case for the Resurrection. “Even the early opponents of the Christian message acknowledged that Jesus’ tomb was empty. And the evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection appearances has never been refuted.”
As with the hoax over the bones of St. James, skepticism is in order on the part of the larger public.
People of faith are not fooled of course. We’ve come to expect such things and have vast experience of them over the past 2,000+ years. Faith trumps Hollywood directors who have been relegated to the backwaters of the Discovery Channel.
For those interested, Mr. Cameron will soon be raising funds by selling relics of Yeshua Ben Yosef at your local Discovery Channel Store. I may stop by the one in Crossgates Mall to pre-order my ‘Bones of Jesus’ play set.
For those interested (like the media should be…) here are a few folks who actually know what they are talking about (also from Christian Newswire):
Dr. Paul Maier, Bible scholar and author of more than 15 books including The Da Vinci Code —“ Fact or Fiction?, More Than a Skeleton and Josephus —“ The Essential Works. Professor of Ancient History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Telephone: (269) 387-4816
Joe Zias, Thirty years professional experience in the field of Medical/Physical anthropology; Over 80 articles in peer reviewed medical and scientific journals; Science and Archeology Group at Hebrew University. Former senior curator of Archeology and Anthropology at the Israel Antiquities Authority for which he was responsible for the curation of the antiquities stored in the Israel Antiquities Authority, ranging from the Pre-historic periods up to the 18th Century AD. These objects, numbering over 75,000, included the Dead Sea Scrolls, pre-historic human skeletal remains as well as artifacts from the regions premier archaeological sites such as Jericho, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Telephone: 972-2-588-2811 Hebrew University (from United States first dial 011)
Dr. Amos Kloner, Officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents. Professor, Department of Land of Israel Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Jerusalem, Israel
Telephone: 972-3-531-7283 (from United States first dial 011)
…and in conclusion:
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun’
Oh hear the word of the Lord