Jesus Family Tomb Examined

‘Jesus tomb found’ in Jerusalem” – BBC News – Monday, 26 February 2007, 15:23 GMT?

Is it true? The news says that Jesus had a son named Judah and was buried alongside Mary Magdalene, according to a new documentary by Hollywood film director James Cameron.
It examines a tomb that, it is claimed, belonged to Jesus and his family, and was found in Jerusalem in 1980.
The Oscar-winning director of Titanic says statistical analysis and DNA show the tomb is that of Jesus.
Why BBC news has put this news in their Today’s Headline?
I will appreciate your answers with reference or proof.

I like to add…… The entire theory is based upon the statistical improbability of these names belonging to another family than that of Jesus Christ. However, it should be noted that 25% of the women in Jesus’ day were named Mary. Joseph was also a common name. And about one in ten had the name, “Jesua”.

Each name with the exception of Mariamene seemed common to their period, and it was only in 1996 that the BBC made a film suggesting that, given the combination, it might be that family.

The idea was eventually discounted, however, because, as University of St. Andrews (Scotland) New Testament expert Richard Bauckham asserted in a subsequent book, the names with Biblical resonance are so common that even when you run the probabilities on the group, the odds of it being the famous Jesus’ family are “very low.”

And the inference that Mariamene e Mara was Mary Magdalene, as Cameron and Jacobovici assert, is not agreed upon by experts. Bauckham notes, “If ‘Jesus’ and ‘Mariamene’ weren’t related matrilineally, why jump to the conclusion that they were husband and wife, rather than being related through their fathers? He adds, “The first use of ‘Mariamene’ for Magdalene dates to a scholar who was born in 185, suggesting that Magdalene wouldn’t have been called that at her death.

It is the fact that these particular names have been discovered in the same tomb that has fuelled speculation that it really could be Jesus’ tomb. But there are many contradictory questions that need to be answered before one jumps to a conclusion that overturns centuries of historical scholarship.

IF IT REALLY WAS JESUS’ TOMB—

1. Why don’t Cameron and Jacobovici cite scholars who disagree with their conclusions? For example, in 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims.

2. Since the custom was to bury the dead in their home town, why would Mary and Joseph’s family tomb be in Jerusalem instead of Nazareth? Middle East researcher and biblical anthropologist Joe Zias states, “It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Jerusalem, and if the family was wealthy enough to afford a tomb, which they probably weren’t, it would have been in Nazareth, not here in Jerusalem.” Zias dismisses Cameron’s claims as “dishonest”.

3. Why didn’t Jesus’ enemies, the Jewish leaders, expose the tomb? They searched unsuccessfully throughout Jerusalem for any evidence of Jesus’ body, claiming that Jesus’ disciples had stolen it. They hated Jesus enough to want him crucified, and would have been elated to discover his tomb, if it indeed existed.

4. Why didn’t the Romans expose the inscriptions as belonging to Jesus? Roman soldiers controlled the entire city of Jerusalem, and they knew his body was missing from a tomb they had been guarding.

5. Why didn’t contemporary Roman or Jewish historians write about the tomb? Not one single contemporary historian mentions the tomb in question.

6. Why was the James Ossuary, which has been labeled a forgery, cited by Cameron and Jacobovici as one of the reasons for the tomb‘s validity? CBS News correspondent Mark Philips reports “the archeological establishment has lined up to label this claim as bunk. This is the second time The Discovery Channel has been involved in a disputed claim about an ancient tomb,” reports Phillips. The man at the center of the previous case is now facing trial for forgery.” Ben Witherington, an early Christianity expert who was deeply involved with the James Ossuary, says “there are physical reasons to believe it couldn’t have originated in the Talpiot plot.”

7. Why are Jacobovici and Cameron waiting until just prior to Easter to launch both the book and documentary? Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television. “They just want to get money for it,” Kloner said.

8. Why would Jesus’ disciples endure torture for claiming he was resurrected, if they knew it was a hoax? New Testament scholar Darrell Bock asks, “why would Jesus’ family or followers bury his bones in a family plot and then turn around and preach that he had been physically raised from the dead?”

……this is only to sell books and movie tickets!!!!….not fact.

God Bless!

Jesus Family Tomb Interview

The Jesus Family Tomb Examined $10.63 This detailed scholarly book should put the final nail in the coffin of the Talpiot tomb theory. This cold case has been solved, and it does not involve Jesus or his family. Highly recommended….