Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Jesus' Burial Site Found?

Claims made in a new documentary about the discovery of Jesus's burial site have raised some questions among believers and non-believers.

As a believer, this news is just one of many and many more to come, to discredit the Christian faith. It is hard for me to take this more recent claims seriously.

When the early Christians started preaching the gospel, their faith stood or fell with the claims of Jesus' resurrection. The following passage from 1 Corinthians 15, best summarises the basis of their faith, and our present day faith.

12But 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? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More 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. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.


Therefore, it is hard for me to believe that if Jesus had not resurrected from the dead, that the early Christians were able to spread the message of the gospel. Their claims would easily have been discredited and their message rejected entirely. And they were right that they should be pitied more than all men, if Jesus had not resurrected.

But Jesus was indeed resurrected, and later ascended to heaven. There were witnesses to his resurrection and ascension (Luke 24:1-52).

Bar-Ilan University Prof. Amos Kloner, the Jerusalem District archeologist had this to say about the claims to the Jerusalem Post, "It makes a great story for a TV film, but it's impossible. It's nonsense. .. There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb. They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the 1st century CE." Also according to Prof. Kloner, the "Jesus son of Joseph" inscriptions had been found on several other ossuaries over the years.

It seems to me that James Cameron and
Simcha Jacobovici are very good at stirring this controversy and therefore drawing attention and interest to their Discovery Channel documentary.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:18 AM

    Mmm...It is so amazing, I didnt know during the ancient time in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, there was such word as "COFFIN". It has been to my knowledge all these times, from the history, they didnt use coffin to bury the death, instead, just wrapped the body with white linen, and place it inside the tomb, am I correct, or the historians had given us wrong info all these time??? But then again, the Bible is my true History book, my faith and salvation..

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  2. You are right, they did not bury their dead in a coffin. The bones were later collected and put in a box called an ossuary. In a family tomb, there could be several ossuaries containing bones of several family members.

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