The Jesus Family Tomb...here we go again!!!
Alrighty…well if you haven’t heard already, BIG NEWS!!! Archeologists claim to have discovered the “lost family tomb” of Jesus Christ. The tomb marked “Jesus, son of Joseph” was found in Jerusalem along with other tombs marked “Miriam” (said to be Maria by the book), “Matya” (said to be Matthew), “Mariamne e Mara” (said to be Mary Magdalene), “Judah son of Jesus”, “Yose” (said to be Joses, the brother of Jesus according to Mark 6:3).
So here’s the argument. First, there is the name cluster. We have a “Jesus” related to a “Joseph”, along with a “Mary”, and another “Mary” (Mariamne) , a “Matthew” , a “Joses” and mysterious “Judah, son of Jesus”. Now, here the statistical game begins. What are the odds that a family tomb is found with the cluster of these names? According to Simcha Jacobovici, one in 2.4 million. And then, there is the DNA evidence. According to the mitochondrial DNA test, which only reveals or precludes maternal lineages, reveals that “Jesus” and “Mariamne” are not from the same mother to which Jacobovici concludes marital ties between “Jesus” and “Mariamne”, or at least strengthens prior suspicions. But the final clincher, is the one that puts it all together. It’s the one that connects all the dots. So far this tomb discover and name cluster thing is not uncommon. The initial problem, especially for the initial discoverers of the tomb in 1980, was the second “Mary” or “Mariamne”. This name has no connection to Jesus in the Gospels. BUT…here it is…in the possibly 4th (being VERY generous) century work the Acts of Phillip, there is mention of a character named Mariamne (Acts of Phillip 8:94-95), whom not even a handful of scholars, at least one mentioned from Harvard, believes to be Mary Magdalene at that not based on explicit evidence from the text itself.
How timely an attack on the resurrection of Jesus Christ; just near Resurrection Sunday. Last year it was the Gospel of Judas and now the ossuary which contained the bones of Jesus Christ at one point or another. Of course, if this is true, then the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ seems to be false not to mention the physical ascension of Jesus Christ as well. Now, early in the work it actually seems to be the case that Simcha believes that he is doing the Christian world a favor by revealing this discovery. In the foreword, the work begins by mentioning how many have disregarded the existence of a historical figure named Jesus Christ and then says, “But now, with this stunning book, Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino have delivered not just a particle of evidence but a veritable avalanche of it. Their investigation proves…that a first-century Jewish tomb…is the tomb of Jesus and his family” (pg. vii).
Of course, what the authors fail to realize is the centrality of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and its ensuing ascension. According to the Gospels found in the Bible and in the book of Acts, Jesus rose from the grave on the third day and hung around for about 40 days before being taken up bodily into heaven. This has been the historic Christian belief for roughly 2,000 years! This has been and still is the foundation for true Christianity. Listen to Paul in I Corinthians 15:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he WAS RAISED on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive today, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me…Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in you sins.(!) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Paul is very explicit that if Christ is body is still in the ground – essentially – then several things follow of necessity. (1) The Scriptures are not true since Christ’s resurrection was based on them (here in context, the Old Testament Scripture, much more the New Testament!) (2) The entire Christian movement – including its heretical sects – are gross misrepresentation of God and even making a liar out of God. (3) The entire Christian movement – which would include its heretical sects – is in vain. (4) If Christ is not raised, then all are still in our sins, that is, there is no salvation for anybody, PERIOD! (5) Finally, the apostles are to be the most pitied among men for their belief and practice which is based on a trumped-up story!
Perhaps it’s the case that Jacobovici really doesn’t understand this aspect of the Christian faith and how foundational the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ really is! Now, this is being entirely generous from a Christian – a historic Christian – perspective. One could just say “heretic!”, and be done with it. I really think Jacobovici believes he is doing the Christian community a favor. I think he’s deceived! He’s been theologically influenced by theologians of the likes of John Dominic-Crossan (of the more Liberal persuasion) and others (including Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels) who deny things like the historicity of the person of Jesus, the miracles of the Bible, the authority of the Bible, even the resurrection of Jesus Christ and affirm the Gnostic version of Christianity, including the validity of the Gnostic Scriptures. Now, if this is his source for what Christianity, I can hardly blame him and almost want to look at him as a child wounded by a ravaging wolf. But, alas, we choose our influences. A quick look through the bibliography reveals not one genuinely conservative, even middle of the road, Christian scholar; only those who are in favor of his theory. Horribly, he says, something to the effect of “this isn’t a problem for Christians and the resurrection and the ascension – unless you believe its physical !!” (pg. 71).
Well the problem is that we do believe the resurrection and ascension are physical ones!!! So, we have to take this for what it really is: an attack on the very heart of the Christian faith.
The funny thing about this work is that if this work is true, then the research done by Dan Brown for The Da Vinci Code is blatantly false. That is, if it is true that the bones of Mary Magdalene were interred in Jerusalem as Jacobovici proposes, then it cannot be true that Mary Magdalene fled to France after the crucifixion of Jesus and had a daughter named Sarah. Of course, if that is true, then this is obviously false and the tomb with the name “Mariamne” cannot be Mary Magdalene! Both claim “credible” research for their stories, so who is right? I don’t want to pursue that line of thought any further but only wish to point out how ridiculous all this really is. I mean come on! Myth after myth all to debunk what has not been, and I believe, cannot be truly debunked! There is PLENTY of credible scholarship out there that can certainly prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ with greater probability than the stats to prove that it didn’t happen in this work. One only needs to pick up Josh McDowell’s work, “Evidence that demands a verdict” to be blitzed with argument after argument and much evidence for the credibility of the New Testament Scriptures and the testimony of the apostles contained in them!
Hopefully, in the next few weeks I want to examine this issue a bit more. I have recently read the book already put out – let me say that it is not worth the $27.95. More than 75% of the book is merely the story of how they found the tomb and the steps they took to keep it all a secret until recently. I don’t like dealing with an issue like this because I think it is a joke on their part, but still it has to be taken for what it is: an attack on true historic Christianity. I hope that this research that I will provide will benefit the reader and will at least give them new ways of thinking about evidence, in particularly critical thinking about “evidence” and where it leads.
So here’s the argument. First, there is the name cluster. We have a “Jesus” related to a “Joseph”, along with a “Mary”, and another “Mary” (Mariamne) , a “Matthew” , a “Joses” and mysterious “Judah, son of Jesus”. Now, here the statistical game begins. What are the odds that a family tomb is found with the cluster of these names? According to Simcha Jacobovici, one in 2.4 million. And then, there is the DNA evidence. According to the mitochondrial DNA test, which only reveals or precludes maternal lineages, reveals that “Jesus” and “Mariamne” are not from the same mother to which Jacobovici concludes marital ties between “Jesus” and “Mariamne”, or at least strengthens prior suspicions. But the final clincher, is the one that puts it all together. It’s the one that connects all the dots. So far this tomb discover and name cluster thing is not uncommon. The initial problem, especially for the initial discoverers of the tomb in 1980, was the second “Mary” or “Mariamne”. This name has no connection to Jesus in the Gospels. BUT…here it is…in the possibly 4th (being VERY generous) century work the Acts of Phillip, there is mention of a character named Mariamne (Acts of Phillip 8:94-95), whom not even a handful of scholars, at least one mentioned from Harvard, believes to be Mary Magdalene at that not based on explicit evidence from the text itself.
How timely an attack on the resurrection of Jesus Christ; just near Resurrection Sunday. Last year it was the Gospel of Judas and now the ossuary which contained the bones of Jesus Christ at one point or another. Of course, if this is true, then the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ seems to be false not to mention the physical ascension of Jesus Christ as well. Now, early in the work it actually seems to be the case that Simcha believes that he is doing the Christian world a favor by revealing this discovery. In the foreword, the work begins by mentioning how many have disregarded the existence of a historical figure named Jesus Christ and then says, “But now, with this stunning book, Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino have delivered not just a particle of evidence but a veritable avalanche of it. Their investigation proves…that a first-century Jewish tomb…is the tomb of Jesus and his family” (pg. vii).
Of course, what the authors fail to realize is the centrality of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and its ensuing ascension. According to the Gospels found in the Bible and in the book of Acts, Jesus rose from the grave on the third day and hung around for about 40 days before being taken up bodily into heaven. This has been the historic Christian belief for roughly 2,000 years! This has been and still is the foundation for true Christianity. Listen to Paul in I Corinthians 15:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he WAS RAISED on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive today, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me…Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in you sins.(!) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Paul is very explicit that if Christ is body is still in the ground – essentially – then several things follow of necessity. (1) The Scriptures are not true since Christ’s resurrection was based on them (here in context, the Old Testament Scripture, much more the New Testament!) (2) The entire Christian movement – including its heretical sects – are gross misrepresentation of God and even making a liar out of God. (3) The entire Christian movement – which would include its heretical sects – is in vain. (4) If Christ is not raised, then all are still in our sins, that is, there is no salvation for anybody, PERIOD! (5) Finally, the apostles are to be the most pitied among men for their belief and practice which is based on a trumped-up story!
Perhaps it’s the case that Jacobovici really doesn’t understand this aspect of the Christian faith and how foundational the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ really is! Now, this is being entirely generous from a Christian – a historic Christian – perspective. One could just say “heretic!”, and be done with it. I really think Jacobovici believes he is doing the Christian community a favor. I think he’s deceived! He’s been theologically influenced by theologians of the likes of John Dominic-Crossan (of the more Liberal persuasion) and others (including Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels) who deny things like the historicity of the person of Jesus, the miracles of the Bible, the authority of the Bible, even the resurrection of Jesus Christ and affirm the Gnostic version of Christianity, including the validity of the Gnostic Scriptures. Now, if this is his source for what Christianity, I can hardly blame him and almost want to look at him as a child wounded by a ravaging wolf. But, alas, we choose our influences. A quick look through the bibliography reveals not one genuinely conservative, even middle of the road, Christian scholar; only those who are in favor of his theory. Horribly, he says, something to the effect of “this isn’t a problem for Christians and the resurrection and the ascension – unless you believe its physical !!” (pg. 71).
Well the problem is that we do believe the resurrection and ascension are physical ones!!! So, we have to take this for what it really is: an attack on the very heart of the Christian faith.
The funny thing about this work is that if this work is true, then the research done by Dan Brown for The Da Vinci Code is blatantly false. That is, if it is true that the bones of Mary Magdalene were interred in Jerusalem as Jacobovici proposes, then it cannot be true that Mary Magdalene fled to France after the crucifixion of Jesus and had a daughter named Sarah. Of course, if that is true, then this is obviously false and the tomb with the name “Mariamne” cannot be Mary Magdalene! Both claim “credible” research for their stories, so who is right? I don’t want to pursue that line of thought any further but only wish to point out how ridiculous all this really is. I mean come on! Myth after myth all to debunk what has not been, and I believe, cannot be truly debunked! There is PLENTY of credible scholarship out there that can certainly prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ with greater probability than the stats to prove that it didn’t happen in this work. One only needs to pick up Josh McDowell’s work, “Evidence that demands a verdict” to be blitzed with argument after argument and much evidence for the credibility of the New Testament Scriptures and the testimony of the apostles contained in them!
Hopefully, in the next few weeks I want to examine this issue a bit more. I have recently read the book already put out – let me say that it is not worth the $27.95. More than 75% of the book is merely the story of how they found the tomb and the steps they took to keep it all a secret until recently. I don’t like dealing with an issue like this because I think it is a joke on their part, but still it has to be taken for what it is: an attack on true historic Christianity. I hope that this research that I will provide will benefit the reader and will at least give them new ways of thinking about evidence, in particularly critical thinking about “evidence” and where it leads.
posted by prchdaword at 10:32 PM
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