Tuesday, February 27, 2007

So You Have Proof Against the Biblical Account of Jesus? Again?

It no longer seems coincidental. It no longer seems ironic. It no longer seems even conspicuous. Now, it’s just downright predictable—and shameful, at that.

What is this “it” I speak of? “It” is the continuous, repetitious attack on Christianity—the Biblical account of Christ’s life and resurrection in particular—that is so often well-timed to Easter Season, but, in fact, is a year-round event.

The latest episode is “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” produced by award-winning director James Cameron. In this documentary, accompanied by the release of the book The Jesus Family Tomb, which is set to air on the Discovery Channel, it is claimed that the tomb Jesus was actually buried in has been found. Supposedly, the tomb is a family one, containing the Hebrew or Greek equivalent inscriptions, “Jesus, Son of Joseph,” “Mary Magdalene,” and “Judah, Son of Jesus,” as well as others, including another Mary.

The implications here are rather obvious: first off, the supposed DNA of the deceased "Mary Magdalene" and "Jesus" are different, therefore, to be buried together in a family tomb, they very well could’ve been married. Plus, the film’s claim that Jesus had a son also lends weight to that conclusion.
Another natural conclusion of this conspiracy theory is that the resurrection didn’t happen—and, therefore, the Bible is not true and infallible, and hence the same end-goal of liberal theologians and unbelievers reveals itself once more. The filmmakers and film-supporters would likely deny this is their goal in making and supporting the documentary. On “Larry King Live,” the makers made it clear that “they are not theologians,” and they are “just asking questions,” "showing the evidence," and "reporting the news." In other words, “perhaps theologians might come up with a different explanation, now that their main one has been debunked,” such as the spiritual, not literal, resurrection of Christ….or, maybe, preposterously, Christ’s second death. Of course, few persons would actually come to these conclusions. Christ’s bodily, literal resurrection and ascension are central, foundational tenets of the Christian faith. Anyone, claiming to be a Christian, who would accept any lesser explanation of Jesus’ life and death, would show too much faith in man, and virtually none in God and His Word.

Besides, there is no need, as usual when one of these controversies boils down, to abandon your beliefs. In reality, each bombardment of this sort backfires against Satan, at least in my life. The truth is revealed; the fallacies, hoaxes, and frauds are uncovered; and Christ remains sitting on His throne in heaven. As unbelievers try to demolish my faith, they only succeed in solidifying and strengthening it. It happens on a frequent basis in the Creation/Evolution Debate; it happens annually during the Christmas Season; and it happens most regularly during this time of the year, pertaining to the resurrection. William Donohue, head of the Catholic League, whom I’m sure to disagree with on a myriad of theological issues, stated on “Larry King Live” last night that you can find on his website a list compiled detailing the annual attempts to discredit Christianity and the resurrection at this time of the year. They all, as far as I know, fall flat on their faces. Any that don’t really don’t prove anything significant anyways. Christianity has been refined by fire for two thousand years, by everyone from Julius Caesar to Transcendentalists, and it is still golden, though false Christian “dross” pervades the Church.

This work, paired up as book (The Jesus Family Tomb) and documentary ("The Lost Tomb of Jesus"), is no different than the others. It is outlandish, and, to be honest, amateurishly immature. William Donohue called it “science fiction,” while Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, referred to it as “laughable”—something that would be “laughed out of court.” While defending the documentary, the makers hold to the assertion that they are just “asking questions.” But, really, they should hold themselves to a higher-standard for questions. After all, they did spend two million dollars making this documentary……

Ah….money… A root of all sorts of evil, eh? Thanks to the controversy—“hell,” if you will—that this work is raising, it will probably garner a boatload of money. The book will probably make a brief appearance on the New York Times’ Best-Seller List, and the documentary will probably be pretty popular—as far as documentaries go. James Cameron and “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” aren’t Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code, another hoax of preposterous proportions and success, but they are proportionally “disciples,” like Peter is a disciple of Jesus. Though the makers of the film are doing the devil’s work—however God will decide to make it backfire—money was, in all likelihood, a persuading factor to their decision to make this documentary. It becomes increasingly clear that publicity (which is money in the entertainment business) is the most important thing with comments such as: “I think everyone should watch the documentary, read the book, and then make up their minds. First the questions, then the answers, not the other way around. Or, as Larry King, clearly biased as a Jewish atheist, said: “I think everyone should watch this documentary, to get at least a little enlightened.”

The thing is, I don’t really care about the money. That’s capitalism for you, and, if you want to speak in spiritual terms, it’s dirty money. Now, I’m not saying James Cameron and his minions—including Director Simcha Jacobovici—are going to hell. In fact, I hope they don’t. But, regardless, they’re going to have a lot to answer for. “Why are you persecuting Me?”

So, if I’m not jealous of someone making money trying to disprove the very core of who I am, what am I worried about? As I said, my faith will only grow stronger from this. As Bill Donahue stated, he’s not scared about the truth coming out because he’s confident in the truth. Christians have nothing to be afraid of. God’s ways—and truth—are higher than man’s ways—and truth. Even if some illustrious “indisputable evidence” came out, as has been claimed before—at least with other issues—it is eventually thrown in the trash pile as just that—trash.

So why am I concerned? Well, mainly, I am concerned for uneducated Christians and non-Christians alike. Dozens upon dozens of books came out dismantling all the ridiculous assertions of The DaVinci Code. But, how many people do you think read those books? How many people are still walking around saying, “You’re a Christian? But what about The DaVinci Code?” Damage will likely be unavoidable. That’s troublesome.

However, having said that, perhaps this will purify the church—making it stronger and more effectual. Perhaps this will make 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 all the more poignant and applicable. Plus, this is another opportunity to witness to people.

Nevertheless, though we know that God will cause this to work towards His will and together for the good of those who love Him, I wanted to write this article and an ensuing one--with some of the points against this film--in order to equip, encourage, and instruct.

I encourage you to listen to today’s broadcast of The Albert Mohler Show. Today’s show was dedicated to the topic.

~Kingdom Advancer

13 comments:

RobertDWood said...

That was long and well written... you need a sequel? :D

Good stuff.

nayrb said...

I agree with Palm Boy. Your last two post are of good quality.

I'm waiting for the sequel (for both).

Anonymous said...

Thank you both. Nice to meet you Nayrb.

The future existence (today, tomorrow, or Friday at the latest, hopefully) of the sequel is so that I can list some of the reasons WHY it's preposterous--besides the obvious. I really didn't provide much evidence in this article.

Moriah said...

My dad was sharing a little about "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" at the lunch table today. I couldn't help but think how it sounded a lot like "The DaVinci Code."
Unfortunately, though both are completely absurd, and false; many people are going to fall (or have already fallen) for their lies.

beepbeepitsme said...

And no bright sparks in here have realized that scientifically there is no way to conclusively show that the bones in the ossuary belong to jesus? Nor is there anyway to show conclusively that they are NOT the bones of jesus.

Oh, that's right, I forgot, you don't like the scientific method.

Austin said...

This has happened before. Nothing new under the sun. How many tombs are they going to find? We should imform them that they should be looking for an empty tomb. Even if they don't believe the resurrection, they should know by historical account that his tomb was found empty, whatever they would like to think the cause is.

And oddly enough, I agree with beepbeep - there's no science behind any of this. This should be an article in a tabloid, not a book and documentary. Oh well.

Anonymous said...

Actually, BeepBeep, I have realized that, as I am sure just about every person with common sense has. I'm glad you have too. ;)

My next article will point that out, along with a lot of other evidence that shows quite obviously--if not by the strict definition of "scientifically methodical conclusiveness"--, that this is simply a pathetic attempt, and that these are not the bones of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God in flesh, the Risen, Spotless, Sacrificial Lamb of God.

Thanks, Chris. I'm going to try to write an evidential rebuttal, as well, soon.

Austin, I agree with you and BeepBeep that there is no science behind proving it IS Jesus. However, there is much sense in proving it is NOT Jesus (Christ). Besides, though, if they can't prove scientifically that it IS Jesus, why should we have to prove scientifically that it ISN'T?

BeepBeep is just too impatient to let me write my follow-up article. :)

Jonathan M said...

Yeah, you're right, criticism against Christianity has been there, blown up and restarted a million times. C.S. Lewis (I think) said once that he sort of feels sorry for skeptics and those who try to squelch us because the minute they seem to finally have stamped us out, we pop up somewhere else, and they have to start all over again. German Criticism (1800s I think) backfired, Da Vinci was debunked, and in a matter of a year, I'd say nobody will be talking about this documentary.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it will even take that long.

Everybody...I'm still working on the follow-up.

nayrb said...

"Besides, though, if they can't prove scientifically that it IS Jesus, why should we have to prove scientifically that it ISN'T?"

I'm not sure you would want to go down that road. Think about that argument carefully.

Kingdom Advancer said...

I was simply saying that Christians--or critics, in general, of this tomb--shouldn't be expected to come up with Jesus' DNA in order to prove that this Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible when the supporters of the documentary can't come up with Jesus Christ's DNA. No one can, therefore no one can prove--by trying to match DNA--that this is or is not Jesus. However, many more factors come into play, some including DNA, as you will see in my next article.

Austin said...

Of course we don't have to prove that this is not Jesus. When you ask an atheist to prove that there is no God, they (correctly) state that you can't prove that he doesn't exist because you can't go everywhere that he might be. It is just as ridiculous for us to be expected to prove that this is not Jesus, given that we don't have any DNA to compare it to that I know of, unless we know where Mary or Jesus' brothers and sisters are. I don't think we know where any of his brothers and sisters are (some think they've found James, but I doubt it's the same one), and I'm certain that no one's found Mary. If we had found Mary, the Roman Catholics would be in trouble.

Austin said...

Of course, there's always historical record as proof this isn't him and that he went missing from the tomb, and that no one could produce his body (because he rose from the dead), but let the skeptics deal with that.