And The Debate Rages On

It has been a bedrock principle of Christianity for the past 2000 years that Jesus Christ died a single man and rose from the dead in order to save man from his sins. But a recent documentary produced by James Cameron entitled ‘The Tomb of Christ’ presents a challenge to the paradigm that has guided man for two millennia. The documentary, which is to air on the Discovery Channel on March 4, is based around ten ancient stone boxes (coffins) discovered in Jerusalem in 1980, which carbon date back to the time that Jesus lived. Within those ten boxes were believed to be the remains of Jesus, Mary Magdalene (his supposed wife), and remainder of his family.

One box even has an inscription stating, “Judah, son of Jesus,” which could signal that Jesus had a child, which would refute the basis of Christianity. But of course there are those that refute the evidence, especially scholars and those in religious community. It is believed that Jesus and his supposed family would have no business being entombed in an area that was of middle class status in Old Jerusalem, as Jesus is referred to as a poor man in scripture. Plus, it is widely believed that he spent three days lying in “state” at a temple across town, far away from the middle class area.

Others all calling the documentary propaganda aimed at misleading people and making money. Other say such names like Jesus and Mary were rather prominent during the time period the boxes were entombed. It is not even known if the boxes actually state the name Jesus, as the language of the time period (Ancient Semitic) is rather hard to decipher. Never the less this is another potential dent in the armor of Christianity. Other evidence has come to prominence that possibly disproves the legend of Jesus, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls found from 1947-1956.

The scrolls include what is referred to by religious scholars as the Gnostic Gospels. These particular gospels were not included in the New Testament (completed around 300AD) and include the gospels written by Judas (the apostle who betrayed Jesus) and Mary Magdalene herself. In a historic sense, we do know that Jesus did exist (unlike Abraham or Moses, which is in doubt) from 4-33AD. But the trouble is that he is only written about in an external source once, a book of Antiquities composed in 90AD. It is obvious that Jesus existed, but it is not so obvious of what context he existed in.