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Jesus Bone-Box Twist

Yet another twist in the saga of the ‘Jesus Bone Box’ (the ossuary supposedly bearing the name of James, the brother of Jesus). In December 2004 the State Prosecutor’s Office in Israel indicted ‘discoverer’ Oled Golan for antiquities forgery, after the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) concluded that the inscription on the ossuary was a recent addition.

Now, evidence has been presented in the case which suggests the allegedly forged inscription was in place three decades ago:

In the defense’s photographs, dated 1976, the ossuary is shown on a shelf, apparently in Golan’s home. In an enlargement, the whole inscription can be seen with great difficulty. The photo was examined by Gerald Richard, a former FBI agent and an expert for the defense. Richard testified that “Nothing was noted that would indicate or suggest that they were not produced in March 1976 as indicated on the stamps appearing on the reverse side of each print.”

This latest development follows years of highly charged arguments from various authorities. Of note is the dispute between the IAA and Hershel Shanks, the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, who has been a vociferous supporter of the authenticity of the ossuary. Stay tuned for more…

Editor
  1. is this the season to ‘discover’ things?
    In another posting in ref to a RLC discovery, I suggested the possibility of a scam. In this situation according to a wiki posting this is the case of a scam. I jocularly made a point of Mels’ Passion nails as being a future scam. It would be great to find James’ bones and let Brian Sykes do a DNA screen for authenticity. If James’ bones were not in the ossuary, what was it used for all these past centuries, a donkey feeding trough? I found nothing on the ‘Net about the track record of ownership of this ossuary, I mentioned the possibility of a ‘sacred aura’ if one exists of these personal items with a connection to Jesus, if He would allow them to end up in profane hands to be pandered and exploited in this manner.
    The ergo assumption Jesus had blood brothers thru His mom is the mantra of gnostics and New Agers who see this ossuary as ‘proof’ of their belief. One would think that it may take 100s of years like in the case of the Turin Shroud before any definitive pronouncement can be made, since we won’t be on the planet at that time, my predicted scenario of Mels’ nails will be hotly debated if they are genuine.

  2. The greater Jesus fiction
    Calling a photograph “evidence” when it is inconclusive as well as being presented before the court has passed down its verdict gives the religious moonbats the “out” that they need to go on believing that there is archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus.

    You would also have to expect that Herschel Shanks is behind this latest claim.

    Sorry, Christians. You’ll have to face the facts – the gospels are a fictional account of a failed Jewish Messiah, designed to placate the remaining Jewish zealots who were not wiped out in the Jewsih War of 70-73 CE.

    Reread the Parable of the Evil Tenants. Why does Jesus conclude that the tenants deserve to be wiped out? Why does Jesus follow this with an admonition to pay taxes to Caesar?

    1. influence ?
      For a failed Messiah that did not exist he certainly changed the world, of all cultures. Not too shabby I would say.

      —-
      You probably would not worry about what people think of you, if you could know how seldom they do (Olin Miller)

      1. Indeed.
        “For a failed Messiah that did not exist he certainly changed the world, of all cultures.”

        From your second sentence, is one meant to conclude that the change he brought to the world was a good thing? Even for the cultures that never heard of him? What a pity that we can’t even begin to estimate how many people have perished because of belief or lack of belief in the completely unsubstantiated collection of fairy tales built around yet another messiah.

        The whole issue of the ossuary is a moot point in any case. Whether there was a man named Jesus with a brother named James proves nothing in itself; it’s at best a secondary bit of evidence for a premise for which there is no primary evidence and that’s one of Christianity’s biggest weaknesses; the main actor supposedly lived only two millennia ago, in an area controlled by fanatical record-keepers, and there isn’t a shred of red-tape attesting to his existence. That’s a major problem, considering how much we know about many much less important figures who lived somewhat earlier than Jesus is meant to have done.

        Regrettably the whole issue is an idle one as well as a moot point. If the box were proven to be genuine as to age, it would not prove the existence of Jesus Christ, although Believers would be prone to take it that way; it would at best serve as confirmation of something they already believed. Similarly its being shown to be a sham would matter very little because proof doesn’t matter to those of faith and the issue in any case isn’t whether there was a man named Jesus…the issue would be whether he was the Son of God and a bit of stone won’t prove it. Indeed, if the box were shown to be genuine as to age it would be taken as proof of many things by true believers because heaven knows they haven’t any proof of any other kind.

        Being the pragmatist I am, I’m not inclined to speculate on whether some poor bastard who got nailed to a bit of wood was or wasn’t the Son of God…I just suspect that the world would have been a better and more peaceful place if someone had smothered him at birth. There would, of course, have been no shortage of other lunatics to take his place, more’s the pity. It’s one of Man’s greatest weaknesses, that anything which panders to our arrogance will prosper mightily…what a shame that we’ll never advance until we put the irrationality of religion behind us, as the quaint superstition it is.

        Cheers

        Good News: There’s a guiding force at work in the Universe. Bad News: It’s Irony.

        1. well put,
          I thought you put that very nicely. The spread of christianity, from a small part of this planet, around the world like a virus, has confused and destroyed other philosiphies that had upheld morals in others cultures for thousands of years. As much as the thought of JC existing as a person would be comforting to believe, there is no evidence at all. As you put it,” Whether there was a man named Jesus with a brother named James proves nothing in itself; it’s at best a secondary bit of evidence for a premise for which there is no primary evidence and that’s one of Christianity’s biggest weaknesses; the main actor supposedly lived only two millennia ago, in an area controlled by fanatical record-keepers, and there isn’t a shred of red-tape attesting to his existence.”But all of western society is based strongly on this religion. It really has become a tradition now that would be very difficult to bury.

          “While contemplating on their life, anyone who says they have no regrets and would do it all the same again, have not learn’t anything.”
          LRF.

          1. the box
            Of course the box has little or no significance. If the age of the box and the inscriptions on it fits the age, we only know that there was a guy named James who had a brother named Jesus. No wait. We still don’t know that, we only know that at the time, someone wrote that on the box. Whether the Jesus in question was the son of God it pretty far removed from this. So if the box is genuine evidence, it is evidence of very little.

            If the box is not genuine evidence, it provides no information at all about whether or not Jesus existed as described in the Gospel.

            What is peculiar is how people get excited over these details.

            It is a clear and present fact that Christianity has been a significant religion, often abused to maintain power over countries and empires. Some people want to prove that Jesus did not exist, and thus Christianity is not significant. You can’t do that. It has been significant.

            To thefloppy1‘s argument about “other philosiphies that had upheld morals in others cultures for thousands of years”, I suggest that these cultures’ morals were not any better, nor did they uphold them. But that is an old debate, and I would prefer that we don’t repeat it.

            What I do find interesting is the continual emergence of new religions. Marxism, nazism, atheism, animal rights, veganism, soccer. Those kinds of things. But that has nothing to do with the original thread here (the box).

            —-
            Experience: it enables you to recognize your mistakes even as you repeat them

        2. I dont know where everyone
          I dont know where everyone stands on this here. All I know is that you have not been researching anything if you say there is no proof of Jesus’ existance. If you look into it you will find numorous writings outside of the Bible that have discribed who he was. Suprisingly there are many non-christian writers who wrote on him and what he did. I also find it funny that people have tried to find proof of error in the Bible and what it says. It has never been proven to have any error in it. Funny enough is that a lot of scientists and researchers going into this trying to prove the Bible wrong actually end up becoming christians themselves. Weather or not someone digs up some bones that say they are from a man named jesus doesnt prove anything cuz everyone and their brother from that time were named jesus. It was a very common name. And the fact that the way these people were burried would mean that they were rich people would go against all the records of jesus being poor.

          I am obviously a christian and i find it offensive that someone would say that this world would be better off if Jesus would have been killed as a baby or never existed. The fact is that Jesus never did anything wrong. He was love and showed people how to love. Now unless your against love then I dont know what to say. Nothing bad can come out of love.

          I guess my main point is to actually go out and research things before stating things that are not true at all.

          1. A number of points
            First of all, your biggest mistake is assuming that I have not looked into what I speak of merely because my conclusions differ from yours. I would in fact suggest that it is you who has not done his homework, that you have in fact fallen prey to dogma without expending any effort on seeking truth.

            There is not a single credible and contemporary source of evidence that Jesus existed as the “bible” says he did; if anything, there’s some reason to believe that he was merely an amalgam of a number of different individuals, certainly there was absolutely nothing novel in his supposed pronouncements.

            You say: “Funny enough is that a lot of scientists and researchers going into this trying to prove the Bible wrong actually end up becoming christians themselves.” Got any proof of that assertion? Whether you do or more likely don’t hardly matters because the statement if true is just a depressing comment on how gullible Man can be; it’s certainly not an endorsement of the bible because the errors and contradictions within the bible defy any rational sense of probability. If I am to understand that you believe the bible to be without error, please send me a bucket of whatever drugs you’re on.

            You claim to be a christian and apparently you’re offended. It is seldom or maybe never that I set out to be gratuitously offensive because my time is far too valuable to waste it in such a way. You’re entitled to your opinion of Jesus’ behavior and I’m entitled to my opinion that there’s an uncountable number of people dead before their time because of their belief or lack of belief in what He supposedly said. Now some would say that if this jesus guy hadn’t shot his mouth off then some other lunatic would have done so and they’d be right and chances are that the death-toll would have been just as high but that just means that anyone of a religious bent should get the same treatment that I originally suggested for jesus.

            While I doubt it’ll do anything useful, open a Google window and type “errors in the bible” into the search field. After you’ve gone through the 1 & 1/2 million results, feel free to report back to me. Also, you might try checking out http://www.jesusneverexisted.com The owner of the site does have some issues to work through but I think you may find it quite difficult to argue with his opinions on any factual basis. Lastly, if none of the fore-going has reached you, try Luke 6:41

            Cheers

            Of course God is an invention of Man, look at how poorly he behaves.

    2. Evidence?
      [quote=Lee]Calling a photograph “evidence” when it is inconclusive as well as being presented before the court has passed down its verdict gives the religious moonbats the “out” that they need to go on believing that there is archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus. [/quote]

      I have to confess to being baffled by your statement here Lee. Surely the best time to present any evidence would be ‘before’ the court passes down its verdict? At least then the court can decide as to the reliability of the evidence. If it had been produced *after* the case I could see your point (seeming more like propaganda), but not before.

      Also, whatever Golan’s guilt (or innocence), I don’t think the photo is being produced for the ‘religious moonbats’. It’s for his legal defense. I’m pretty sure he’s a Jew, so the whole proving a real Jesus Christ wouldn’t be the highest item on his agenda (apart from the significance to his own defense).

      I have no doubt though, that any moonbats in the vicinity will use the evidence to the best of their ability to confirm their worldview.

      Kind regards,
      Greg
      ——————————————-
      You monkeys only think you’re running things

  3. Other options
    James’s ossuary isn’t the only one linked to the ‘Holy Family’ as work by James Tabor has shown. There’s quite a few curious inscriptions on ossuaries which seem to be JC’s family bone boxes. Plus the not insubstantial witness of Isaac Luria that JC was buried in Galilee. Have a read of James Tabor’s “The Jesus Dynasty” for more information – his theories have more substance than most.

    As the Gnostic gospels show there was more than one tradition about what happened to JC after he was nailed – some report he was buried “in the sand” not a tomb, or that his body was removed before the disciples got to it. There’s hints in the Xian tradition itself that what the disciples viewed was not his resurrected body, but visible signs of its presence in the form of the Shroud of Turin. Perhaps that experience was enough to trigger visions of JC?

    And there might be a trace of what that experience was like. Numerous scholars have pointed to the Transfiguration – the vision of Jesus on a mountain with Elijah and Moses – is quite probably a post-Resurrection story that was projected back before the Crucifixion by Mark, the first Gospeller to mention it. Both “John” and the “Gospel of Peter” are silent about the Transfiguration, but both mention an important post-Crucifixion encounter with JC in Galilee, though frustratingly “Peter” is incomplete at this point.

    The Universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we CAN imagine.

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