Living Journey

If you want to do a bit of digging to find out what all the fuss is about see the official web-site for this soon to be aired documentary. The web-site is called ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus“.

Now at this web-site you will come across many references to gnosticism and symbols of freemasonry and even subtle hints to the Da Vinci Codes and the Knights of Templar.

One name to watch out for is Dr James Tabor who has recently released a new book called The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity. I am sure book sales will increase after the discovery channel airs this controversial topic. Anyway … Dr Tabor is also in the throes of writing a new bible translation and this one is called the “Transparent English Bible”. I don’t know much about this new bible translation and perhaps you may know more about it! The translation is due to come out sometime this year and I am sure there will be many scholars who will want to examine it more thoroughly.

Dr Tabor has some rather left off centre ideas about Jesus’ father and His family according to one reviewer, and I wonder if these ideas will be reflected in his new bible translation?

Tabor concludes that the most historically plausible claim is that Jesus’ father was neither God nor Joseph, but another man, possibly a Roman soldier named Pantera. He also argues that Joseph likely died when Jesus was young, leaving Jesus head of a household that included his six half-siblings.

Tabor not only challenges Christian dogma, he also makes some assumptions with which not all scholars will agree: he places a great deal of emphasis on the hypothetical text Q, calling it “our most authentic early Christian document.” This book is accessible and sure to be highly controversial, attracting the attention of reporters, spiritual seekers, historians and fans of The Da Vinci Code. (Publisher Weekly)

So yes, I would think that there will be some major critique when the Transparent English Bible comes out. Time will tell.

Another name to watch out for is Oded Golan he is the guy that had the infamous James Ossuary. There is a problem however, and that is … Oded Golan has been accused of fraud and forgery concerning antiquities. On the Jesus Family Tomb web-site they have this to say about the problem:

The problem is, at this time, Oded Golan is being tried on charges of fraud and forgery in Israel. On December 29, 2004, Golan was indicted in an Israeli court along with three other men: Robert Deutsch, an inscriptions expert who teaches at Haifa University; collector Shlomo Cohen; and antiquities dealer Faiz al-Amaleh.

You can read the Final Reports on the Yehoash Inscription and James Ossuary from the Israeli Antiquities Authority here. I will quote a few conclusions concerning the James Ossuary that Oded Golan had in his possession:

Oded Golan contacted me (Orna Cohen Conservator of Antiquities) over ten years ago, introduced himself as an engineer representing a group of investors who renovate historic buildings. He spoke of the Khan at Sha`ar Hagai as a one of the sites they are preparing to renovate. He said he had studied the subject of creating old patina on new stone to set into the building. I showed him a number of related articles and we discussed the subject.

Patina is composed mainly of oxylates formed as a result of organic activity on the stone surface. The production of this material can be accelerated in a laboratory by creating suitable conditions.
In view of the doubts that have arisen regarding the authenticity of the antiquities in his possession, I think it important to know that Oded Golan possesses such information.

From my examination, the ossuary appears to be authentic. Its inscription suggests forgery, for the following reasons:

• The patina in the letters is grainy, crumbly and falls apart on touch. It is not similar to natural patina. It appears that ground chalk mixed with water was used to coat the letters.
• A thin coat of chalk dust coats the original patina on the inscribed side, probably to camouflaging the intervention of the inscription.
• While examining the inscription, some of the grainy material inside the letters was collected for laboratory examination. A microscopic examination revealed the same yellowish patina as on the ossuary surface inside the letters “brother of Jesus”. No similar patina, however, was found inside the letters of the first part of the inscription.

The reason why this ossuary is mentioned is because in the tomb that has come up with the ossuaries of the family of Jesus, there was one that went missing; this is what they say about the missing ossuary:

“one of the ten ossuaries went missing from “The Jesus Family Tomb.” Its hastily scribbled, rounded-out dimensions generally match the James ossuary.

And the film documents recent tests conducted at the CSI Suffolk Crime lab in New York which demonstrate that the patina (a chemical film encrustation on the box) from the James ossuary matches the patina from the other ossuaries in the Talpiot tomb”.

Now if the patina on James’ ossuary matches that of other ossuaries in the Talpiot tomb and the patina on James’ ossuary is said not to be authentic, doesn’t this raise some serious questions of authenticity?

Let’s look a bit further into the gnostic side of the tomb. Have you ever heard of a Chevron before? To be honest I hadn’t, but it did pique my interest. Anyway, this is how they describe the strange symbol:

[...]the first thing they noted was a strange symbol over the door to the tomb, on the south face of the antechamber. They were at a complete loss. They had never seen another like it: a decorative V- or Y-shaped gable or chevron over a prominent circle. It measured more than a meter wide, wider, in fact, than the passage to the tomb beneath it.

Apparently it is a little confusing as to when this symbol originally came about but there have been links to this symbol being the all Seeing eye and it can also be linked to freemasonry. They also discuss that Chevron is a secret symbol that can be linked to the Knights of Templar; they make special mention that Dan Brown may not have had it all wrong after all, they say that there may be some truth in what he concluded.

There is also an ossuary that is called “Judah son of Jesus” and this is the supposed ‘Son of Jesus the Son of Mary Magdalene’ - incidentally, the inscription on her ossuary carries the title of “Mariamene e Mara” – “Mariamne, also called Master” a much more important title than that of Jesus. Ironic isn’t it, that it was only a few months ago Judas the betrayer recorded in the gospels was recently called into question as to whether or not he was in on the plan with Jesus and was perhaps even considered to be the most beloved of all the disciples who would help carry out the plan to crucify the Lord (hmmm I wonder if the bones of Jesus have the marks of crucifixion?).  According to this documentary we apparently have the bones of the son of Jesus who was called Judah which is another version of the name Judas. The irony!

Looking further into it we find that Mary Magdalene is now called the Master! It was only a few months ago that Mary Magdalene’s role as a major disciple was announced because of the recent book and film called the Da Vinci Codes; this Mary knew of secrets that Jesus only shared with her. Dan Brown would be loving this!

There is another secret contained within this tomb - Mary the mother of Jesus - her ossuary was written in Latin, this ossuary is called Maria. I bet the Church of Rome is loving that, or maybe not! I was not aware that Latin was even a language back then. Does anybody know if latin was a language back in the 1st Century AD?

Now of course this site has called into question the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus with all its claims. They have a discussion on that also, you can find that here.

But like I said … the first ossuary has been examined and there seems to be some playing around with the inscriptions found on it. And if this ossuary is one of the missing ten that was originally found in the Talpiot Tomb then we have to be very wary of the other ossuaries authenticity.

But Bar-Ilan University Prof. Amos Kloner, the Jerusalem District archeologist who officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents, on Saturday night dismissed the claims. “It makes a great story for a TV film,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “But it’s impossible. It’s nonsense.”

Kloner, who said he was interviewed for the new film but has not seen it, said the names found on the ossuaries were common, and the fact that such apparently resonant names had been found together was of no significance. He added that “Jesus son of Joseph” inscriptions had been found on several other ossuaries over the years.

“There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb,” Kloner said. “They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the 1st century CE.” Jerusalem Post

I personally think that this whole thing is a concerted effort to try and debunk Christianity by liberal scholars, but hey … that is my faith talking.

Yes, before you get all hung up about it …. I do realise my reasoning is based on the faith I have on the inerrant Word of God; which I consider is over and above a hypothetical document that doesn’t exist at all called ‘Q’. Yes, my faith resides in a book that I consider being God’s Word to mankind rather than a story written by man about his idea of what or who God actually is.

My faith is based on the fact that a major part of the bible has prophecy written into it and the very fact that the Jews are back in their homeland called Israel is just one of many fulfilled prophecies that have come to pass in my parent’s life time. I base my faith in an empty tomb and the harmony of the gospels firstly. Outside resources like Josephus and many others that testify to the fact that Jesus existed and that a crazy sect called Christians were willing to die for their belief in the fact of the resurrection was gaining ground across Judea then spreading further, well…. that is just icing on the cake for me.

There is a puzzle though … don’t you think that with the spread of the Christian faith after Jesus death, burial and resurrection (my faith talking here) that the government at that time would have been hugely grateful to have had Jesus bones or even Jesus’ son and wife to debunk the crazy notions of the newly founded Christian sect who were spreading lies about an empty tomb and the ascension? Nothing at that time was revealed by the government, they didn’t produce a thing to counter the resurrection story. Not a bone, not a son, not a wife. That certainly would have put and end to the sect … you know those crazy ones who were killed because they believed in the Messiah-ship of Jesus, the death by crucifixion and the bodily resurrection of Christ.

Just something to ponder!