The Lost Tomb of Jesus

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus?" You've got to be kidding. Tours are given of the site daily that both Christian and secular historians have identified. So why would anyone say they found Jesus' family tomb, His bones, and the bones of His wife and son? I smell an advertising scheme being used to help someone put a dollar or two in his personal bank account!

Academy Award winning director, James Cameron is catalyst behind this endeavor. Cameron and investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici, who wrote the book "The Jesus Family Tomb" are attempting to ride the coat tails of Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code." Interesting, since James Cameron's 1998 movie, Titanic, was such a success and Ron Howard's, "The Da Vinci Code," was not. After all of the hype prior to the Da Vinci code and questions about whether or not it would cause people to doubt their faith, that movie moved off the scene quickly and very little discussion followed.

Cameron's "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" will premier on March 4 on the Discovery Channel. I for one - won't be watching! To call this a documentary raises great question about the credibility of the Discovery Channel itself. The entire premise for this "documentary" is built around theories that have been discredited by archaelologists since the limestone boxes were discovered in 1980. In fact, Cameron and Jacobivici both appeared recently on the TODAY Show and admitted that the probability that the remains are NOT really those of Jesus and His family members is more than 100 to 1.

Jesus was a very common name during the time of Christ. Jesus is a variation on the names Joshua, Jeshua, and Jehoshua. The variation would be similar to Robert, Roberto, or Bob. The name, Jesus, in that time would be as common as the names Bill, Tom, or Bob, today. Historians record at least 5 high priests known as Jesus. The historian, Josephus, makes reference to at least twenty people named Jesus. The name Jesus is used over 600 times in the New Testament. Colossians 4:11 refers to Jesus Justus, the friend of Paul. Acts 13:6 refers to the sorcerer at Paphos called Bar-Jesus. Some manuscripts even give Jesus as the first name of Barrabus in Matt. 27:17. So, to find a tomb with the name Jesus on it and conclude it must be Jesus the Christ; would be like finding a tombstone with George on it and concluding it must be George Washington.

Even further, to hear the claims that Jesus' name inscribed on the box demands more credibility would disqualify the so-called "authorities" even further. Archaelogists describe the practice of inscribing names on the burial boxes as being a very common practice in that region of the world during the 1st century. To even further discredit the so-called authorities that are pushing for DNA testing... just who are they going to compare the DNA to? Rational thinking and scientific approaches quickly discredit Cameron and reduce his claims to nothing more than a publicity stunt for his new movie.

Finally, will this shake the faith and foundation of the Church? Absolutely not! If anyone is persuaded by Cameron's claims, their faith was weak to start. To put the claims of Cameron ahead of the Holy Bible, which has been proven to be supernatural, would be ludicrous. It would also be to ignore the teachings and warnings of Jesus found in Matthew 24.