Article - The Lost Tomb of Christ?

The Lost Tomb of Christ?

This week “60 Minutes” featured a story from Tara Brown about the latest controversy surrounding an alleged discovery of the tomb of Jesus. Media hype has been fuelled by a documentary by film-maker James Cameron which argues that bones found in 10 ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — may belong to Jesus Christ and a number of His associates.

Cameron’s documentary has been widely criticized by scholars world-wide, with even the experts who worked on the film expressing doubt that the tomb is the tomb of Jesus. Shimon Gibson, who was featured in the 60 Minutes report, has been quoted as saying "Personally, I'm skeptical that this is the tomb of Jesus and I made this point very clear to the filmmakers".[1] Just doing a basic search on the internet reveals the overwhelmingly critical response from archaeologists and scholars who specialise in Middle Eastern history.

Stephen Pfann, a scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem made an insightful comment when he said "I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this, but skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

It has been widely asserted that throughout history religion has promoted an “unscientific” worldview which represses genuine scientific enquiry. Some people think that Science and Religion are like oil and water –they just don’t mix. Some go further and assume that there must be a tension between the two – that Science will one day overcome the ‘need’ for Religion or that Religion (that is, religious extremism) will plunge us back into another ‘dark age’ where freedom of expression, thought and enquiry are no longer tolerated. That might seem far-fetched, but there are some places in the world that operate like this even today.

However, many people have come to appreciate that Science and Religion can be greatly enriched by one another. Certainly, the bible contains many “scientific” observations and reflections which are in harmony with it’s teachings about things which cannot be dealt with in a scientific manner. For example, you can observe the incredible complexity of creation through scientific observation, and you can grow to understand the mechanisms of our physical Universe, but none of that answers the question of whether there is a Creator or not. That is a decision which you make on the basis of the evidence. The evidence does not make the decision for you, it merely informs you.

We need to recognise, though, that we are not purely rational beings. We do not make decisions based on evidence and reasoning alone. We each are impacted by our motives, emotions, personal histories, present environment and so on. The Bible goes one step further (warning - this might freak out people who have a purely “scientific” mindset) to say that there is are spiritual beings who seek to influence us. That’s a huge subject which I would be happy to answer questions about if you are interested!

If you look at modern advertising techniques, you will find that very rarely do advertisers attempt to get you to buy their product by providing evidence as to why that is a good choice. Rather, they try to hook in to your emotions to create a positive feeling that you associate with their product. They have discovered that this is far more persuasive than a rational approach.

People who for whatever reason seek to undermine Christianity know that all they need to do is create an image of credibility to the impression that the key elements of Christianity have been ‘disproven’. Most people would prefer to believe that is the case, because if it’s true that Jesus really did rise from the dead, maybe His promise of returning is also true. Maybe that stuff about sin and judgement, the need for forgiveness and the promise of eternal life is also true - but that means we are no longer safe to ignore God. We need to be prepared to meet Him.

You are free to believe what you like, but does what you believe stack up with the evidence? Have you bothered to find out? I believe the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus – as well as the reliability of the Bible in general – is extremely compelling. Are you willing to check it out?

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[1] “Jesus tomb film scholars backtrack”, Etgar Lefkovits, The Jerusalem Post Apr 11, 2007