After earning notoriety as the director of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator and as the Oscar-winning director of the motion picture The Titanic, James Cameron made a documentary on the sunken wreckage of the world’s most famous “unsinkable” ship. The documentary, Titanic, was so filled with clips of Cameron in a deep-sea submersible that one critic dubbed him “Captain Nemo.”
Well, I’m sad to say, “Captain Nemo” is at it again. He’s made another documentary. This one is a clumsy attempt at sinking Christianity with titanic lies.
In 1980, a tomb containing ten ossuaries (burial boxes) was unearthed during a construction project in a suburb south of Jerusalem. A team of Israeli archaeologists were quickly called in to catalog the contents of the tomb. Afterward, in accordance with the traditions of orthodox Judaism, the remains found in the ossuaries were buried in an unmarked grave.
Little was made of this discovery until 1996, when the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) aired a report suggesting that the tomb may be the burial tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and His family. Much to their chagrin, the BBC’s clumsy attempt to nail shut Christianty’s coffin was quickly and easily dismissed as sheer nonsense by all serious archeologists and scholars.
Now, twenty-seven years after the tomb’s discovery, the Discovery Channel—“naturalism’s network”—has aired a controversial documentary entitled The Lost Tomb of Jesus. The documentary, produced by Cameron and made by Jewish filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, is nothing more than the rehashing of the BBC’s formally discredited claim that the tomb unearthed in 1980 and now located under an apartment complex in Talpiot is “the Jesus family tomb.” Along with the documentary, HarperSanFrancisco has published an accompanying book: The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence that Could Change History.
In spite of the fact that James Cameron readily admits that he is not a “theologist [I assume he means theologian] or an archaeologist” and the fact that serious archaeologists dismiss “Simcha [Jacobovici] as [having] no credibility whatsoever” in the field of archaeology, many are buying the harebrained hypothesis of the Discovery Channel’s documentary. Consequently, one cannot help but ask the question: Why are so many people today willing to give credence to this formerly discredited claim, as well as blindly believe what is obviously bogus?
The answer undoubtedly lies in the rampant relativism of our time. No longer are men bound to believe that which is true and factual, but permitted to believe their own made up “truth.” Furthermore, they’re even allowed to make up their own “facts” to substantiate their made up “truth.” No longer applicable is the old adage: Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. Needless to say, these are days of unprecedented spiritual deception.
Is there any wonder that the Apostle Paul warned us not to be deceived by “oppositions” to our faith from what is “falsely called science” (1 Timothy 6:20)? Many today, in this day of unprecedented spiritual deception, have been deceived into believing that science and Christianity are often in conflict. The truth, however, is quite the opposite. True science is never in opposition to Biblical truth. For instance, consider the following:
Ø Until the 15th century, man believed that the earth was flat. Yet, 800 years before Christ was born the ancient Prophet Isaiah wrote, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to live in” (Isaiah 40:22).
Ø Although Sir Isaac Newton is credited with enlightening humanity to the truth that the earth is suspended in space, Job declared this scientific fact 3,000 years before Sir Isaac Newton was born. In what is perhaps the oldest book in the Bible, Job says, “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).
Ø Did you know that Sir Isaac Newton, who is often called the father of modern science and the greatest scientist who ever lived, was a Christian who continually tested Biblical truth against the physical truths of experimental and theoretical science without ever observing a single contradiction?
Ø Did you know that Matthew Murray, the first man to chart the currents of the sea, learned of the sea’s paths by reading Psalm 8:8?
Ø Are you aware of the fact that the healthy diet prescribed by your doctor today was prescribed by God for His people in the Book of Leviticus over 3,000 years ago?
Ø Finally, contrary to what you may have heard, no archaeological discovery has ever disproved one thing in the Bible; in fact, several have confirmed what the Bible says. For example, the Hittite civilization, which is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament, was always doubted by the Bible’s critics until it was discovered by archaeologists about 100 years ago.
Whereas true science is never in opposition to Biblical truth, false science is always in opposition to Biblical truth. True science, unlike false science, always follows the scientific method. The scientific method consists of the following steps: (1) Observation of a phenomenon (2) Development of a hypothesis as to why it occurs (3) Construction of a set of rigorous tests that are demonstrable and repeatable to gather data (4) Analysis of the data, and (5) Confirmation or refutation of the hypothesis.
Unfortunately, what is increasingly passing for science today stops at step two of the scientific method, skips steps three, four and five, and ultimately declares a hypothesis to be a fact on the sole basis of scientific consensus. In other words, today’s falsely called science is replacing the scientific method with a simple show of scientists’ hands. What’s wrong with this, you may ask. If a majority of scientists believe and consent to something then why shouldn’t it be pronounced a scientific fact? How about for the simple reason that scientific consensus is not confirmation? Just because something is said to be so by scientists doesn’t make it so. Remember, scientific consensus once asserted that the sun revolved around a flat earth and that blood-sucking leeches cured diseases.
It is today’s so-called science that makes it possible for the unproven, cockamamie theory of evolution to be passed off as a proven scientific fact. It is today’s so-called science that makes it possible for some of the same scientists who were once warning us about global cooling and a coming Ice Age to now be warning us about global warming and pending worldwide disaster. It is today’s so-called science that makes it possible for the Discovery Channel to tout its controversial documentary—The Lost Tomb of Jesus—as “the greatest archaeological find in history.” And it is today’s so-called science that makes it imperative for every Christian to heed the warning of the Apostle Paul not to be fooled by “oppositions” to our faith proposed by what is “falsely called science.”
Undoubtedly, the devil wants to use the Discovery Channel’s documentary as a dagger to be driven through the heart of our Christian faith. Although James Cameron, Simcha Jacobovici and James Tabor (chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte) insist that the discovery of the bones of Jesus does nothing to challenge Christian belief, since it still allows us to believe in a spiritual resurrection, the Scripture plainly teaches otherwise. According to the Bible, such a find, if ever truly discovered, would deal a fatal blow to the Christian faith.
The Christian faith stands or falls on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, the Apostle Paul teaches that without the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1) Both the preaching of the Gospel and the Christian faith are “vain”—worthless and meaningless (2) Christians are “false witnesses of God” (3) There is no salvation from sin (4) All Christians who have died are perished, and (5) Christians alive in the world today are the “most miserable” people on earth. In 1 Corinthians 15:32, Paul adds for emphasis that if Christ is not risen from the dead we may as well “eat and drink [and be merry], for tomorrow we die.”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is either the greatest hoax or the most fantastic fact in all of human history. Which is it? Is the tomb of Jesus “lost” or empty? Let’s look at the evidence for both, the so-called evidence for the “lost tomb” and the overwhelming evidence for the empty tomb. In the end, you, like everyone else, will have to decide whether the evidence points you to a “lost tomb” or an empty one. Just remember, your eternal destiny is dependent upon a right verdict. Therefore, deliberate carefully, you don’t want to end up eternally lost in “the lost tomb.”
What real evidence do James Cameron, Simcha Jacobovici and James Tabor have to substantiate the earthshaking, Christianity-sinking, resurrection of Christ refuting contentions of the Discovery Channel’s documentary? Absolutely none at all, as the following will undoubtedly demonstrate.
The first piece of concocted evidence manufactured by Cameron, Jacobovici and Tabor is the fact that six of the ten ossuaries discovered in the Talpiot tomb bear inscriptions of possible Aramaic, Latin and Greek variations of Biblical names. One bears the inscription “Jesua, son of Joseph,” translated “Jesus, son of Joseph.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Jesus of Nazareth. A second bears the inscription “Maria,” translated “Mary.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Mary, the mother of Jesus. A third bears the inscription “Mariamene e Mara,” translated “Mary the Master.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Mary Magdalene, the “wife” of Jesus. A fourth bears the inscription “Judah, son of Jesua,” translated “Judah, son of Jesus.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Judah, Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s “son.” A fifth bears the inscription “Jofa,” translated “Joses.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Joses, the brother of Jesus. And finally a sixth ossuary bears the inscription “Mathew,” translated “Matthew.” This ossuary is proposed to be the ossuary of Matthew, another brother of Jesus.
According to Amos Kloner, a renowned Israeli archeologist who was called in to lead the archeological team that meticulously documented the tomb’s discovery in 1980, the Discovery Channel’s documentary is “little more than a publicity stunt” and a horrible “waste of money.” Nothing, Kloner insists, has ever been or ever should be made of the names inscribed on the ossuaries, since each was a very common name among the people of the time. For instance, Mary was the most popular name among women in the days of our Savior. Twenty-five percent of all women in Jesus’ day were named Mary. There are at least six women named Mary in our New Testament.
Among men in Jesus’ day, Joseph was the second most popular name, Judah was the fourth, and Matthew was the ninth. About ten percent of men in Christ’s day were named Jesus. One hundred tombs have been discovered in Jerusalem with the name Jesus, two hundred with the name Joseph, and many more with the name Mary. There is even an ossuary bearing the inscription “Jesus, son of Joseph” presently on display in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a part of a traveling exhibition of early Christian artifacts. Hopefully, the Discovery Channel won’t get wind of it and rush down to make a new documentary on how our Savior’s bones have showed up in Fort Lauderdale during this year’s Spring Break.
The next attempt at snookering viewers to believe the absurd assertions of the Discovery Channel’s documentary is DNA testing that was performed on the ossuaries of “Jesua, son of Joseph” and “Mariamene e Mara.” Many have baselessly believed that this DNA testing has proven that the bones in the “Jesua, son of Joseph” ossuary are none other than the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. However, a DNA data bank of ancient Galileans and Judeans is nonexistent; therefore, there is no way to prove the identity of remains discovered in first century ossuaries by modern-day DNA testing. Anyone who alleges otherwise is guilty of the most outlandish absurdity.
All the Discovery Channel’s documentary shows is the result of DNA testing done on residue from the ossuaries of “Jesua, son of Joseph” and “Mariamene e Mara.” Remember, no remains were left in the ossuaries. All of the remains were removed back in 1980 and buried in an unmarked grave. Furthermore, as many as thirty-five skeletons were found in the tomb and no less than two in each of the ossuaries. Still, the Discovery Channel insisted on performing DNA testing on the “Jesua, son of Joseph” ossuary and the “Mariamene e Mara” ossuary to see if the residue in the two ossuaries was from individuals who were maternally related.
With the results of DNA testing coming back negative, supposedly proving that the remains in the two ossuaries were not from a brother and a sister, the documentary leaps to the conclusion that the remains must be of a husband and a wife. Never minding that the two may have been a father and a daughter, a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law, paternally related, or any of a number of other possibilities, the Discovery Channel unabashedly proclaims that the two were married. In addition, it puts forward its jumped-to and totally uncorroborated conclusion as proof that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife. How’s that for a giant leap of faith?
To me, the most laughable attempt at proving the preposterous claims of the Discovery Channel’s documentary is the computations of their hired statistician. According to the statistician, the Talpiot tomb has only a 1 in 600 chance of not being the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. David Mevorah, the curator of the Israel Museum, calls the statistical analysis of the Discovery Channel’s hired statistician nothing more than “a good trick.” “Statistics can bring empires down or build them up,” Mevorah said. “But I wouldn’t build a theory of the most important person of the first century on statistics.” Mevorah goes on to give us his own odds on the chances of the Discovery Channel’s documentary being true. According to him, the chances “are more than remote. They are closer to fantasy.”
We all know, at least we used to, that what is false has no chance of being true and what is true has no chance of being false. While the Discovery Channel’s hired statistician may falsely claim—on the sole assumption that unsubstantiated suppositions are so—that the Discovery Channel’s Lost Tomb of Jesus has a good chance of being true, it actually has no chance at all of being true if it is false. In the end, the statistician’s wizardry with a calculator is just one more smokescreen thrown up by the Discover Channel to divert its viewers from critical thinking, something its flimsy documentary cannot withstand the weight of.
In defense of his calculations, the Discovery Channel’s hired statistician has said, “I did permit the number 1 in 600 to be used in the film—I’m prepared to stand behind that but [only] on the understanding that these numbers were calculated based on assumptions that I was asked to use.” In other words, if this guess is right, and this guess is right, and this guess is right, and this guess is right, and this guess is right, and this guess is right, then the chances of the last guess being wrong is pretty remote. Well, I guess so! But the problem with all of this guessing is just that; it’s guesswork. Now, if you want to risk your immortal soul on the subjective guesswork of a Discovery Channel documentary, that’s your business. As for me, I’m staking my eternal destiny on the objective truths of the divinely inspired, inerrant Word of God.
As a final proof of the preposterousness of the Discovery Channel’s documentary, consider the fact that even Christian-bashing, liberal-championing NPR (National Public Radio) distanced itself from it. According to NPR, Lawrence Steigler, a Harvard professor not known for his defense of the Christian faith, acknowledges that the Discovery Channel’s claim to have found the bones of Jesus is “rather preposterous.” As Chuck Colson recently put it, “When even Harvard and NPR call your [anti-Christian] bit ‘preposterous,’ you know that you are way out on a limb.”
Now that we’ve weighed the so-called evidence for the Discovery Channel’s Lost Tomb of Jesus in the balance and found it wanting, let’s turn our attention to the empty tomb’s overwhelming evidence. Did you know that there is more historical evidence to support the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead than there is to support the fact that Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo? Still, no want doubts that Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, but many doubt the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
According to the New Testament, there were numerous eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrected Christ was seen by: (1) Mary Magdalene (2) A group of women returning from His empty tomb (3) Two of His disciples on the Road to Emmaus (4) The eleven disciples on several different occasions (5) James, Jesus’ half-brother (6) Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and (6) The Apostle Paul. There was even one occasion when the resurrected Christ was seen by more than “five hundred” people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6).
All across America today, the word of a single eyewitness is usually enough to prove a case in court and remove all reasonable doubt from jurors’ minds. How much more then should the word of over five hundred eyewitness serve as proof positive of Christ’s resurrection? One would think that so many eyewitnesses would be sufficient to erase all reasonable doubt from unbelievers’ minds. Yet, in spite of the overwhelming eyewitness testimony, the jury is still out in this unbelieving world when it comes to the case for the empty tomb of Christ.
Although the Apostle Peter cites the accounts of eyewitnesses like himself as proof of Christ’s claims and resurrection, he points to the “more sure word of prophecy” as even more incontrovertible proof (2 Peter 1:16-21). The fact that the Bible—the only holy book of any religion in the world that contains prophecy—predicted the events of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection hundreds of years before they happened is proof positive that the Bible is true and Jesus is risen.
Jesus Himself pointed to His foretold death, burial and resurrection as positive proof of His claims. In Matthew 12:38-40, the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus to show them a sign to prove His claims. Jesus answers, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
On another occasion, the Jews request a sign from Jesus in validation of His claims (John 2:18-21). Jesus responds, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews, misunderstanding Jesus’ words as referring to their temple in Jerusalem, dismiss His answer as sheer nonsense. However, John points out that Jesus was not speaking of the Jewish temple, but “of the temple of His body.”
According to the Apostle Paul, Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). In other words, if a man tells you that He is going to die and be buried, but on the third day rise again, and then He pulls it off, you can pretty much believe whatever He says. You can count on His claims and take Him at His word, because only “the Son of God” could predict and then pull off His own resurrection.
Have you ever asked yourself this question: If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then why didn’t His enemies expose His tomb and produce His body? Why didn’t the Jewish leaders do so, putting an end to Christianity before it ever got started? Why didn’t the Romans do so; after all, they controlled the city and all the surrounding area? Obviously, neither the Jews nor the Romans could produce Christ’s body and explain away His empty tomb. If they could have, they would have. Thus, their silence, the silence of Christ’s enemies, is every bit as much a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the speech of those early Christian eyewitnesses.
Many have attempted through the years to dismiss the voluminous and irrefutable evidence of the empty tomb by suggesting that Christ’s resurrection was a mere hoax perpetrated on the world by His disciples. Yet, such a proposition is utterly preposterous. Would our Lord’s disciples have willingly suffered such persecution and died martyrs’ deaths for what they knew to be a lie? Would those virtuous men have founded the most ethical faith the world has ever known on nothing more than a pure fabrication? Truly, such an assertion is an absolute absurdity. Thus, let us dismiss it outright and waste no time considering what is clearly undeserving of serious consideration.
Along with a preponderance of historical evidence, hundreds of eyewitnesses, “the more sure word of prophecy,” the silence of Christ’s enemies, and the steadfastness of His disciples, there is yet one more piece of evidence for Christ’s resurrection. It is the marks of Jesus, which may be the most convincing evidence of all.
Do you remember how Thomas was absent on the occasion of Christ’s first post-resurrection appearance to His disciples (John 20:19-24)? Being told by the others about Christ’s appearance, Thomas doubted their word and insisted that he would never believe until he saw for himself the marks of the nails in Jesus’ hands and the mark of the spear in Jesus’ side (John 20:25). Eight days later, Jesus reappeared to His disciples and commanded Thomas not only to behold the marks in His hands and side, but also to stop doubting and believe (John 20:26-27). Thomas responded by professing the resurrected Christ as his “Lord and [his] God” (John 20:28).
What was it that convinced doubting Thomas that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and alive in the world? It was the marks of Jesus. What is it that will convince today’s doubting world that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and alive within it? It is the marks of Jesus. The only difference between now and then is that the world today cannot see the marks of Jesus on His resurrected material body as Thomas did, but must see them on us, Christ’s spiritual body—the church.
In Galatians 6:17, the Apostle Paul claimed to “bear in [his] body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” In Paul’s day, a slave bore the mark or brand of his master. This mark proved that the slave was both his master’s servant and property. Can you imagine how many marks and scars were on the body of the Apostle Paul? Five times he had been whipped with thirty-nine lashes. Three times he had been beaten with a rod. He was often imprisoned and placed in the stocks. Three times he had been shipwrecked. And he had even been stoned once and drug outside a city and left for dead. According to Paul, his scars were the “marks of Jesus,” proving to one and all that he was the bondservant of Jesus Christ.
What natural explanation was there for Paul’s seemingly inexplicable devotion to Christ? Clearly, there wasn’t one. The only possible explanation was supernatural transformation, which forces one to the inevitable conclusion that Christ is risen from the dead, alive in the world today and changing the lives of all who believe in Him. Nothing serves as greater proof of Christ’s resurrection than for the world to see us faithfully living for Him and Him miraculously living in and through us!
In way of a closing argument in our airtight case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, permit me to use these well-known words from a beloved old hymn:
I serve a risen Savior,
He’s in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I HEAR HIS VOICE OF CHEER
AND JUST THE TIME I NEED HIM
HE’S ALWAYS NEAR.
HE LIVES, HE LIVES,
CHRIST JESUS LIVES TODAY!
HE WALKS WITH ME AND TALKS WITH ME
ALONG LIFE’S NARROW WAY.
HE LIVES, HE LIVES,
SALVATION TO IMPART!
YOU ASK ME HOW I KNOW HE LIVES?
HE LIVES WITHIN MY HEART.
