Jesus' Casket - Update

"Jesus tomb documentary ignores biblical and scientific evidence, logic experts say"

The heavy weights have weighed in! James Cameron is airing a documentary that claims to have found the actual casket and bones of Jesus Christ. I wrote yesterday sharing my thoughts on this sensational claim.

Others have begun to make their opinions known. Scholars that have much more intellectual clout than I do have begun to publicly debunk the newest anti-Jesus myth.

For some great articles check out the Baptist Press News today.

Good articles by:

Michael Foust

Mike Licona - great summary of the evidence against this hypothesis.

Jeff Robinson on Dr. Albert Mohler who appeared on Larry King Live about this subject.




By the way, I have always watched the major television conglomerates religious specials. Peter Jennings has done some on religion in Israel in the last several years. There were a couple of programs that came out related to The Davinci Code. These shows always have several "experts".

Invariably, they always find some "expert" that has a view on the particular topic that is contrary to the majority of "experts" and is always more sensational.

"Experts" are a dime a dozen these days. This is true whether we are talking about religion, biology, or any other particular field of study. Since this is true, if you are building a case for a particular argument, you have give more weight and credibility to the majority of experts.

This documentary on Jesus' casket uses experts. But, from what I have read, the majority of experts that have been close to this issue since 1980 give no to very little credibility to the claims this documentary makes.

"When the Talpiot tomb hypothesis is weighed on the historian’s scale, a few beans may be placed on the side in its favor while a brick of historical evidence is placed gently on the side against it. The tip of the scale that follows is not a gentle one." Mike Licona

Found: The Body of Jesus?

(Ossuary - ancient casket found in Jerusalem)

James Cameron and the Discovery Channel are airing a documentary that claims to have found the family caskets of Jesus Christ, his wife, mother, and brothers. Basing their thesis on archaology, statistics, and even DNA evidence, makes this claim truly eye-catching. It caught mine. But, could it be true?

First, if it is true the results are catastrophic! The promos by the Discover Channel have this subtitle, “The One Revelation That Could Change Everything”. If the bones in that casket are those of the one and only Jesus Christ, Christianity is destroyed. If Christ is not risen then our faith is in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and so is your faith.”

Be reassured, weigh the evidence, and bolster your faith. Let me give some reasons why to believe the Resurrection.

This is not new. These ossuaries were actually discovered in 1980 and they are real. They do seem to be from the general time period of the New Testament. But, every year from the time of Christ’s resurrection there have been detractors that have attempted to undercut the foundation of Christianity. Attacks on the veracity of the Christian message are as old as the days are long.

Recently, the last several years, almost every major television conglomerate has featured some sensational show attacking the credibility of Christianity. And they always run these shows in the spring before Easter. Why? That’s when they will make the most money.

So, it is no surprise that a documentary is coming out a few weeks before Easter attacking the claims of Christianity. And, look who the director of the project is – James Cameron of the “Titanic” fame. To me that is a serious credibility hit. How am I supposed to take any argument serious when the motivating factor is the proverbial “bottom line”. Scientists may be quoted, archaeology shown, the word “DNA” used, but the underlying purpose is clearly money. That factor alone casts an unrecoverable pall over the credibility of the claims. Have you seen the commercials on the Discovery Channel? Those weren’t free. This is a build up of sensationalism to make a buck.


There are other factors that call me to question the thesis of this show. God gave us a brain, intellect, and logic which He encourages us to use. Christianity does not rest on “blind”, “check-your-brain-at-the-door”, faith. There are clear paths of evidence that facilitate our faith in the Biblical truths.

Here is one of the biggest evidentiary facts that compels me to reject the claims of this documentary. I believe in the “secret-to-big-to-keep” theory. When Jesus Christ of Nazareth was killed on the cross and buried in the tomb there were huge numbers of people that were vehemently opposed to Him and his message. They knew of His claim that He would rise from the dead. The easiest and most logical way for them to entirely discredit Jesus Christ and the Christians would be a casket with the body of Christ inside. An actual dead body would have been a secret to big to hide.

By there own testimony, the scholars in this documentary note that the ossuaries they found were in the grave of a middle class family. It was not hidden or in some secret location, but in Jerusalem. If the Pharisees of Jesus day had access to the actual casket of Jesus they would have exploited that to entirely destroy Christianity. Yet, what has stood the test of time? The Resurrected Christ.

We could go on and on giving credible evidence on the truth claims of Christianity. You can read books on the subject that giving compelling and ample reason to truly believe. But, the final goal is that – belief. Not just intellectual assent, but a sold-out, surrendered, obedient, trusting – belief. Be encouraged that the One who conquered sin and death through the Resurrection lives today and indwells the hearts of those who believe.

Christian resources on the subject of the Resurrection

The Bible

Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel
Who Moved The Stone by Frank Morrison
The Battle For The Resurrection by Norman Geisler

I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is provided by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than they great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.

Thomas Arnold, Oxford University

Abhorrent Sin, Precious Life

What’s going on?! I saw these two headlines next to each other today, “Italian Judge Sentences 13 Year Old Girl to Abort Baby”, and “Born At 22 Weeks Tiny Baby Leaves Hospital”.
What two amazingly disparate pictures of life? One demonstrates the incredible value of life, one shows the utter depths of human depravity.

The story of the 13 year old is that she got pregnant by her 15 year old boyfriend(I’ll save comment on this for another blog). She wanted to keep the baby but her parents are in an uproar. They have thrown an unholy fit to the point that they have gone to court. In Italy the parents have the final say over the 13 year old, so the judge is ordering the abortion of this baby.

I know this is not the American justice system, but it is still a system of supposed justice. Our world has sunk so deep that justice is a joke. Justice is to serve and protect the innocent, not order it’s execution. That little baby in that 13 year old girl is not at fault. Why make that baby pay the price for the mistakes of many?! How detestable! What a horrible violation of the sanctity of life!

And then the good news of a 22 week old baby born, and thriving! Born last October at 21 weeks 6 days, Amillia set a record for being born so severely premature.

The abortionist must hate this story! The mother was barely showing and yet this “fetus” was born, and is thriving with an excellent prognosis. The pictures are so amazing, it is not a blob of cells, it is a precious life!

Scripture leaves no room for doubt. We are responsible for protecting and standing up for those who cannot do so for themselves. “Thou shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13) Murder is the killing of innocent life. What is more innocent that a baby in a womb?! We need to use civility, order, prayer, and the ballot box to stand up for the innocent.

Proverbs 17:15 “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent – the Lord detests them both.”

Jeremiah 22:3 “This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”

Death Penalty

The death penalty is serious. (that's a picture of "sparky" an electric chair which was once used in Huntsville) When it is carried out there are witnesses to the event. One of the things the witnesses see and hear is a description of what crimes have warranted this ultimate punishment.

This is not a new practice. It just makes sense that when punishment is carried out that the offense is made known. This goes back through American history and all the way back to ancient history.

The Romans put the charges of the criminals being punished in plain sight. When Jesus was nailed to the cross the Romans affixed the charges against him. “King of the Jews”.

There were other charges affixed to the cross of Jesus Christ. These charges were not the ones trumped up and fabricated by the Pharisees. These charges were not petty ones which merited a lesser punishment. In fact, these charges were so serious, so comprehensive, so grievous that Jesus was the only one capable of paying for them. And to pay for them he had to die – the death penalty.

What were these charges that were affixed to the cross?

Colossians 2:13-14 says “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

The nails that pierced the wrists and feet of Jesus Christ were not just holding him to a tree, they were holding the record of our debt, the guilty charges of the crimes we had committed.

It wasn’t for His own crimes that He suffered and died, it was for yours and mine. The guilty notice that is the cross, was ours, and He took it upon Himself. What a deed!

The law was clear that we are all breakers of the law. That is the definition of sin – lawlessness(1 John 3:4). The law of God stood against us because we failed to keep it, we failed and fell short of the glory of God. The wages, the price, the penalty was serious. It was not a small fine, or a few years in jail, it was death. The price for such egregious rebellion against a Holy God, who has done nothing but give us life and grace, is death! Our sin is a capital offense.

But, “The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.” (Isaiah 53:5)

The record of our sins, the charges against us were cancelled. Not because they were just overlooked – God being Just could not overlook sin. So, He paid the price in full on our behalf and in our place.

What should we do? Whatever He says! Anyone who would go to such lengths to love me in that way deserves more than just a token recognition. He deserves my entire life, devotion, commitment, and surrender. Anything other than complete surrender is a lessening of what Jesus did on that cross. May I never take the cross of Jesus Christ for granted.