Jesus: Best Family Man ever???

[tarzapam]

found this story and thought it was pretty interesting

Tomb could be of Jesus, wife and son: directors
Tuesday Feb 27 03:55 AEDT

The burial site of Jesus has been found and suggests he had a wife and son, according to highly sensitive claims in a documentary by Titanic director James Cameron and Israel-born Simcha Jacobovici.

The claims inject controversy into the issue of resurrection central to Christianity and, if accurate, could reignite questions about Jesus' earthy family life popularized in the book The Da Vinci Code.

Cameron and Jacobovici, an award-winning documentary director, said their research suggested Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a son, Judah.

"DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggest a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family," a statement from Discovery, which will broadcast the documentary, said.

The tomb was located in Talpiot, Jerusalem, March 28, 1980 by a construction crew developing an apartment complex.

Scholar L.Y. Rahmani later published A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries that described 10 ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes, found in the tomb, the Discovery statement said.

Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus."

"Such tombs are very typical for that region," Aaron Brody, associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of California's Bade Museum, told Discovery News.

In addition to the "Judah son of Jesus" inscription, which is written in Aramaic on one of the ossuaries, another limestone burial box is labeled in Aramaic with "Jesus Son of Joseph." Another bears the Hebrew inscription "Maria," a Latin version of "Miriam," or, in English, "Mary."

Yet another ossuary inscription, written in Hebrew, reads "Matia," the original Hebrew word for "Matthew." Only one of the inscriptions is written in Greek. It reads, "Mariamene e Mara," which can be translated as, "Mary known as the master," the television network said.

Jacobovici, director, producer and writer of The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and his team obtained two sets of samples from the ossuaries for DNA and chemical analysis. The first set consisted of bits of matter taken from the "Jesus Son of Joseph" and "Mariamene e Mara" ossuaries. The second set consisted of patina, a chemical film encrustation on one of the limestone boxes.

The human remains were analyzed by Carney Matheson, a scientist at the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. Mitochondrial DNA examination determined the individual in the Jesus ossuary and the person in the ossuary linked to Mary Magdalene were not related.

Since tombs normally contain either blood relations or spouses, Jacobovici and his team suggest Jesus and Mary Magdalene could have been a couple. "Judah," whom they indicate may have been their son, could have been the "lad" described in the Gospel of John as sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper, they argue in their documentary.

Israeli archaeologist and professor Amos Kloner, who documented the tomb as the Jewish burial cave of a well-off family more than 10 years ago, is adamant there is no evidence to support claims that it was the burial site of Jesus.

"I'm a scholar. I do scholarly work which has nothing to do with documentary film-making. There's no way to take a religious story and to turn it into something scientific," he told AFP in a telephone interview.

"I still insist that it is a regular burial chamber from the 1st century BC," Kloner said, adding that the names were a coincidence.

"Who says that 'Maria' is Magdalena and 'Judah' is the son of Jesus? It cannot be proved. These are very popular and common names from the 1st century BC," said the academic at Israel's Bar Ilan University.

[NemesisDesign]

I've been hearing a lot of word about how this finding will totally pwn Christianity if it turns out to be credible because it means Jesus didn't blast off into the sky like the bible said. If that happens, I will run into the closest church near me and just yell "WRONG" and laugh myself retarded

[mizzimad]

I love the fact that this Mr. Kloner asked, "Who says that...'Judah' is the son of Jesus?" as if there's no way in hell--pardon the pun--to prove this claim; yet one of the burial boxes reads, "Judah, son of Jesus." Science fiction's appeal is nothing short of incredible; I guess now we know why there are so many Trekkies in the world.

[tarzapam]

Oh but didn't you see....Mary,Jesus and Judah were like the Jennifer,John and Mohammad of our times..totally typical names
(hey mohammed has actually been proven as one of the most common names in the world )

[mizzimad]

Yeah, I knew they were common names even before I read the article. We would obviously need more evidence, but this guy's suggestion that there's no way at all for the claim to be true just makes him look foolish, IMO. My question is that if hardcore, indisputable evidence were indeed presented someday--I'll agree that it's sketchy thus far--then would fundamentalist Christians continue to insist that the claim is false, just as they do with evolution?

Ah yes, Mohammed--good, strong Irish name.

[tarzapam]

People will believe what they want,regardless of what cold hard facts they have in front of their face.Rational thought and religion just don't seem to mix

[King of Kings]

This is all nice and fun but there are more important things at stake here. What does this discovery mean for the Alien and Terminator series? Is James Cameron going to direct Alien 5 and Terminator 4? He needs to resurrect those two series after the crapfests that were T3 and AvP. Who the hell cares about Jesus? When was the last time Jesus fought a Xenomorph in an exosuit or blew away an entire army while spouting awesome one liners?

[tarzapam]

He might of done all that.i'm sure its in the extended directors cut version of the bible

[mizzimad]

And what about Titanic 2? I'm telling you right now that Leo's character didn't die. He will come back to life, and his heart will go on!

I've seen the director's cut version of the Bible; it's called The Passion of the Christ. Leave it to Mel Gibson to fukk up a good story with a lot of gratuitous violence.

[King of Kings]

Actually, True Lies was probably based on the life of Jesus. Arnold Schwarzenegger's character was a computer salesman by day, spy by night. Jesus was a carpenter by day, Messiah by night. Arnold also died for the sins of humanity at the end of Terminator 2, just like Jesus. Plus John Connor saves humanity after Judgement Day. John Connor, Jesus Christ, coincidence? I think not. By that logic, I can only conclude that if you put all of James Cameron's films together and play them backwards relative to their box office numbers, we'll be able to find the holy grail.