Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic' is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is Christianity.
In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.
No, it's not a re-make of "The Da Vinci Codes'. It's supposed to be true.
Let's go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.
Israel's prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn't associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn't afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.
There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ's resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof that a boy born to a carpenter's wife in a manger is the Son of God.
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,"King Kong", whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, Canada's Vision, and Israel's Channel 8, has been a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite: Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and skeptics. Stay tuned.
--Tim McGirk/Jerusalem
Take that, Catholics! Jim Cameron has your number!Shut up! We know you killed him.
Take that, Catholics! Jim Cameron has your number!Shut up! We know you killed him.
How can they have actual DNA evidence that it was Jesus? That's the part I don't understand.
DNA tests as evidence :lol
How would they know the DNA belongs to Jesus if they don't even have anything to cooroberate the evidence with? :lol
How would they know the DNA belongs to Jesus if they don't even have anything to cooroberate the evidence with? :lol
They never said the DNA testing has anything to do with Jesus. That's just in your head.
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
Where, oh where, college student does it say that the DNA testing involves Jesus? It just says they prove a very large, and general theory that includes DNA testing. They don't specify how or who. Durr.
Jumping to conclusions is awesome!
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
How did what I just post not consist of evidence? It is evidence to support their theory. Just because it's not Jesus' DNA doesn't make it invalid, nor does evidence help if their theory isn't sound.
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
YOU ARE MAKING THINGS UP.
Just like James Cameron. :spin
Dude, it doesn't say DNA test PROVE Jesus is not divine, it says it has DNA evidence in conjunction with biblical studies and archelogical evidence that they CLAIM proves their THEORY.
YOU ARE MAKING THINGS UP.
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
But you don't even know the context of the DNA testing to begin with, so you can find fault with nothing
SCIENCE :lol
But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
Dude, there's no context for the DNA testing present in the article. We're all laughing at you in IRC about it right now.
No context? The article claims that a part of the movie's evidence is the DNA :lol
No context? The article claims that a part of the movie's evidence is the DNA :lol
I repeat, do you know what the DNA testing is or what it involves? It's just a part of their theory, and the DNA testing could be of anything. We don't know. Hence, it's not in context to find fault with. Call me after you've seen the documentary.
Dude, no one knows in what context the DNA testing is...the article is probably intentionally vague so people will want to watch the program.
Dude, no one knows in what context the DNA testing is...the article is probably intentionally vague so people will want to watch the program.
Ya think?
Dude, no one knows in what context the DNA testing is...the article is probably intentionally vague so people will want to watch the program.
Ya think?
OFF COURSE.
Awesome, the news conference is on Monday. James Cameron will be our new prophet!
CNN/MSNBC/FNC will air any news conference regardless how absurd probably, and this is getting a lot of press I expect to see it on the "big 3".Awesome, the news conference is on Monday. James Cameron will be our new prophet!
Do you have a link? It probably won't be on TV but I bet there will be a video of it online
CNN/MSNBC/FNC will air any news conference regardless how absurd probably, and this is getting a lot of press I expect to see it on the "big 3".Awesome, the news conference is on Monday. James Cameron will be our new prophet!
Do you have a link? It probably won't be on TV but I bet there will be a video of it online
Was talking to my parents about it earlier. My Dad laughed was like...whoooo knooooows and my Mother was like "If this is true, its just a test, god is testing our faith"
ARGHJhhhhhhhhhalskdjflksdj
Its the fail safe lock moving into place. You could have undeniable proof of Jesus's non divinity and you'll still have people believing (and using the "God is testing us" rationale). I'm surprised that I'm actually surprised by this though...I really shouldn't be :-\
Was talking to my parents about it earlier. My Dad laughed was like...whoooo knooooows and my Mother was like "If this is true, its just a test, god is testing our faith"
ARGHJhhhhhhhhhalskdjflksdj
Its the fail safe lock moving into place. You could have undeniable proof of Jesus's non divinity and you'll still have people believing (and using the "God is testing us" rationale). I'm surprised that I'm actually surprised by this though...I really shouldn't be :-\
There are two sides of that coin. There could be evidence of his divinity or any other major facet of the Bible and you and your ilk would dismiss it right away.
Was talking to my parents about it earlier. My Dad laughed was like...whoooo knooooows and my Mother was like "If this is true, its just a test, god is testing our faith"
ARGHJhhhhhhhhhalskdjflksdj
Its the fail safe lock moving into place. You could have undeniable proof of Jesus's non divinity and you'll still have people believing (and using the "God is testing us" rationale). I'm surprised that I'm actually surprised by this though...I really shouldn't be :-\
There are two sides of that coin. There could be evidence of his divinity or any other major facet of the Bible and you and your ilk would dismiss it right away.
I mean, I'm open to many things, so if there was proof of it I would jump on the Christianity band wagon :lol
But its more or less the pre emptive damage controlling (lol my Mom was damage controlling Jesus).
You seem more reasonable, but there's no doubt in my mind that people like Willco and Malek are so deeply rooted in their paticular religion that nothing could convince them otherwise.
So does this mean another 10 years of lame docs before he makes another movie?
There's no denying the Vatican has destroyed evidence throughout its creation; that's a fact, and a sad one at that. With respect you your 180-200 year projection, you're dead off as usual, but why waste my time arguing with someone who doesn't know how.
I've made some ridiculous comments, some in joking and some in serious discussion. With respect to your own religion I see you're quite content with it - along with Malek.
GOD IS TESTING OUR FAITH :'(James Cameran is testing our faith.But I failed long ago.
Faith is for the weak.
I find it in CANADA! (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070224.wlosttomb0224/BNStory/Front/home)
Most of his historial counterpoints seem to come from the New Testatment (he pretty much asserts he's a firm believer in the resurrectuion), which at that point, I pretty much disregard anything he says on the matter. If you stand on that as an accurate historical record, then you're pretty much just arguing on faith.
Arguing that the canonical gospels were written 70 years after the fact, and then pointing to other gospels doesn't make much sense, considering the non-canonical ones were all written much later than the canonical ones, I think.
2) there is no independent DNA control sample to compare to what was garnered from the bones in this tomb. By this I mean that the most the DNA evidence can show is that several of these folks are inter-related. Big deal. We would need an independent control sample from some member of Jesus' family to confirm that these were members of Jesus' family. We do not have that at all. In addition mitacondrial DNA does not reveal genetic coding or XY chromosome make up anyway. They would need nuclear DNA for that in any case. So the DNA stuff is probably thrown in to make this look more like a real scientific fact. Not so much.
Not true. A lot of non-canonical gospels could've been written at the same time or even earlier, as carbon dating on the Gospel of Judas shows (without being super accurate, the earliest known fragment may have existed around the time of the Gospel of John), but we don't know because copies of them were not created or kept intact to the same extent that the canonical ones were.
And I'm not saying that Jesus didn't exist or was mythic. If you throw enough shit at a wall, something is bound to stick. But the New Testatment is littered with all kinds of holes, and other pieces of evidence dispute other pieces of evidence. Using the New Testatment to argue against the validity of a theory is pretty insane, because we don't know how accurate it is at all whatsoever.
The only thing that are pulled from the New Testatment in this theory are names, and really, who is going to argue that the entire Jesus clan was made up?
way to squander that 10Kth post
You're still absurdly handicapping any critique of this documentary. The theory from the documentary is based on New Testament sources. To then turn around and say that any critique of this theory that relies on New Testament sources to refute it has no merit is utterly ridiculous.
Looks like you jumped the gun a bit early Willco, whoops
Looks like Willco is set for another big hurting. lolz.
he could make a film with jennifer hudson and halle berry for the PITY OSCAR TRIFECTA
Looks like Willco is set for another big hurting. lolz.
Except, you've argued neither of those and spent your time looking stupid on the DNA issue. First, you claimed it was bogus that they claimed they had definitive Jesus "trapped in amber!" DNA. Which, because you jumped the gun, was false and completely stupid on your part. There's not any hole in the DNA argument, because the DNA is not being argued to say that this is Jesus - it's being argued to say the bodies in the tomb are inter-related.
If you had said that the statistical evdience of the combination of names, or even the interpretation of the names left much to be desired, you might have had a leg to stand on.
But way to point out a flaw after I mentioned it for you.
With respect to the DNA, my point about having a comparative strand still stands.
I wonder how well Avatar is going to do. Fox budgeted it for over 200 million and Cameron ALWAYS goes over-budget. It will hilarious if Cameron's first post-Titanic movie loses money.
It's not cgi, its live action but the aliens will be cgi. This is the one that stars Sigourney Weaver. He was considering some other all-cgi movie based on a anime or something but went with the "sci-fi epic" Avatar.I wonder how well Avatar is going to do. Fox budgeted it for over 200 million and Cameron ALWAYS goes over-budget. It will hilarious if Cameron's first post-Titanic movie loses money.
I'm kinda bummed about the prospect of watching another fully CGI movie in the spirt of that Final Fantasy shit movie. But he makes good movies so we'll see
Dude, you're arguin' with HOME SCHOOLIN'. PD still thinks the world was created in 6 or 7 days, and that evolution is a giant myth!
I could have sworn I read that the movie would pioneer a new form of CGI where the real actors are replaced by it, and you wouldn't know they're not real ::)That was his other movie called Battle Angel that he was considering and would be that special all cgi, it is scrapped for now. This is some live action space opera film about aliens and lolz romance
evangelicals dont own titanic. It had boobies in them, that is satanic enough.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/26/jesus.sburial.ap/index.html
"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.
One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film. (Watch why it could be any Mary, Jesus and Joseph in those boxes Video)
"There's a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself," Cameron said Monday at a news conference. He told NBC'S "Today" show earlier that statisticians found "in the range of a couple of million to one" in favor of the documentary's conclusions about the caskets, or ossuaries.
Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries -- "Mariamene" -- offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, "Mariamene" is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.
The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
Most Christians believe Jesus' body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City. The burial site identified in Cameron's documentary is in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.
In 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.
"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.
Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film's claims: "I'm skeptical, but that's the way I am. I'm willing to accept the possibility."
The film's claims, however, have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.
Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.
"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 -- 10 being completely possible -- it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."
Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.
Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time," he said.
William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.
"The fact that it's been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."
Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, said the Antiquities Authority agreed to send two ossuaries to New York, but they did not contain human remains. "We agreed to send the ossuaries, but it doesn't mean that we agree with" the filmmakers, she said.
In James Cameron's new movie Jesus is revealed as Jodie Foster's Dad from Contact.Contact wasn't by James Cameron! It was by the guy who did FORREST GUMP AND BACK TO THE FUTURE!!
isn't "biblical scholar" an oxymoron
In James Cameron's new movie Jesus is revealed as Jodie Foster's Dad from Contact.Contact wasn't by James Cameron! It was by the guy who did FORREST GUMP AND BACK TO THE FUTURE!!
Why are you bowing, when he just said what I said, but not grammatically correct? Are you only able to understand incoherent writing?