Fact of Fiction?Sumair Mirza

Agenda

1. What is all the fuss about?

2. Are these claims new?

3. What are the claims?

4. What does the evidence show?

5. What are some other considerations?

What is all the fuss about?

•Strikes at the cornerstone of Christianity:• The Resurrection

• The Deity

• The Truth of the Gospels

Let’s get some background on this:•Click here to view MSNBC broadcast (first interview given)

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• Often seem to have “Easter-time challenges”

• Same tomb was first discovered 27 years ago

• Claims such as these have been made 1926 and 1980

• BBC documentary about same tombs in 1996, scholars dismissed it

Some more history from 1980*…

-burial chamber discovered with 900 tombs like the “Jesus tomb” within a 2-mile radius of Talpiyot- 71 of these bear the name “Jesus”- 2 said “Jesus son of Joseph”- There may have been up to 200 ossuaries in that tomb at one point

* Found by Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner

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ms• Simcha says doesn’t challenge Christians

• Acts of Philip show Mariamene as Mary Magdalene

• Book is questionable at best• Only one person (Francis Bovon) makes this

claim and most scholars disagree• Jesus could have risen from another tomb• Movie argues along 4 main points:

1. Mary Magdalene’s real name was Mariamene

2. DNA shows 2 bodies were not related3. Mineral crust matches James’ box shows it

came from same place4. Statistical

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Inscription in Greek: Mariamene [also called] Mara• Mariamene: variant of the name Mariam / Maryam

• Marya: most common feminine name of the Second Temple period

• Mara (contraction of Martha): used as a second name

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Inscription in Hebrew: Yehuda son of Yeshua• Yehuda (Judas): third most common name in Hellenistic and Roman periods

• Yeshua (Jesus) derives from Yehoshua (Joshua)

• Yehoshua/Yeshua: sixth most common male name used in Hellenistic and Roman periods in Eretz Israel

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Inscription on the outside: Matya and inside: Mat(y)a

• Matya/Mat(y)a: shortened forms of Matityahu (Matthew)

Inscription: Yeshua (?) son of Yehosef followed by an X

• X is mark of either the mason or the bone collector

• different than other ossuaries- incisions are superficial and cursorily carved

• the letters spelling Yeshua (Jesus) is unclear because of the X but it is corroborated by the inscription on Judas son of Jesus’ tomb

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Inscription: Yosé

• Yosé (contraction of Yehosef [Joseph]): the second most common name in the Second Temple period

• 35% of all known Jewish males had this name in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

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Inscription: Marya

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“What convinced people in the New Testament of the resurrection was Jesus' appearances, not his disappearance from the tomb” – Simcha

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

- 1 Cor. 15:1-8

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“[the documentary should not offend devout Christians, since it does not argue that Jesus did not ascend to heaven, at least spiritually, as told in the Bible]” – Simcha

"Let's suppose for a moment that we could prove there's a tomb for Jesus somewhere and bones in an ossuary," he said. "For some Christians that would be heresy and blasphemy and wrong, and for others I don't think it's going to be a big shock. They have a faith that doesn't necessarily depend on that." - James Cameron

1) Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 1:72) Other bodily ascensions: Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-12), possibly

Enoch (Genesis 5:24)

“No Jew would have dreamed of using this word [resurrection] to describe an afterlife in which the physical body was abandoned to the grave.” (G. B. Caird. The Gospel of St. Luke. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1963., pp.255-256).

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1) Names

2) DNA?

3) Statistical

4) Other supporting points…

1) Names• All very common in 1st century Jewish period:

– Yeshua (Jesus), Yosef (Joseph), Yehuda (Judah), Maria (Mary), Mariamne (Miriam), Matia (Matthew)

• Yeshua and Yosef were two most common Jewish names• Mariamne and/or Mary were names held by 21% of Jewish women in the 1st century• According to scholars (Kloner) Jesus wasn’t referred to as “Jesus son of Joseph” by Christians… only outside the Christian community• Why is Matthew there? He isn’t a part of Jesus’ family.. Yet is in the family tomb?

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1) Names• “Judah son of Jesus” doesn’t make sense as a son of Jesus is mentioned nowhere in the Gospels or in 1st century Jewish historian writings like (Flavius or Josephus)• However, Jesus did have a brother* named Judah (in Greek = Judas) … shows it is a common name• Maria, problem is the name is in Latin form,

– Simcha says this is b/c Romans became followers of Christianity– Mary wasn’t revered till 4 centuries later and Jews stopped using ossuaries after the 1st century– Very strong tradition shows Mary died in Ephesus (Turkey) after accompanying apostle John

* Matt. 13:55 Jesus had four brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, Judas(h) AND several sisters (sorry don’t know names :P)

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2) DNA?• DNA shows male and female aren’t related… perhaps married… but nothing else

– She could be the wife of one of the other 3 named men or any of the 4 other unnamed ossuaries or the daughter of any of the other 9 in the tomb

• Danger here is the implied reference that this is Jesus… linking the phrase “DNA and Jesus body” has lead to a quick assumption of credibility

• Reminder: all the DNA shows is that the two bodies in the two ossuaries are not related… nothing more!

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3) StatisticalHere are the probabilities that the filmmakers gave us for each of the four names found in the tomb.

• Yeshua bar Yehosef (Jesus Son of Joseph) - 1 in 190• Maria (Mary) - 1 in 4• Mariamene e Mara (possibly “Mary Magdalene”) - 1 in 160• Yose (a diminutive of Joseph, Jesus’ brother) - 1 in 20

They then showed some simple math that they said meant this was Jesus’ tomb with odds of 600 to1 in favor. The calculation was as follows:

1. Multiply the probabilities: 190 x 4 x 160 x 20 = 2,400,000 2. Divide by 4 (to adjust for “unintentional historical biases”):

2,400,000 / 4 = 600,0003. Divide by 1,000 (to adjust for all possible first century Jerusalem tombs): 600,000 / 1,000 = 600 ev

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3) StatisticalHere are some of the problems with the numbers:1) You shouldn’t be multiplying the numbers the way they do to come

out with their probability2) They divided by 4 for “unintentional historical biases” but this

method doesn’t come from any academic standard3) Even the statistician referenced in the film stated his calculations

were not the ones shown in the film*4) “Beatles problem”…. We don’t know Mary was Mary Magdalene but

filmmakers ignore this and include her in “Jesus’ family” but they also conclude from the 1 in 600 that she is part of the family (problem circular reasoning)• Revised formula with Mary out makes the odds 1 in 4!!!

* http://fisher.utstat.toronto.edu/andrey/OfficeHrs.txt

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1. James’ tomb referenced being identified a few weeks ago as a fake (too bad movie was already made)

2. Family was poor (Luke 2:24 (2 doves), Leviticus 12:6-8 (provision for

poor),Matthew 8:20 (Jesus’ own words), 2 Corinthians 8:9 (Paul talking about

Jesus))

3. Family was not from there - were from Nazareth in northern Galilee, not Jerusalem in southern Judea. If there was a family tomb it would be in Nazareth, not Jerusalem.

4. Agenda and background of a filmmaker to make money and have a potentially bias background rooted in Judaism that denies Christ's deity

4) Other supporting points…

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s1. Earliest creed by Paul within 5 years of Jesus’ death (1 Cor. 15:1-8)

2. Post-mortem appearances• to women• to individuals• to groups• changed lives (Saul of Tarsus)

• sacrificed lives (martyrdom)

3. Absence of devotion at tomb4. Worship on Sunday in commemoration5. Lord’s supper6. Baptism7. Uniqueness of event8. Opponents couldn’t find a body to discredit the

resurrection (Matthew 28:11-15)

9. If you saw a tomb that read George, son of Mary, would you naturally assume this was the tomb of George Washington son of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington?

10.The names on the Talpiyot ossuaries indicate that the tomb belonged to a family from Judea, the area around Jerusalem, where people were known by their first name and father's name. As Galileans, Jesus and his family members would have used their first name and hometown.

11.Why would Jesus name his son after the man who betrayed him, Judas?

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"I just think it’s a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated." "It’s a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don’t know enough to separate fact from fiction.”

"The fact that it's been ignored tells you something, It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."

William G. Dever, a secular well-credentialed archaeologist who has worked excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

- John 3:19-20

“God raised Him from the dead”- Romans 10:9

“but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defence to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence”

- 1 Peter 3:15

thank you.

www.theologyinsneakers.comsumair@theologyinsneakers.com

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