Well i believe it could be true, but there aint much evidence to prove this is his tomb. I am an athiest, but i believe that Jesus existed, just that he had no divine powers and what not. I brought it up to my Lutheran Confirmation teacher and he said it is a hoax because Jesus's physical body was moved after it was put in his original tomb after his crucifixtion. And it was "raised to heaven". So who did they find , "Gerald the Magical Gnome"? please give me some more insite to this

I have no idea what you're talking about, any link to an article or somesuch?

Anyways, the belief that Jesus' body was raised and the existence of a tomb are not really in conflict with eachother. Tomb != Body.

I can clue you in.

Jesus isn't real, thus this is a hoax

well if you have seen the news you would have seen an article about a documentary with James Cameron stumbling upon "Jesus's Tomb". I am athiest so all this is probably a hoax

A lot of people are crying foul to the tomb:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/...P703030318.html

(this link is courtesy of the Coast to Coast AM site).

I'm with Tyler. I don't think Jesus had super-powers, but I'm certain he existed. As for the tomb, Joseph and Mary were pretty common names. We'd need pretty hefty evidence to prove it was his actual tomb. Especially as there's been a Church of the Holy Sepulcher claiming to be the same thing for several centuries.

--Jaylemurph

Yes it is true that Jesus' body was laid in a tomb; but since he was raised from the dead, the tomb should have been empty. The trouble is that the ossuary bearing the name Jesus contains the ancient remains of a body.

It seems that somebody is going to great lengths to prove that Jesus never rose from the dead; the implications of such a charge are obvious, since Christianity is founded on the belief that Jesus died and rose again on the third day. I watched part of the documentary on this and I'll admit that for those who believe in statistics and probabilities, they make a good case for having found the remains of Jesus. As for myself, I don't think in terms of statistics and probabilities; if I believe that Jesus did rise from the dead, it's not because of any overwhelming evidence. Believing Jesus rose from the dead is an act of faith.

I don't have much respect for Jacobovici, but at least he did make a valid point or two such as with why it is readily accepted that the Caiaphas ossuary belongs to the Caiaphas of the gospels. The excuse du jour of the apologists is that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were common names, they neglect to mention how it is that they so readily accept that Constantine's mother managed to find the tomb of Jesus and three crosses which were aplenty during that time without even so much as an identifier. Much less the umpteen pieces of his foreskin said to be housed in numerous churches, or the cup from which he drank.

Some apologists even claimed that if it was true it would not affect their belief in the religion whatsoever. This boggles my mind considering that if his bones were buried long after his flesh decomposed then it stands to reason that the gospel stories are an absolute and total fabrication of his body ascending which means that angels had nothing to do with removing the stone--his followers or family did.

Hey, wow, hippi, you're someone who separates personal belief from actual fact. Way to go!

Of course, I think Jesus followed the example of every living being ever and died, but then I also think that when I die, Doctor Who will come and take me on fabulous adventures.

--Jaylemurph

Actually Jesus is real. He is mentioned in letters of Romans and many other sources. He did walk on this planet, so thus you cannot say he is real.

What makes people cry hoax? I can't understand that... they found 6 ossuaries (27 years ago) with some common names. Period. Now, they made some interesting statistical suggestions that make people wonder about the possibilities, and Jacobovici himself has asked real archeologists to take a look at the findings. However, the problem becomes that it's not really archeologies job to prove or disprove scriptures. What it comes down to? We'll never really know. Even if we did, it doesn't make much difference to me... I'm Christian, but my belief is firmly rooted in spiritual resurection and always has been. Of course, there's pretty much not anything that archeology or science could find that would make me rethink my faith. They should go for it and keep investigating.

Sure, mentioned some 50-70 years after his death at best. There's actually no concrete evidence that Jesus ever even lived. However, the circumstancial evidence is overwhelming that he did.

Simcha said himself that the reason he did this was to get academics talking about it and trying to debunk it. I think it's funny how so many academics are just saying right off the bat "this is totally improbable, what a waste of time." instead of "we don't know if this is true or not, lets research it." Part of me really wants to give Simcha the benefit of the doubt. I guess because I've felt like he does. I've felt like I've stumbled upon something important and that I don't have the brains to properly figure it out, so I would try to get someone smarter to figure it out instead. I think people are taking the documentary too literally, too much as absolute truth. He did not claim anything was the truth. People just need to calm down and really think about how fun it would be to research this some more instead of being total tight ass jerks about it.

Historically that's not far at all. Do you believe there was no accurate, living oral history of the American Civil War in 1915? Some of the OFFICERS survived into the 1920s.

That's true, however, you have to take a hard look at writers of that period and other things they wrote and how accurate they were. Josephus is one that mentions Jesus (some 100 years after JC's death) but there's HUGE debate over what he wrote and why.

I'm not saying Jesus is a myth, indeed I believe the circumstancial evidence says that he did indeed live, but we cannot be absolutely certain based on what science and archeology can tell us. I actually think if they found Christ's tomb and could prove it, it could do a LOT FOR Christianity... if Christians would allow it to work in their favor. Unfortunately, most are so mired and married to the idea of a physical resurection... it would be chaos. *sigh*

maybe jc was buried but how many people was named jesus in those days

Yeah I heard about that..
Did James Cameroon claim he found Jesus tomb and the bottom of the Atlantic ocean- in the titanic?

I don't know what you mean Jaylemurph. Nobody has proven that Jesus didn't rise from the dead; nobody has proven that he did. If you want to believe that he didn't, then go ahead and believe and believe that; if I want to believe that he did, then that's my business.

sure its possible to find a tomb that could have been christ..but a body or any type of physical remains that would reflect it being christ is obsurd . if i believe in christ and his exsistence then the first and mainthing that is necessary in believeing in him is his death burial and ressurection. with his resurrection there leaves an empty tomb without a body. which makes it a hoax and would make those involved denoucing the most of the nt and the power of god..it appears as that with this anouncment they have proclaimed it makes ppl wounder and possably doubt what is written in the bible..so in my opoion id say good try but those that believe in god and his word do not believe in this.but again thats just My Opinoin.

There might be proof that Jesus lived, but he never had divine powers. And Mouse888 is correct, there were probably miillions upon millions of people who were named Jesus back then.

Try walkin on water that isn't frozen, you'll need wings of an angel.

A freezin jesus, ready to be rebuilt, we have the technology, I know that none of you work for the government, If you did you would all type much less.

but the bible is a load of crock. jesus never walked on water nor did he turn water into wine. It is all made up to make a spectacle of him and make christianity reality

i found this funny.

sorry wrong pic, this is the one.

and that is your Opioion. you have no proof of this .

yes it is, but there is no proof that it isnt fact....unless u rely on the 1,300 pieces of paper they call the bible

most scholors believe those writings of 'Josephus ' are actually hoaxes.

exactly..in those pieces of paper that holds the title of bible. it tells us that Jesus is not in a tomb nor will he be found there.

Yes exactly, his body was missing from his tomb i think a couple days after his crucifixtion. from there for 40 days he visited close christian friends to proclaim his victory, there he ascended into heaven

I concede the point that no-one's proven Jesus came back from the dead,and further that it's quite hard (if not impossible) to prove a negative.
However, as every other biological entity on Earth has died, and Christ was a biological entity (putatively, as this thread had discussed), then Christ died.

...or was a really, really, Really big exception.

--Jaylemurph

from reading this thread... i realized you don't know much about anything you are talking about... to begin with...
the bible was intended to be a history book... it wasn't even assembled into what we know of as that bible until hundreds of years after the death of jesus...
the old testament was around.. the new testament was added later...

as far as Jesus being dead and getting up... there is actual historical proof that the roman leaders paid soldiers to lie about what happened to the body... and that's not just found in the Bible... if
nothing happened... why did soldiers need to be paid off? why did his followers choose to die to pull off a hoax? would you die just to pull off a hoax?

lastly... Jesus did appear to 40 people... but you left out the part where he appeared to over 500 people at once, then ascended to heaven in front of all 500... that's not a mass halucination...

i doubt that whatever the hell his name is found anything credible... didn't this guy claim to have found the tomb before? not only that... how would he prove it? what DNA would he use to prove it? the supposed
discovery didn't even spark my interest because of the way he presented it... why the hell is everyone so obsessed with mary magdeline? there is no historical or biblical indications that he and her were ever in
any kind of romantic relationship... but people keep making up stories...

The actual, historical proof of the life of Jesus is pretty slim. I'd like to know more about these paid-off soldiers. I mean, in general, governments don't keep proof of bribes hanging around. There are interesting, more reasonable theories that Jesus' death was faked, not his 'Resurrection.'

As for Mary Magdalene, it was Leigh, Baigent and Lincoln's Holy Blood, Holy Grail that started it off 25 years ago. Most of their Priory of Sion info has been proven to be based on faked evidence (not that they faked it), but much of their biblical research and commentary about her is interesting. Seeing as how she and Jesus have been dead the past two millennia and left no records, we'll never know if they were an item or not.

--Jaylemurph

One thing I'm wondering though is was his name on the tomb his Hebrew name Yawheah (sp?)? Jesus is the English translation. Also with the Mary ordeal always in the Bible they called her Mary Magdalene and I would think even if she and Jesus did marry wouldn't she still be called Mary Magdelene so people would know it's her tomb? I've also heard the theory that they escaped Jerusalem and he wasn't really crucified. *shrug*

It depends on what you consider "divine powers." Some of the things Jesus did back in the day the writers talk about at that point in time were in deed "divine powers" but yet to us today simple things could be considered a magic trick. So you have to keep in mind that.

Also how could Jesus ever have any type of relationship with him traveling all around that area and the known world at the time preaching his message? Kind of hard to have any type of relationship since it's believed that Mary didn't travel with Jesus. I believe she was involved with his group but stayed at her home town to do work there and was a spiritual leader there.

Let me get this straight..You are an athiest so this must be a hoax? Let me tell you something God/the universe/jesus/and any other religious/destiny deciding figureheads don't exist or not exist based on what YOU on ME believe. They either exist or they don't completely independant of OUR beliefs. The importance of them, the significance their existance has to us is what rests on us. The fact is that these things are ancient & there is no way for us to begin to really know what happened back then. at least not as completely as we want to. Whether of not we EVER find the Ark of the covenent, Noah's ark, the holy grail, the crown of thorns, fountain of youth, the garden of eden, what ever it is you search for, as long as we keep searching then we have something to believe in and that is what makes life worthwhile.

And you aren't athiest anyway you are agnostic because clearly you are looking for something to believe in.

I'm not an atheist but I don't think its a hoax
I think its a deliberate fraud concocted to make money from people who should know better
The tomb is real
but Jesus wasn't in it
so what are we saying here
he was taken up
he came back down
he was buried
then taken up again

yoyo fan was he

One problem I have always had with the resurrection story is what actually happened to Jesus's physical body. I think I am right when I say that His body was gone three days after it was laid and sealed in the tomb. He made some more appearances then ascended into heaven. The bit I don't get is this - how can a physical thing, like a body, go to a spiritual place, like heaven? What does Jesus need His physical body for? And why did He need to "ascend" into heaven? If it is "up there" shouldn't space voyagers have bumped into heaven when leaving the earth's atmosphere by now?

As for many people witnessing His ascent into heaven...there are ways to trick people. Seeing something doesn't make it so.

okay here we go [my theory]

jesus wasnt a "superhero" just a f#^*5ng genius.

he goes preaches his word. becomes a threat to the corrupt.

fakes his death this is a indiscreet means of dethroning the corrupt. if someone everyone liked was killed there would be a great deal of reflection [imagine if they killed ghandi].

he absconded off to france where no one would know him. this is necessary to maintain the we just killed jesus attitude and not be pursued by the corrupt. [which would reform many a people]

he lived died yatta yatta

and the corrupt being the cockroaches that they are used his religion to survive and changed to further control the people.

and an alternate version just for the bible toters.

christ died for our sins.
going off to have a life [and family] is unreasonable.
didnt jesus deserve that reward after everything he [supposedly] did in the bible.

"I'm not an atheist but I don't think its a hoax
I think its a deliberate fraud concocted to make money from people who should know better
The tomb is real
but Jesus wasn't in it
so what are we saying here
he was taken up
he came back down
he was buried
then taken up again

yoyo fan was he"


I was speaking directly to the original poster with the athiest statement.
I myself am a believer in God, ressurection and everything. My point is...... just because I believe in God doesn't make him real, and just because someone else may not believe in God doesn't make him fake. He either exists or doesn't. Jesus existed, flat out. The Romans really did crucify people, they really did entomb people, and the Jewish people did choose to release a murderer instead of Jesus possible messiah. Golgotha was a place. So yes some where there is an actual tomb where Jesus was placed because he actually died because he was an actual person. The rest you take on faith or you don't. I don't believe that it can be "stumbled" upon or found, or know that it even stood the test of time and weather.

Faked his own death,eh? Was insurance money involved??

Actually there is no evidence inthe bible itself....(yeh can be proven) that jesus ever died on the cross, it does not even prove that he got crucified never mind him dying. I believe he was real, I believe he person of God, with a good message for the lost sheep of the house (the jews)....Oh yeh cameron is a jew, and we know what they think of jesus....

um excuse me....run the no evidence in the bible thing by me one more time. I am not sitting with one propped up in front of me this second but i am pretty sure, no i am absolutely positive that the event was recorded by not one but several people. You might want to check your page numbers if your bible doesn't present that particular story.
once again....by historical evidences.....even other than those in the bible.....Jesus was a living breathing person. was arrested on blasphemy charges.tortured.sentenced to death. almost pardoned. crucified. poked in the side. prepared. buried. NOW you can decide whether you believe the rest of the story.

because everything that happened before that was a normal run of the mill trial for that day and time. or was John not beheaded either? Or did Jezebel not fall out of a window? Come on now. Even if you don't believe that God is God, most of the bible is a history.

Please see the accounts written by Josephus - a Jew who was a Roman Historian. He did write a small "blurb" about a man name Jesus. Based on this, and other historical accounts, we all, for the most part, can conclude that Jesus did exist as a person.

Now the “Big Question“: “did Jesus exist as a Messiah? As the Christos? “

This is another question altogether. Based on documentary evidence, there can be little doubt that he was truly a charismatic man - many people died for believing in him/his teachings.

What is a Messiah? Is being charismatic grounds for being the Messiah? Does finding, or not finding, the remains of a supposed Messiah in a tomb aid us in answering this “Big Question?”

Well Jesus definitely existed, but i think just a brilliant story teller, as i am a pagan i don't believe in one single god. I believe they have found something, but then again i am not too sure, as how many people have lived and died on this earth? how can they have found the single most famous man ever or whatever, and not bob the mechanic? It does sound like a hoax, but i suppose this sort of thing could shake the foundations of christianity, so i could see why some people would do it as a joke.

I hope this helps! xx

I think everyone should read the accounts of the crucifixion, from all four of the Gospels. Do it from the viewpoint of four witnesses giving evidence in a court of Law. Compare and contrast. I think you'll be surprised.

I don't think you'll find any historical evidence for his existence, whatsoever. There are, however, several historians from that region actively writing around the time of Christ who didn't see his life as worthy of mention.

I agree, the gospel accounts are not in accord (due to what is another debate); however, I do beleive a charismatic religous leader did exist during the early first century based on various sources. Here are two off the top of my head:

Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian living during the 1st century, wrote in his book, "Antiquities of the Jews", that Jesus was a wise man who was a doer of good works.

The Essenes, in what we call the "Dead Sea Scrolls" metion the Messiah and how he would suffer for the sins of others. This "Crucified Messiah Scroll" also identifies the Messiah as the "Shoot of Jesse" and the "Branch of David." The scroll mentions that the Messiah was put to death.

I don't think one needs to delve futher to prove the existence of a man named Jesus (Yahusha) during the early first century. The question remains, "Was he the Messiah?"