NOT Jesus's family tomb

Hi guys..it's been while since i found a blog-worthy topic to talk about..this WILL be long, as far as i can remember what was mentioned to me during about this hoo-ha that attempts to seed doubt in our faith.

For people too busy to read the entire blog, just know that this claim is entirely disputable, and while chances are it may be real, the odds against it are too overwhelming for it to be really entertained. [Even in the scholastic world]

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The allegation now is about the archaelogical find that shook the archaelogical world [gasp] through the nosy journalist who thought he uncovered the world's greatest mystery.

A couple of months ago, a condominium construction company was clearing the way to build a condominium [duh] with bulldozers and dynamite one day. Lo and behold, a tomb is uncovered, and several Ossuaries were found, amongst which incriptions were read 'Jesus, son of Joseph' and amongst which other ossuaries read 'Joseph', what seemed like 'Mary Magdalene', 'Matya'. It looked terribly like a family tomb of Jews from the 1st century CE. And there was a mysterious niches empty that looked like it contained another ossuary that has gone missing...

And coincidentally, another ossuary was found some time before that read 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus'

Now, from the bible, we know that Joseph had several sons, 2 of which is Jesus of Nazareth [Jesus Christ], and another was James the just [St James of the 12 apostle]. And amongst the ossuary there was one that read 'Jesus, son of Joseph', as well as what looked like 'Mary Magdalene', as well as an interesting 'Judas, son of Jesus'.

And we know for a fact that rich Jews who lived in the first century DID have family tombs dug out of stone and have their family buried in these tombs in ossuaries, where father, mother, offsprings and maybe grandchildrens in these tombs. This practice was discontinued after the destruction of the Jewish temple around the end of 1st century, so it had to be from that era.

And DNA analysis reveals that the bones in the ossuary of 'Jesus' and 'Mary' have no genetic relations. Thus they are unrelated, and for them to be in the same family tomb, 'Mary', could have been married to 'Jesus'. And there was the ossuary that said 'Judas, son of Jesus'.

Could it be that Jesus did not ascend to heaven, but instead stayed on earth and married Mary Magdalene and had a son Judas?

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To Debunk the reports

Apparently, this breaking news is made not by an archaeologist, or a scientist, but a journalist. And if that isn't enough, the journalist published a book, and in it he claimed that he had corresponded with several known authorities who knew their stuff, but had failed to report that they found his claim highly unlikely, and that he was full of himself.

If that's not enough to throw you off this trail, then please do read on.
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First of all, Jesus is a fairly common name in those time. Not only was Jesus Christ called Jesus, there was another impostor messiah who was known as Jesus the Galilean who tried to call down wicked punishment on the religious authorities but was later tried and tortured and discarded as a madmen. But needless to say, even now there are many people called Jesus, so we KNOW that Jesus is not an uncommon name.
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Secondly, the inscription that the journalist read as Mariamene the 'Mara', of which Mariamene is translated to Mary according to some of the christian writings[Acts of Peter] and Mara was Aramaic for Lord, and there were stories of Mary Magdalene being one of the key leaders of the early church, it was prematurely decided that the inscription did mean Mary Magdalene.

However, if 'Mara' was to be read in aramaic, then why was it written in greek lettering? In fact, 'Mara' is short form for Mary as well. And this 'Mara' and the 'Mariamene' were written in different hand, along with the connecting word may be read as 'and' too, so in all, it could have been simply 'Mariamene', and later when another Mary died, they entombed her in the same Ossuary and added 'and Mara'

So much for Mary Magdalene.
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Next, for the DNA evidence. First of all, we should ask why they simply tested the DNA of 'Mary' and 'Jesus', and not 'Jesus' and 'Judas, son of Jesus' and then 'Mary' and 'Judas' ? that way if Jesus WAS the father, and Mary was the mother, then it can be established that they are indeed married. BUT it wasn't done.

And the argument that they aren't related means that they are married are just preposterous; Mary or Mara could just as well be married to Judas, or Joseph, or anyone else in the tomb. The DNA evidence shows nothing at all.
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And the Ossuary of James is another question. Whether it's authentic is still debatable. Since James is the leader of the early church, and he was a christian, and Christians by teachings refer to Jesus as the Lord or the Messiah, why would He [or anyone buring James] refer to Jesus as Jesus? more likely he would have carved 'James, son of Joseph, brother of the Lord/Messiah/ Christ' as befits his title. And James would have long regarded Jesus as his Savior and Lord, and not his brother.

And in fact, the tomb of Jesus was uncovered AFTER the ossuary of James was found. Unless there was a hole somewhere in the tomb, it simply does not make sense that anyone could have stolen the bones without having the tomb found first. So the ossuary of James was NOT from the tomb of 'Jesus'
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And not to mention the awful handwriting on some of the ossuary that even the discovering scientist suspect isn't written, but are instead scratches that appeared due to the wear and tear of the material.
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And need we mention that Jesus's father was a poor carpenter, and that only the rich Jews could afford to have a tomb dug out of stone?
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In all, there are insufficient evidence to point that this family tomb is indeed the tomb of Jesus Christ, nor does it infer that Jesus died on earth instead of having ascended to the heavens.

Interesting enough, it seems that these shocking discoveries seem to happen just before Easter or Christmas, to shaken our belief. The last one was on the Gospel of Judas that happened the year before, which was another dubious source of 'information'. And do take note that these lies never last; they sparkle, and die out. But the bible lives on.

Cheers

brian

disclaimer: i did not come up with these findings so dun bug me if i misquoted anything..or if i mispresented the facts. But i daresay that it's 90% true, so if i do have mistakes, it's typo errors or translational errors by a layperson, but the arguments are valid. [In fact, just go Google 'Jesus bones' and you'll see loads of websites that argue against the discovery for the 'family tomb of Jesus'

Interpreting God's word

Dear all,

It's been a while. Just wanted to update that i've finally got my internet back [long story..don't ask] and my bank account is happy too [ cos Dsta finally banked in the cheque..haha..] and my belly seems to be happy too [i'm not too happy with the waist line though]

And maybe i can share a little something that i learnt in class and church.

Disclaimer: when i talk about God's word below, i am talking about the written word, not the revelation that God may give you when you read; that revelation is to you alone, and it may even come from other sources[other than the bible].
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As we all know, God's word is like a double-edged sword. Wield it well and it will do all sorts of wonder and good. But when used wrongly, you could end up cutting what you do not want [ even yourself]

Someone once said that there is a very stringent requirement for anyone who wanted to be deemed worthy of lifting up the holy tome and opening the cover and reading what lies within. For it IS God's word and truth, not just any mere text book or history book to be read lightly. To do so without understanding and training would be sacrilegious and disrespectful of the original intent or the author, God.

Which i begin to understand why.

The first time i read the bible i was awed by the heavy reading and the amount of historical information that was recorded, as well as the rich content of stories and lore. The first time i went for a bible study, i realised that there was so much to understand between the lines as well. That each line in the Psalms can mean more than what is apparrent. I thought that it was like a literature text, in which meanings can be inferred as according to what you felt and what made sense.

Terribly dangerous way of treating the text.

Which is why i would exhort everyone out there, to read in context when you do read the bible. Especially when you intend to use it to teach someone else. Because the text can be read in so many many ways, some which may even be misleading. A common practice is to read the text before and after the verse in question, to make sure that you read in context. An even better way would be to do a little research and find out what other commentaries say about that verse, chapter. Most of these commentaries do talk about the historical background as well as the situation around the author as it was written.

For example, the opening of Luke mentions that there are other books[Gospels written] about Jesus, and that he writes the gospel according to St Luke so that we may not be mislead. It would be silly to understand that he was referring to the other 3 gospels [Matthew, Mark and John] but other gospels like the gospel of Mary Magdalene, Judas, St Bartholomew and the infancy gospels of Jesus.

Or that Jesus never did teach the Jews to pay tax; when he said 'give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God', he was referring to the currency that the accuser held, which was a roman coin, a coin with the image of Caesar engraved on it. This form of currency violated the 10 commandments [Thou shall not make any graven images], and Jesus was referring to this violation, and not exhorting the people to pay the taxes.

Reason being that it was a trap laid out for him; to ask the people to pay the oppressors would be to betray the trust that he would deliver them, and to ask them not to pay would open Jesus to accusation of being a trouble-maker and revolter and he would be easily sentenced to crucifixion by Pontius Pilate.

And in the text i'm reading now, the Malleus Maleficarum [hammer of the witches] which explains why women are more open to attacks by the devil than men, and quotes several women in the bible and casts them in such anti feminist light that if i were to quote the tract, i would be accused of being a male chauvinistic. What is amazing is that how this 2 authors [of the malleus] manage to write such incredible 'crap' and annote part of the bible as justification for this twisted argument. It only shows how man can twist even the word of God to mean what they want to say.

And this is one of the reason i can think of to explain the many factions and denominations that have been birthed forth within christianity, and why we are so split in the body of christ. It is when man tries to enforce his will within religion in which only God should have domain over, that such a tragedy actually happens.

Sorry for such a long answer to a relatively simple question. The bottom line is, read carefully the next time you do open that bible, especially if you intend to teach and share knowledge.

God guide us all
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Trampling Temptation

Once again, from http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

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Mathew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
During that time the devil came and saif to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread."
But Jesus told him, "No! The scriptures say ' People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God'. "
Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple, and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the scriptures say, 'He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands, so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.' "
Jesus responded, " The Scriptures also say, ' you must not test the Lord your God.' "
Next, the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed ihm the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. "I will give it all to you," he said, "if yo uwill kneel down and worship me."
"Get out from here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'you must worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' "
Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
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Well, obviously [to me at least] today is one of the least spiritual days i've had since the period of Lent started. I've made decision to make some sacrifices and stuffs that i wanted to give up for Jesus, but today was the second day it broke. Not even 2 weeks into the 40 days and i broke.
And somehow today the temptation came so heavily. What actually surprised me was that todays daily bread came just when it came early in the morning, and i thought that it would keep me in line at least for today. But apparrently later in the day it snapped and i forgot what i learnt in the morning.
Makes me kinda think that maybe i am not meant to be that holy after all. Or perhaps it takes progression; hopefully i am making progress though. But there's no way to know how much i can take, since i can be so holy and so brazenly sinful at different times.
But what is amazing is that just when i thought that today would be given to 'evil' and 'sin' and wrong doing on my part, near the end of the day i met 2 good angels who were on their way to their small group meeting. Karen and Michelle [hope i got the names right], you guys pulled me back and made me feel better loads. Thanks for just being there.
And that is my reflection; angels are there fighting the fight even as we struggle with our inner demons. And sometimes we have to just look outwards for strength in beautiful people around us all the while, perhaps fighting the same fight. Gives you strength, gives you companionship, gives you faith.

Stay strong people, and pray that i do the same.

Inner Turmoil

Kay..Guys, i'm quoting from this website http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml where there is some daily bread we can all share on the bible.
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1Samuel 1:15
There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim. Elkanah had two wives, Hanah and Penninah. Peninnah had children, Hannah did not.
Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven's Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli - Hophno and Phonehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion, because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same - Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.
"Why are you crying, Hannah?" Elkanah would ask. "Why aren't you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me - isn't that better than having ten sons?"
Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: "O Lord of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then i will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut."
As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. "Must you come here drunk?" he demanded. "Throw away your wine!"
"On no sir!" she replied. " I haven't been drinking wine or anything stronger. But i am very discouraged, and i was pouring out my heart to the Lord."

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Well, you can go ahead and read what the comment was on the website, i personally dun agree with the interpretation, in that it made no sense and distracts us from the main point. One thing i glean from it is this:

Prayer does not make God see things as we see them; it helps us see things as God sees them.

Which personally speaks to me as i was struggling with prayer. What is the point of praying when God knows already what is in your heart, and always does what you need instead of what you ask anyway? These seem to contradict the purpose of prayer, especially when so many people use it to make requests to God as to how they want things to turn out.

So many times i prayed to God, filling it with words, and logical arguments that my mind came up with. And most of the times, God uses my own arguments to talk to me. It's like a time of self-reflection where God comes in with me and sorts things out. And sometimes it leaves me more confused as i think that God did not speak to me. But so many times it's just that i did not realise that He already did so.

DEETROIT

Hey guys,

Might get a little confusing cos i may talk about this trip on both blogs. But anyway, the trip was fantastic. Mike Dempsey, who was our coordinator/link to Detroit and several of the organisations we were visiting, was absolutely magical in pulling rabbits out of the hat and giving us a fantastic stay.

For starters, he was able to get us 2 apartments [unfurnished] in a condominium that had a fantastic view of the river and Canada, and we just had to pay the cleaning fee after we left. And he gave us a fantastic tour of Detroit that opened our eyes to see the problems that the city was facing, as well as the efforts that are being made to better the cities, making Detroit suddenly more unique than just another city in USA.

And he was our 'ONSTAR' support for the trip, especially when we were lost and needed directions, just give Mike a call and he can direct us to where we wanted to go. This guy knows Detroit like the back of his hands!

I'm going to do a mini series kinda to review what this week meant to me, going day by day, but each day i'll do an entry so you guys wun get overwhelmed by the word diahorrea..ha..yepps. So this starts it off by setting the background to introduce Detroit to you people out there with big hearts who might just feel pain for what the city is going through.

Cheers guys!