A Discovery to Change History

Small boxes containing what might be the bones of Jesus have been found just south of Jerusalem, according to recent reports. This is big news. If the story is true, this is the biggest news in the past 2,000 years! But the story doesn't stop there. It goes on to propose that in the tomb with Jesus lay the bones of his wife, Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah. History-changing? Oh yeah. But is it true?

From the minimal research I've done, let me give you 4 reasons why this is not true:

1) Common Names -- The names of the tombs (Jesus, Joseph, Mary, & Judah) were all extremely common names during the first century. In Scripture alone, there's Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Lazarus, etc. Other names for Judah would be Judas (2 of the 12 disciples named that) and Jude. In Colossians 4:11, Paul mentions another man named Jesus. Thus, finding a tomb with these names is like people 1,000 years from now finding a gravestone that simply says "Bill" and proposing that this must be the grave of Bill Clinton. The names prove nothing.

2) Poor Galileans -- Jesus was from a dirt poor area in Galilee. If you saw "The Nativity Story" then you saw a great depiction of how poor they were. How, then, could they afford such a nice tomb in Jerusalem? And why would they have a tomb in Jerusalem if their home town was 70 miles north in Nazareth? This doesn't make sense.

3) Easter Is Soon -- "What does this have to do with anything?," you may ask. It has everything to do with it. Every year around Easter some crazy new theory about Jesus comes out. Just expect it. As soon as the stores start putting out the chocolate bunnies, someone is going to start spouting off heresy.

4) Scholarly Quotes -- Here's what archaeologists are saying...

"I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight. I've known about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought is was much of a story. It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich."

- William G. Dever, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona

"[They] have set it up as if it's a legitimate academic debate, when the vast majority of scholars who specialize in archaeology of this period flatly reject this."

- Jodi Magness, Archaeologist from the University of North Carolina

"It makes a great story for a TV film, but it's completely impossible. It's nonsense."

- Amos Kloner, Professor from Bar Ilan University, Oversaw the original excavation of the tomb in 1980

5) $$$ -- This isn't about science. This isn't about archaeology. This isn't about truth. This is about money, plain and simple. Real archaeological finds come out in research, not in TV shows. Genuine discoveries are found in journals, not in popular books. And isn't it interesting how this 'discovery' seems to point us to "The Da Vinci Code" theory? Jesus and Mary Magdalene wed and have a child in the "Da Vinci Code," and now we have the tomb where a Jesus and wife Mary are buried. This is all for publicity and money, nothing more.

But why? Why do James Cameron and others seek to find Jesus' bones? It's very simple:

If they find Jesus' bones, it proves Jesus wasn't resurrected.

If Jesus wasn't resurrected, then He isn't God.

If Jesus isn't God, then we don't have to obey Him.

That's why. Sinners hate God's commands. They hate the thought of leaving sin and clinging to Christ. Thus, they seek to dispose of Christ. The Pharisees did it. The Sadducces did it. Today, Hollywood does it. Those little white boxes aren't going to change history. James Cameron isn't going to change history. The only discovery to change history was the empty tomb.

He Is Not Here, but He Has Risen!