Titanic Claims! Jesus' supposed burial box!?!

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The ossuary show above is claimed to be the burial box that contained the bones of Jesus. Below is the box they assert Mary Magdalene, his supposed wife, was buried along with their "son" Judah in a third box.


James Cameron, director of movies such as Aliens, Terminator and Titanic, has announced his project to reveal the burial box of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene and their son. As a Christian and a pastor, what is my reaction to this?

Honestly, my first reaction is to just shrug and say, here we go again with just one more attack on the person of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t surprise me or shock me and quite honestly it doesn’t shake my faith whatsoever. People are quick to embrace any unusual idea concerning the person of Jesus. However, show that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead and ascend to heaven as Scripture says and receive either ridicule or indifference.

Why here, why now? I think in part it is because the movement among liberal “scholars” has been to move towards Gnostic thinking regarding Jesus, Christianity and early church history. In the second and third centuries there was a group of people that had pantheistic leanings and strong feminist tendencies (among other beliefs, many which contradict each other) that challenged the accepted and orthodox teachings about Jesus. Although these loosely connected groups did not win the day and eventually faded from history we have much of what they have written. In fact, The Da Vinci Code book and movie (along with other books these are based on) are based on several of the ideas gleaned from Gnostic writings.

Among other things the Gnostics wanted to both humanize and spiritualize Jesus. They tried to turn him into an enlightened, spiritual man who was very “modern” in his thinking and permissive in his morality. “True” Christianity was not about morality but instead was about spirituality. Unlike the “Victorian” orthodox Christians, the Gnostics were enlightened about sex and spirituality. They play very well to the modern mindset.

So what about these burial boxes (ossuaries) that supposedly contain the bones of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son? It is amazing to me that people will readily accept ideas that fly in the face of all the established facts of history because they fit into their presuppositions. Find anything that confirms the Bible’s accounts of historic events and it is dismissed out of hand but reveal any “evidence” that disproves the Bible and it is accepted prima fascia.

I am not prone to believe in conspiracy theories. I do not think that James Cameron is part of any larger plot to undermine Christianity. I think that he released this 25 year old evidence because he really believes it is true (and he wants to be back in the limelight, what was his last hit movie?).

However, I do see another affect at play here. I think that all of these ridiculous claims from the Da Vinci Code to these ossuaries will have a cumulative effect of confirming people’s doubts and suspicions about the claims of Christianity. We live in a post-modern age where any Truth is questioned. It is all about perspective and opinion. Any idea purported will eventually have its counter-claim thereby nullifying it. This goes for science, history and religion. Sow enough seeds of doubt and at least one will sprout and grow.

Some, I believe, do hope that Christianity will “die the death of a thousand paper cuts.” What I mean is, most people don’t think they are going to bring down the whole structure of Christianity, however, they can continually whittle away at it until there is just an overwhelming amount of miniscule doubts that undermine belief and faith in Christ. Do I think this will actually happen? Of course not. But I do think that is the hope and intent of some. In some ways I think that is the motive behind the attempt to remove all symbols of Christianity from the public sphere. The old, “out of sight out of mind” strategy.

Here are just a few of the problems with the assertion that Jesus didn’t die on the cross and rise again.

1. There is the matter of all the biblical and extra-biblical testimony that Jesus was in fact tried, executed and buried.

2. There are the claims by Jesus’ followers of the empty tomb. The clear universal testimony of the followers of Christ was that the tomb was empty because He rose from the dead.

3. Jesus’ disciples truly believed that Jesus died, was buried and rose again. If He wasn’t and was still living in Jerusalem then why did they form Christianity and why did most of them die a martyr’s death? It is hard to follow a risen savior when he is your next door neighbor raising a kid.

4. If Jesus never really died, why didn’t the Roman authorities or the Jewish leaders just drag Jesus out and reveal the hoax foisted upon a foolishly believing people? If he was crucified and didn't rise bringing out the corpse would have quieted the rumors. If he was living down the street they could have just paraded him around the city a few times until people got their stories straight.

5. If Jesus truly didn’t die but instead married Mary Magdalene and had a child, why didn’t this supposed truth come out during his lifetime or shortly after? Why did it take hundreds of years to reveal it by people far removed from the events? Eyewitnesses believed Jesus was the sinless Son of God but people hundreds of years later have proof he was just another guy.

6. Archeologists are far from lining up behind James Cameron to assert that these boxes are the final resting places of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son Judah.

7. Christianity hinges on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The early disciples knew this and staked their life on it. Beyond that, one has to explain all of the other attendant issues surround Jesus’ trial, death, burial and resurrection. Was Jesus ever really tried? Did he actually even hang on the cross? Was his whole life an elaborate lie and hoax? Did his disciples know that it was a farce from the beginning? Was there ever really a tomb? How much of Jesus’ sayings are actually true? How did this simple carpenter ever even have such fanciful stories told about him in the first place? If none of the Bible claims actually happened how did all the myths and stories get built up in the first place?

It isn’t enough to just make these counter claims to the biblical account of Christianity, if someone is going to make these claims there is a burden of responsibility to answer all of the other issues as well. Lets assume these ossuaries are not forgeries (no one would ever make fake copies of something like this!), that doesn’t prove that these boxes actually were that of the same Jesus as the Bible. That name, along with Mary, were very common names.

My guess is that this story will have about a one month shelf life. After the program airs we will hear people going back and forth about it until after Easter and then it will be mostly forgotten (other than the lingering questions people have who heard about the story). Have you even noticed that these stories tend to come out about a month before Easter? Last year it was “The Gospel According to Judas” and this year it is the burial box of Jesus. Interesting timing. Always interesting timing. Hmm.

Well, these are my initial thoughts on the story. The show airs in early march so don’t be surprised if this isn’t the last you hear of it.

A Sad, Tragic Life

Now that I have your attention.

I am reflecting on the media firestorm of the last 24 hours concerning the tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith. One commentator summed it up well observing that her life was a reflection of the culture, especially many of the negative aspects of our culture. Everything about her life has intentionally been public from her early career with playboy magazine, her marriage to an 89 year old billionaire (for love, not for money), her exploitive TV show, her weight gain and loss, the birth of her daughter and death of her son within a few days of each other in the Bahamas and now her death.

The coverage of her death rivaled that of President Gerald Ford in December. Perhaps that is saying something about President Ford, but that is for another blog.

What has struck me is the sad tragedy of this woman’s life both at the exploitive hands of others and through her own foolish choices. She needed to be needed and wanted and she used what she had to get what she wanted. She traded herself for security, fame and fortune. She was famous for being famous. Her outrageous behavior was not only tolerated but also encouraged because it entertained people and made for good television.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:35-37) It is the middle phrase that arrests my attention.

As enticing as these pursuits may be there is something more to life than just momentarily pleasing our bodies or puffing our egos. What we were reminded of this week is that all of these pursuits may abruptly come to an end and the emptiness of it all is revealed. Often we don’t get an opportunity to see the end so abruptly as we did this week. Perhaps that is some of the fascination with this story. Many people living a hedonistic lifestyle don’t so publicly self-destruct.

The consequences of this are truly sad. Her 20-year-old son died mysteriously the same week her daughter was born and in the very hospital room they were in. Now several men have come forward saying they could potentially be the father including the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor. Her daughter is without a mother and the courts will have to determine which of the many men coming forward is the donor.

I don’t know what the ultimate determination will be about how she died. What strikes me with compassion is that she tried so desperately to gain her life and ended up losing everything she tired to gain. What escaped her was the joy and contentment that could have been found had she sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. There was a hole in her heart that could only be filled by living relationship with God through Christ.

Life is all about choices. You can’t have it all. Every time you choose one thing you have intentionally or unknowingly said no to every other option. We put the pursuit of pleasure above all other pursuits. If you have conflicting desires we always assume that the desire for pleasure is the more base desire therefore the most pure. There are things in life more important the fame, fortune or fun.

The Culture of Death

For decades our culture has been in a battle over the sanctity of human life. Following Roe v. Wade in 1973, all pretenses have been removed that there is a conflict between two opposing worldviews. One worldview believes that there is a God who created us and placed His image upon us so we have intrinsic and extrinsic value from the moment of conception until we breathe our last breath. The other worldview asserts that we are a random accident of matter plus time plus chance, and our value is determined by what we can do and our perceived quality of life.

This conflict came crashing home last week when I had to fly home to Wisconsin for an emergency visit. My mother fell down several stairs and broke both of her legs. Fortunately the accident, although severe, was not life-threatening. However, while we were in the hospital with her keeping her company the day following the surgery, my oldest sister was brought into the emergency room due to severe dehydration and malnutrition.

A brief explanation of my sister’s condition is in order. She struggles with long-term depression. Additionally, she was diagnosed with diabetes about 15 years ago. During the first several years with the disease, she was in denial about it and refused to take aggressive steps to control her sugar levels. As a consequence, she now has cataracts and glaucoma and is almost completely blind. Her kidneys are functioning at approximately 30% and will slowly continue to deteriorate. She also suffers from borderline paranoid schizophrenia. About a year and a half ago, the courts determined that she was not mentally fit to make medical or financial decisions concerning herself, and the court appointed one of my brothers and one of my sisters as guardians.

At times, my sister can be very difficult to treat. She will refuse medicine, or not eat because she thinks the food has drugs in it. This isn’t far from the truth however, because the nursing home did try to put her medicine in her food and she was able to quickly figure it out. She has some serious medical problems, but all of them are treatable and she does not have a terminal illness.

At the hospital she ate at least three meals a day, while I was there, did take her diabetes medicine (but refuses the antipsychotic medication), allowed an IV, and did drink a healthy amount of liquids.

On Friday morning of that week, the doctor, discharge nurse, and another nurse met with my brother, sister, and the rest of the family to talk about an “alternative” to our present treatment strategy. They recommended that we allow my sister to decide for herself if she wants to eat, drink, or take her medicine. They would put her in a facility called “Comfort Care” because they know that her refusal to do this will quickly lead to her death. They would keep her comfortable, but not force any food, water, or medicine on her. They are asking us to allow a mentally incompetent person to make medical decisions we know will quickly kill her.

This suggestion is both morally reprehensible and unethical. Although they are not advocating active euthanasia or even assisted suicide, our doing nothing will quickly have the same effect. I would call what they advocated as “passive assisted suicide.” They know that sitting by and doing nothing will lead quickly to my sister’s death. Fortunately, I was there to confront them on their recommendation and they had no ethical basis to suggest this route.

They tried to argue that her quality of life is lower than many and that she will never have the type of life that she used to have. My sister is able to order her own meals, go to the bathroom on her own, give herself insulin shots, talk about the news, carry on conversations with the family, and laugh at my stupid jokes. She is not in a persistent vegetative state or terminally ill.

It is a scary world when we start evaluating people’s worth based on quality of life. Who will determine if our life has sufficient quality? Who will decide if we should live or die? As more baby-boomers age and we have an insurance and Medicare crisis, will the criteria continue to drop based on available finances? By denying God we have also cheapened the value of life. Ideas that were once considered outrageous and impossible to happen are now being advocated in a small Wisconsin hospital. If this is how far we’ve come in the last three decades, where will we be three decades from now?

Protect the sanctity of all human life; someday the life you protect may be your own.