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.