Refuting the Alleged Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection

by truth_b_known 35 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Disillusioned JW
    Disillusioned JW

    Video lovers rejoice! The following are links to James Tabor's and Simcha Jacobovici discovery of a 1st century tomb in Jerusalem containing an ossuary with the symbol of fish vomiting a human (the sign of Jonah, which in the Gospels Jesus said would be sign - his resurreection) and an inscription of the name Yahu (Yahweh/Jehovah) in Greek letters! The videos says that the spirit of Jesus was raised up (resurrected) to heaven, with his fleshly body being left behind. That teaching is close to the WT - wow!

    Archaeologists finally OPEN the JESUS' TOMB! ʿĪsā Yeshua يسوع

    Archaeological Find proves that God's name is JEHOVAH! Amazing!

    The latter video says that a phrase (in Greek) used in the Gospel of John is inscribed on the ossuary saying "I am raised up." WOW! The video says the inscription can be translated as "GOD JEHOVAH RAISE UP! RAISE UP!" in an interlinear inscription written in Greek letters (of both Greek and Hebrew words)! [I think the Hebrew words are transliterations into Greek letters, including the name Yahu/Yahweh/Jehovah, and the word meaning "Raise Up!").

    Update: The last minute of the video appears to include a audio-video splice by a JW. But the first part of the video is a production of Simcha Jacobovici.

  • Disillusioned JW
    Disillusioned JW

    Pertaining to the two videos (without the JW splice in the 2nd video) I linked to in my prior post there is an article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/filmmaker-says-jerusalem-tomb-houses-some-of-jesuss-earliest-followers/2012/04/05/gIQAjCioxS_story.html . It says in part the following.

    'The Patio Tomb is similar in structure to the “Jesus Family Tomb.” It consists of small niches dug in limestone that contain ossuaries — small stone boxes designed to hold the bones of the deceased. The most significant discoveries are an inscription in Greek letters on one of the ossuaries and carvings on another.

    James Tabor, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who was part of Jacobovici’s team, says the inscription can be understood to mean “God, Jehovah, Raise up! Raise up!” He and Jacobovici interpret this as the earliest statement of faith in resurrection.'

    It looks like the name of the full documentary is called 'The Resurrection Tomb Mystery"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Tomb_Mystery . I hope to find and watch that full documentary.

    Many years ago on cable TV (or maybe on PBS) I watched a documentary by Simcha Jacobovici in which Jacobovici said the physical body of Jesus was not resurrected and that his bones were place in an ossuary. In the documentary Jacobovici also said that he believed that the earliest Christians believed that Jesus was resurrected to life as a spirit being (in other words the same teaching in that regard as the WT). In the same documentary a Catholic cleric said the church concluded long ago that Jesus had a bodily resurrection instead of being resurrected as only a spirit.

    In a different topic thread I mentioned the view that the early Christians were called Chrestians instead of Christians. A source I read about that view showed pictures of inscriptions in Greek letters, including of the name Yahweh/Jehovah, along with incantations for healing.

  • Simon
    Simon

    Re: any "evidence" for Jesus.

    The closer you get to Jesus supposed existence, the less mention of him there is. This includes editions of books where the mentions were obviously later additions.

    Even the supposed gospel accounts were often written 70+ years after the events claiming to happen.

    It's just laughable that anyone takes this as evidence of something.

  • Disillusioned JW
    Disillusioned JW

    The find the ossuary with a symbol of fish and the find in the same tomb of an ossuary with an inscription containing the name Yahweh is very impressive to me. But, for an article which less positive about the finds see https://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-log/doubts-about-jesus-discovery-flna247150 .

  • Disillusioned JW
    Disillusioned JW

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/oded-golan-is-not-guilty-of-forgery-so-is-the-james-ossuary-for-real/ is of news article called "Oded Golan is not guilty of forgery. So is the ‘James ossuary’ for real? The failure of a high-profile prosecution for antiquities fraud perpetuates the mystery of a find hailed as physical proof that Jesus existed". That article says in part the following.

    'Oded Golan, the Tel Aviv collector accused of forging biblical artifacts, was at the center of a seven-year trial that ended in his acquittal Wednesday. But he was never its star — that role belonged to the artifacts themselves.

    While the significance of the exoneration for Golan himself is obvious, what it means for the antiquities is less clear.

    The most famous of the artifacts is a stone box known as the “James ossuary,” exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum a decade ago and touted by some scholars as the first archaeological evidence for the existence of Jesus. It bears an Aramaic inscription reading, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

    ...

    In his ruling Wednesday, the judge went out of his way to say that the fact Golan had been found not guilty did not mean the artifacts were real.

    His decision to clear Golan of forging the inscription on the James ossuary, he wrote, “does not mean that the inscription on the ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago. This will continue to be studied by scientists and archaeologists, and time will tell.

    “Moreover,” he wrote, “it was not proven in any way that the words ‘the brother of Jesus’ necessarily refer to the ‘Jesus’ who appears in Christian writings.” '

    https://www.haaretz.com/1.5191380 is of a news article called "'Naked Archaeologist' Finds Signs Jerusalem Cave Was Used to Bury Jesus' Disciples: Simcha Jacobovici, an Emmy-winning documentary director and producer, hopes findings of current explorations will substantiate his earlier theory that Jesus was buried in a nearby cave." That article says in part the following.

    'Jacobovici, along with the experts he has enlisted, claims the words are "God" in Greek, the Tetragrammaton (the traditionally unutterable four-letter name of God in Hebrew ), the word "arise" or "resurrected" in Greek, and the word "arise" or "resurrected" in Hebrew.

    This appears to support the claim that the cave was used as an early Christian burial site because the idea that a mainstream member of the Jewish community would inscribe an ossuary with the Tetragrammaton is unlikely; even a prayer containing this word has never been found on an ossuary.

    "It shows us that perhaps this whole area was a very unorthodox area, a different area. Not the Jewish mainstream," said Arav.

    Unlike many archaeologists, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Yuval Baruch - who appears to be the only Israeli archaeologist other than Arav who has seen the findings - says Jacobovici could be right.'

  • Disillusioned JW
    Disillusioned JW

    Yesterday I checked out from the library two books by Jacobovici, namely The Jesus Discovery and The Lost Gospel. The Lost Gospel makes some wild claims and yet to some extent they seem plausible.

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