The Lost Tomb of Scientific Credulity

Looking at these people, you can't help but feel they are waiting for Jesus to jump out and say either "Surprise!" or "Ta! Da!"

James Cameron, bored with looting shipwrecks, has set him sights a little higher, elevation wise.

He is going to BUST Jesus Christ Superstar down to Jesus Christ Superstud...

Eh, okay.

Anyone who wants to run up at kick Christianity in the balls can feel free. Heck I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code a bit for the cassocks that got all bunched up over it. I mean, from the first sentence you can tell you are in for a long poorly worded and structured stint. Maybe a shouldn't admit that I actually like the Hanks/Tatou film. Anyway...

Go ahead, piss on the Pope's leg. Just don't really on pseudoscience or suspect logic/research to do it. At the very least, not something we can see the gaping holes in as you first open your mouth.

Let's look at this, from The Register:

Cameron claims to have found the, now empty, tomb of one Jesua, son of Joseph. The sepulchre also apparently contained the bodies of Mary. As well as another Mary, Matthew and Jofa, and most spectacularly, Jonah, son of Jesua

...

Equally shocking, at least to anyone who doesn’t buy their reading matter in airports, will be the news that Jesus fathered a son, when he was supposed to have spent his short life performing miracles, redeeming sinful mankind and generally fulfilling his divine mission.

But don’t worry, Cameron has the whole story well tied down.

Apparently the tomb was found 20 years ago, and it has taken this long to decipher the names and to confirm the identities using DNA analysis.

This timelag is just a blink of the eye in biblical terms, and is totally understandable given that Jesus was the son of God, and pinning down supreme beings to get a cheek swab is never easy.

Now to the major flaws here.

If Jesus is a deity, how do you prove it?
We'll assume that Cameron thinks otherwise.

So you want to prove he was a mortal man? So DNA will help?
Suppose it could. But at most won't the DNA results just confirm that people in this sepulcher are related. How does this help prove one of them is Jesus, of Christ, Inc?

But look at the names Joseph, Jesus, Mary, Mary, what are the odds of that? The scientists say that the odds of the names being bunched like this are extremely unlikely. It must be Jesus. Right?
The same type of, What are the odds, justifications are also used to justify all sorts of magic thinking. The Bible Code, Lotto Numbers, etc. Now it is being applied to attack a magical being. It’s ironic, but just as inconclusive, and trivial.

Well are you happy to ruin our fun?
No. I'd be happy for some good proof. It would tweak the noses of all those Christians. And, it would be a major historical and scientific find. It would open up a cascade of conversations, debates, and offer many new questions. But the fact is that this is all silly flummery.

Sadly, I am no longer surprised to see such things on the Discovery Channel.



...I still love Mythbusters!