Is James Cameron the anti-christ?

[007]

As per Glen Beck.

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/200...the_crypt.html

February 23, 2007 6:55
Jesus: Tales from the Crypt
Posted by Tim McGirk | Comments (2884) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic' is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it's not a re-make of "The Da Vinci Codes'. It's supposed to be true.

Let's go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.
Israel's prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn't associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn't afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.

There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ's resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof that a boy born to a carpenter's wife in a manger is the Son of God.

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,"King Kong", whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, Canada's Vision, and Israel's Channel 8, has been a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite: Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and skeptics. Stay tuned.
--Tim McGirk/Jerusalem

[Nightwish]

Originally Posted by mcan

What weirds me out is that there is a part of me that really HOPES he did though. I'd like to see the fallout. I'd love to see if all the Christians in the world would suddenly become Isreali, or if they would adjust the Christian religion to compensate for the "bad news."

Very likely, all of the above, and more. If it should come to pass that Jesus' resurrection and divinity are disproven, you'll see a lot of things happening, including:

• Some remaining Christian, refusing to believe the disproof
• Some rejecting Christianity altogether, moving to any number of other faiths
• Some committing suicide
• Some committing murder (James Cameron and anyone else associated with the discovery would be a walking dead man)
• Some abandoning their moral codes, having lost what they believe is their moral compass

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Nightwish

Question, though, especially for the Christians on here - if it is proven conclusively that the remains in that ossuary are the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, how will it affect your spirituality and beliefs?

It won't do jack shit. Bible > Science/Logic.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Nightwish

Question, though, especially for the Christians on here - if it is proven conclusively that the remains in that ossuary are the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, how will it affect your spirituality and beliefs?

Personally (and this is just personally as I have a differing view on my Christianity than MANY do) it wouldn't affect it much. I base my beliefs on Jesus' teaching and his actions. The deity aspect is a part of the story, but not the whole of the story, in my heart. Even if it does turn out to be true, that doesn't make him any less the son of God, any less the revolutionary he was/is, and any less the basis of my beliefs.

[Marco Polo]

His movie Aquaman was badass!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Nightwish

Question, though, especially for the Christians on here - if it is proven conclusively that the remains in that ossuary are the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, how will it affect your spirituality and beliefs?

There's no way it can be proven conclusively. The hardcore christians will always have some escape clause.

[KCWolfman]

Originally Posted by Nightwish

DNA samples from the Shroud of Turin have been stored for quite some time now, waiting for something to test them against. Of course, even this presents a conundrum for Christians - if the samples from the remains match the samples from the Shroud, then one is forced to accept one of two very uncomfortable things: (1) the Shroud was Christ's, and his bones are in the ossuary, meaning he didn't resurrect; or (2) they've been wrong all along about the Shroud belonging to Christ, and the resurrection story is preserved, but the Shroud is lost as an important "proof" of the resurrection and existence of Jesus. Then there will be that subset who will resort to the old, "The Devil put those bones there" argument.

On the other hand, if the Shroud and the bones don't match, everybody can just return to their normal programming.

Question, though, especially for the Christians on here - if it is proven conclusively that the remains in that ossuary are the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, how will it affect your spirituality and beliefs?

IN 1973 the shroud was proven to have vermillion ink, not blood in it by Walter McCrone - thus no DNA is available.

I believe the shroud was completely debunked in 1988, according to carbon dating anyway. All three independent labs that investigated the shroud dated it around the 1300s.

Which would create yet another scientific paradox. If you believe the DNA matches and is proof of Christ, then you must accept that cardon dating is seriously flawed and should not be taken as serious scientific fact as it is currently used.

If Cameron's theories are based upon the shroud, he has already laid a foundation of sand for his castle of "proof".

Next

[L.A. Chieffan]

We're talking about people that believe dinosaurs and humans lived on Earth at the same time in history.
James Cameron making a dipshit documentary is NOT going to shake the faith in these people.

[KCWolfman]

Originally Posted by L.A.Chieffan

We're talking about people that believe dinosaurs and humans lived on Earth at the same time in history.
James Cameron making a dipshit documentary is NOT going to shake the faith in these people.

You are assuming that only literalists are Christians.

Your statement is as erroneous as if I said that any idiot who pays to watch a first run movie stupidly believes the Hollywood precept of how life is supposed to be: If we all just focus on how we look to others then the world will be a better place.


There are a great many Christians, including Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Werner Heisenberg, Marie Curie, and Linus Pauling who have no trouble understanding that Christianity (or in Einstein's case, Judaism) is not literally driven and actually works hand in hand with science.

[007]

Originally Posted by Nightwish

DNA samples from the Shroud of Turin have been stored for quite some time now, waiting for something to test them against. Of course, even this presents a conundrum for Christians - if the samples from the remains match the samples from the Shroud, then one is forced to accept one of two very uncomfortable things: (1) the Shroud was Christ's, and his bones are in the ossuary, meaning he didn't resurrect; or (2) they've been wrong all along about the Shroud belonging to Christ, and the resurrection story is preserved, but the Shroud is lost as an important "proof" of the resurrection and existence of Jesus. Then there will be that subset who will resort to the old, "The Devil put those bones there" argument.

On the other hand, if the Shroud and the bones don't match, everybody can just return to their normal programming.

Question, though, especially for the Christians on here - if it is proven conclusively that the remains in that ossuary are the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, how will it affect your spirituality and beliefs?

It won't affect my faith in the least.

[ChiefsLV]

Originally Posted by L.A.Chieffan

We're talking about people that believe dinosaurs and humans lived on Earth at the same time in history.
James Cameron making a dipshit documentary is NOT going to shake the faith in these people.

Yeah my dad told me that he believes the devil mixed lizards with other animals to create dinosaurs and that they walked the earth with humans.

He also believes that all carbon dating is flawed, fossils were planted by the devil, vestigial organs test our faith and asserts that Hitler was greatly influenced by Darwin, therefore Darwin is evil.

People are going to believe what they want to believe. I'm not going to change it, nor do I really care to.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Originally Posted by KCWolfman

You are assuming that only literalists are Christians.

Your statement is as erroneous as if I said that any idiot who pays to watch a first run movie stupidly believes the Hollywood precept of how life is supposed to be: If we all just focus on how we look to others then the world will be a better place.


There are a great many Christians, including Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Werner Heisenberg, Marie Curie, and Linus Pauling who have no trouble understanding that Christianity (or in Einstein's case, Judaism) is not literally driven and actually works hand in hand with science.

I am Catholic. I do not believe Dinosaurs and man walked the Earth at the same time. Therefore I am as smart as Einstein and Newton.

No just kidding, but seriously what I was trying to say is there are divisions of Christianity that claim to take the bible as literal word of God. Therefore anything disproving that belief is automatically considered a lie and must be evil.
I was watching a documentry on evangelical christians not too long ago that showed preachers in front of large groups of children explaining to them the people and dinosaurs INDEED did exsist together. This is dangerous and irresponsible no matter how you look at it.

[greg63]

Originally Posted by Guru

It won't affect my faith in the least.

Ditto!

[Imon Yourside]

As far as i'm concerned man is flawed, so any great Discoveries need to be combed over so thoroughly before they become FACT. Take for instance our historic calendar that misses about 500 years of history due to the "Dark Age of Greece" , truth is that 500 years doesn't exist but we continue to teach that it does and we in fact do not have anything(zero) from that time period. yeah i would have to say that mankind is prone to mistakes, so just because Hitler is popular and says something doesn't necessarily mean it's fact.

[irishjayhawk]

I don't see what the big deal is if like 95% of humanity (I made that figure up, but it should be close) believes in a supernatural being, believes morals MUST come from religion, impedes science on many fronts, wages war on each other throughout history including today, and influences decisions of people in government. I can't see how that could be bad.

Isn't God just a Santa Claus for adults? If not, how can you prove Santa doesn't exist and God does?

Oh and for the record, providing "proof" rests on the believers. It is not the job for atheists/agnostics to provide proof that god DOESN'T exist. Nothing else works that way.

[Eleazar]

Is Discovery Burying 'Lost Tomb'?
By James Hibberd
Discovery Channel's controversial James Cameron-produced documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" drew the largest audience for the network in more than a year on Sunday night, but the network has taken several recent steps to downplay the project.
Story continues below...

Departing from normal procedures, the cable network didn't tout its big ratings win. The network also scheduled a last-minute special that harshly criticized its own documentary, and has yanked a planned repeat of "Tomb."

"This is not one where you necessarily beat the drum, from a business perspective," said David Leavy, executive VP of corporate communications at Discovery. "It's not necessarily about making money, or making ratings, or shouting from the highest office building. Sometimes having some maturity and perspective is more important than getting picked up in all the ratings highlights."

The documentary, executive produced by Oscar-winning "Titanic" director Mr. Cameron, claims to have found the family tomb of Jesus Christ, unearthed in Jerusalem. The findings include circumstantial evidence suggesting Christ and Mary Magdalene were a couple, and that they had a son named Judah.

Discovery formally announced the special last month and quickly incited a worldwide media frenzy, including stories in Time and Newsweek and links on the Drudge Report. But much of the coverage was highly skeptical of the documentary's findings. Prominent archeologists disputed the program, while Christian groups criticized it for conflicting with the New Testament.

Although Mr. Leavy said the network stands by the documentary "100 percent," the company took several unusual steps in the wake of the controversy that could be seen as distancing itself from the content.

Last week, Discovery abruptly scheduled a panel debate to air after the documentary, moderated by Discovery newsman Ted Koppel. Discovery's announcement of the panel emphasized that Mr. Koppel "has no connection to the production of 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus'" and that "the panel will explore the filmmakers' profound assertions and challenge their assumptions and suggested conclusions."

When the panel discussion aired, guests criticized the documentary as "archaeo-porn" that played fast and loose with the facts.

The day after the March 4 airing, Discovery yanked a planned repeat of "Tomb" from its more hard-news-branded Discovery Times Channel.

When the Nielsen ratings revealed that "Tomb" averaged 4.1 million viewers - Discovery's largest audience since September 2005 - the network declined to put out a press release touting the numbers, as would be standard practice for a highly successful premiere. The second-season premiere of Discovery Channel's "Future Weapons," for instance, earned a media announcement for its audience of 2.5 million. A network representative, however, insisted Discovery was not trying to bury "Tomb."

No press release on the ratings was sent out, Mr. Leavy said, because of the show's subject matter. As for the yanked Discovery Times repeat, Mr. Leavy said that outlet wasn't the best venue to repeat the special.

The last record-setting Discovery Channel project also was about a sensitive subject, the9/11-themed "The Flight That Fought Back," yet Discovery issued a press release about its ratings.

The network still plans to air a previously scheduled "Tomb" repeat on its Spanish network on March 18, as well as an HD version on Discovery HD Theater on March 28.

"We are very proud of the program - we stand by it 100 percent," Mr. Leavy said.

Mr. Leavy said the network should be credited for airing a critical post-show panel.

"We added the Koppel panel once it was clear there was worldwide interest," he said. "Our responsibility is to give viewers all the information and let them decide. There is no way to ever prove this beyond a reasonable doubt."

Moving forward, Mr. Leavy said the network plans to increase its focus on archeology projects. The network recently signed History Channel's "Digging for Truth" host Josh Bernstein to develop new archeology series and specials.

"We are going to be doubling down in this space," he said. "We will soon be back in the news with more archeology."

(Editor: Horowitz)