Christians put on their Skeptic Hats to deal with the “Tomb of Jesus”
Such good irony.
I can’t help but shake my head at the many Christians who are temporarily putting on their Skeptic Hats to deal with a bold claim by a Discovery Channel documentary. That documentary is claiming that a tomb discovered in Israel in 1980 held the bones of Jesus. If true, the documentary’s claim would conflict with the alleged resurrection of Jesus.
[Note: there is controversy about the resurrection, based upon the original writings from the Gospel according to Mark]
Ebonmuse, an atheist, has pointed out many reasons to doubt the claims of the television documentary that the tomb discovered in 1980 was the tomb of Jesus. He concludes:
I believe the most likely scenario is that this is a genuine tomb from biblical times, containing several ordinary people with names common from the time, which has been hyped beyond what the evidence supports by overzealous filmmakers trying to create a sensation. It is not a magic bullet to destroy Christianity . . .
Based upon the points raised in his article, I agree Ebonmuse. For those same reasons, I agree with the many Christians who are now attacking the Discovery Channel documentary. There are, indeed, many good reasons to doubt these claims. It’s fun to engage in skeptical inquiry, marching side-by-side with devout Christian believers for a change!
No sooner are they finished criticizing the claim about the tomb of Jesus, though, you can hear many of these same believers asserting, as undeniable facts, all of those ancient …
