Religion & Beliefs
Jesus Christ!
By Laurel Snyder / February 26, 2007
I absolutely understand why Christians will be upset by this story in the Jerusalem Post (and the documentary it describes) but what do Jews think about it? I find it fascinating myself… and will be glued to the set next week when the flick airs!
And I will absolutely be following the “furor” it “sparks”. This is my kind of news!
Basically, a crack team from the Discovery Channel has put together a documentary about the “Lost Tomb of Jesus” in Jerusalem… and they’re going to reveal great truths to us amateur theologians out here in TV-land. Namely, that Jesus was buried with his wife Mary Magdalene, and their SON, Judah!
They’re doing DNA tests on the remains and shit! Jesus DNA!
See, this is a big big BIG deal for Christians for a number of reasons. Jesus wasn’t supposed to be getting it on with Mary, and certainly he wasn’t supposed to be making babies. But mostly, he was supposedly resurrected and taken up into heaven by God. Bodily. He shouldn’t have left any remains for DNA testers, besides maybe some toenails clippings.
So if there should be the least little shred of credibility (which I can’t honestly imagine there will be) attributed to this cable-TV insanity… it’s going to be OFF THE CHAIN!
Of course, I’m expecting a lot of Jews to get upset too, because Jews don’t like Jesus. They don’t like to talk about Jesus. But religiously, it doesn’t matter to us, does it? After all, to us, it should be like someone finding the tomb of Shabbatai Tzvi and his baby’s mama… Though I’m not sure The Discovery Channel would bother with that.
Of course, there’s always the fear that people will say this is a “Jewish conspiracy” (You know, like evolution)… but at least it’ll be interesting.
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Yes they starting converting gentiles and then they got the biggest bureaucracy in the world behind them to push their religion on everyone everywhere. The reason Christianity spread like wildfire has less to do with Jesus and far more to do with the fact that the Roman empire adopted it.
Anonymous (one of the couple) wrote:
I don't find his story very amazing. Rather lame … he didn't know the Torah very well (perhaps because his story was invented by someone non-jewish), and he was quite ordinary, I think. Easily angered, not respecting his mother … Not very sympatic, in my opinion.
Anon, you really should read Julie Galambush's The Reluctant Parting. There, you might learn that Jesus was a Jew and his followers were Jews. The people were waiting for the messiah, unfortunately, they were also waiting for a messianic age. The Jesus sect's followers could talk about a messiah, but they couldn't quite get the messianic age thing worked out. They had to tell people: wait, and your dead mother will be here, eventually. The Jesus sect only became Christian when they started proselytizing outside of the Jewish faith, until that time, they were a sect within Judaism plainly.
Thank you, anon. I spend a lot of time trying talking to secular Jews who don't believe that you exist– they argue that Jews are "better than that". They assert that "the community" is NOT full of rude bigots who make the children of intermarriage feel bad about themselves. So it's nice when people like you put it in writing for me, so I can prove my point.
Pat Robertson is a Southern Baptist, not a member of the Assemblies of God. I was confused because of his Charismatic theology; he’s not in the mainstream of Southern Baptist thinking.
…this is not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt by Hollywood types to attack religion in general, and Christianity in particular. First of all, because it sells! DaVinci Code raked in a lot of cash. Second of all, in my personal opinion, because the true god of Hollywood is government, and anything that undermines a belief in a power higher than government serves a purpose. Although it will surely be a very long time before Jacobovici will make any attempt to “investigate” Mohammed, I am quite, quite sure. All religions are equal, but some are not to be trifled with, not even in jest, and there’s nothing to jest about regarding Islam. Just ask Theo van Gogh, for example. It’s one thing to be daring enough to call the Pope names, for example, quite another to mess around with the “religion of peace”.
Now, one of the anonymouses above fretted that “the Jews” will somehow be blamed for the video. I suppose that some of the usual fringe suspects may do that, but to claim “Robertson will denounce the Elders of Zion or some such” is not based in reality or fact. Last time I checked, Robertson was associated with the Assemblies of God, an Evangelical Protestant group that if anything tends to be rather philo-Semetic. Whether they are Dispensationalist or not I do not know.
Here is a secret that will surely upset some readers: a lot of Americans go through their entire day, in fact go for weeks, months and even years, without thinking about “The Jews”. It’s just not part of their life; there is no “Jewish Question”, there are bills to be paid, work to be done, life to be lived, and unless one is obsessed with any of the various conspiracy theories, the presence or absence of Jewish people in government/media/acadamia/the park/down the street/whathaveyou just doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter. Anyone who is likely to take the latest Hollywood effort to debunk Christianity seriously is still more likely to blame “Hollywood leftists” than “The Jews”, frankly. And really, Christians as a group have pretty thick skins nowadays; with all the barbs hurled at us from the left, and from each other, we have to.
PS: I’m going to have to be another Anonymous for a while, because I don’t have the time to go through creating an ID.
The damage it will cause atheism by giving Christians (and the followers of all religions) a convenient straw man against future archeological research, which debunks scriptural truth.
Jacobovici is the Geraldo Rivera of theological inquiry. And as much I admire any interpretation of ancient events that has the so-called son of God composed of the same damp clay as the rest of us, subject to the same virtues (sex) and vices (marriage), I think it's quite sleazy to capitalize on another DaVinci Code potboiler plot. At the very least, it's unoriginal.
What's worse than monotheism? Pseudo-science conducted in the service of it.
Britt, you probably didn't get your name attached because you aren't a registered user. To fix this little foible, all you have to do is scroll to the top of the page, click "Login/Register" on the right side, create a new account, and go buckwild. With that kind of power, you could do whatever you want. Now sign-up, get back here, and cite some sources for me. I'm interested in where you got your information.
The historical Jesus doesn’t exist. There’s no proof at all that he ever was born.
There’s a lot of myths related to sons, born of virgins the 25 th December, but no evidence of a Jesus.
But IF he did exist, he wouldn’t be a threat to my beliefs either.
I don’t find his story very amazing. Rather lame … he didn’t know the Torah very well (perhaps because his story was invented by someone non-jewish), and he was quite ordinary, I think. Easily angered, not respecting his mother … Not very sympatic, in my opinion.
And now to something completely different: How come the other comments has their name on? Mine only says “Anonymous” (the Mickey Mouse tomb and a comment on Hat or Uzi).
Britt MALKA
Yes, I agree on all points!
I'm just saying it's fascinating/entertaining. Like reality TV, genre novels, and blogs (all of them potentially harmful, but strangely addictive). Whether we view this in a postmodern/sociological/media studies light, to make ourselves feel better about being interested, or whether we admit it's just bizarre and curious… I'm fessing up to this obsession.
As to the Mickey Mouseness of it, the historical Jesus is in no way a threat to my Judaism. I put Jesus (in some ways) in a category with the Knights Templar, Camelot, etc. Mythic, with some historical basis. And absolutely an amazing story, whatever you believe or don't. The idea of seeking out the physical proof of such myths is something I love to follow.
It’s not going to convince the bible-thumpers in the least and I doubt anyone else really cares. Archaeology and DNA testing and all the rest are tools of Satan used to trick people from believing that their english translation of a german translation of a latin concoction mixed at Nicea by the Roman Empire is the unexpurgiated word of Jesus, the guy who’s a deity but didn’t remember or played his cards close.
We’ll just get blamed for this one as well. I’m sure some fundie freaks will make a web page or Robertson will denounce the Elders of Zion or some such. Meh.
Sometimes I think these kinds of "efforts" are meant simply to wound other people and chip away at the core of their religious beliefs for no real or significant reason. I don't understand why it is so important to some people to debunk the myths of other people's religions. Just let them be. Then again, if this guys was credible, I can't say it wouldn't be a tad bit interesting.
Funny! I don’t think Jesus ever existed, so I would be surprised by the finding of his grave. But even if he did exist, you’re right. It wouldn’t matter to us.
…and therefore his documentaries–the present one and his [[http://theexodusdecoded.com/index1.jsp|previous film on the "real" Exodus story]]–should be taken with a grain of salt. No, make that a pillar. No credentialed specialist in the Bible and Ancient Near East takes his claims at all seriously.
This isn't in any way a criticism of your having posted this. I'm just saying, as a Jewish studies grad myself, that people should consider the credentials of anyone making claims that lack support from Ph.D.'s in the relevant fields, with the associated Hebrew and Aramaic proficiency and familiarity with the scholarly literature in peer-reviewed journals.
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