For a comprehensive and scholarly rebuttal of the film's evidence please visit ExtremeTheology.com.

Read and hear the evidence fore yourself.

trying to refute any theory by using literalist interpretations of scriptural stories as Fact is logically flawed form the beginning due to unproven or blatantly false Postulates being utilized as axioms of theory

try waiting until the broadcast shows, and take it from there...goes for each view of the discussion

You were doing ok at criticizing an as yet unseen documentary. Your citations of Israeli archaeologists were not linked or cited which might have been fine in this opinion piece but your personal comments are linked to a bible site which has nothing to do with the subject.

The theory as I have read about it is interesting but unproven and, for the foreseeable future, unprovable. However the indication of hysterical-reactions-to-come is undeniable. Already someone of intelligence feels that a film might "insult" their "... faith, integrity, character, and intelligence."

Cameron is already on my list for the tedious and boring Titanic . After that turkey all his films will be taken with a grain of salt.

However, the study of archeology continues. All its findings may not make fundamentalists happy, may or may not prove the ancient stories as they have been written and translated over the centuries.

im skeptical. im going to watch the documentary out of interest, but it sounds like a lot of crappidee crappidee.

Heaven is patient. That's why blasphemers are given enough time and rope to hang themselves

Howard, All quotations are cited through the link to the article in the Washington Post. Also, since this is an "opinion" piece rather than a "review" (how can I review what I have not seen?) my personal opinions ought to considered relevent! I simply tied in a link to the Bible verse that I made passing reference to in my comments. I cannot assume that everyone is Biblically literate enough to catch my somewhat obscure reference. ( I could have done the same for my "30 pieces of silver" reference but chose not to). Lastly, while the "biblegateway" site is not part of the critique it does represent one of the most useable and accessible "Bible-text" sites on the internet. Since the entire issue of veracity is grounded in the context of James Cameron's assertions against the backdrop of archaeological concensus, historical context and the New Testament texts I should think that a website that contains the text of the Bible to be more than relevent to the issue being discussed.

Who knows, someone reading this post might actually dare to read more than the one verse in the Bible to which I had a link! Would this be a bad thing? or irrelevent?

Hollywood and Christianity. Not a good Holy Alliance.

You want facts? Here are some:
1. The joy and happiness resulting from my religion are real;
2. The peace and hope emanating from my faith are real;
3. My appreciation of religious artistic works is real;
4. My inclination to the name Jesus is real;

Now you are asking us to despise our religion because of some funny claims? We chosed light, and we're enjoying it. Now if you are rotting in your hellish world, don't ask us to join you. Enjoy your hell on earth!

Even in modern times,many people are risking persecution just to hear one Mass. They were not forced into it, its their free choice. So Cameron has to come up with something more believable to challenge these kind of people.

good for you anton.

but why are the rest of us in hell just because we aren't happy for the same reasons you are?

it's not hot today. it smells nice in here.

you want some other facts? this is a documentary that won't change minds. those who believe in the bible won't suddenly not believe in it because some documentary told them to, unless they are weak-willed souls who believe whatever they are told. most won't even bother with it.

it's not religion that gives you happiness, it's faith. religion is political. faith is faith. peace and hope don't come from faith, faith comes from peace and hope. i would hope you could appreciate art, religious or not, because if you can't, how are you appreciating anything but the reaffirmation of your faith whenever you view art?

how are you inclined to a name? i don't get that.

no one is asking you to despise anything. no one is asking you to do anything. i guess someone might be asking you to watch a documentary on cable t.v., but i'm not really sure.

James, beware, the real owners of the bones might just haunt you tonight for misrepresenting their true identity.

Faith and religion are both more interesting if one looks past the literal meanings of the text and reads them as literary meanings within the texts. But I guess everyone can't read on a high level, so they see the Bible as a story book with fanciful Mother Goose tales, to be taken literally or else not to be taken seriously. I just wish both sides would acknowledge the limitations of their own points of view.

From the bored of judges: 'James Cameron is not the one'. Next candidate please! Hurry, easter is fast approaching!

Well I am from Australia and I have not done any research into this and I will not.
As it stands their are no bones of Jesus christ left, he was resurrected from this earth, and I will stand by this truth and fight it until the end.
The Jesus I serve and love is more real then ever, he may have died, but thank god he rose again 3 days later proven by the most historically correct book in history.

So people that are agreeing with Camerons claims are really suggesting that the bible in incorrect? If you guys would rather believe something like the Da vinci code which is based on mainly fiction then go ahead, its your eternity you are dealing with.
Staright to the point is the way I am, and the way I like it.

James Bone at Discovery channel?

From the Philippines: It didn't even made the news. We only learned about it in the internet.

Why would or could you not think that this could be the tomb of jesus and his family.?. First thing he rose from the dead and at no point in time does the bible say he was not a spirit. Second if you are a spirit you have no bones... Next, to even think that this is not possible is just insane.. I think there is enough evidence to do more research into this theory. It may be true is may be false but just because it involves jesus doenst mean it cant be real.. Stop being so one sided and stop bashing someone for showing you a theory..

That's right, give the bonehead a chance. He's the smartest guy that came out in 2000 years. Archaeologists were amazed by his speed and skills. He must have studied archaeology at the university of hollywood.

Delusion: A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence.
Religion is one of the most powerful of delusions.
The deluded are highly unlikely to consider any evidence which might challenge their faith and are incapable of objectivity in that process.
My guess is that this will free many to think for themselves and to pursue these questions further.
They will find truth a demanding master.

Beware of the christian delusion. It will propagate love and brotherhood in the world. Worse, it will insist on justice and fidelity. This mentality is polluting our world. Look, if we will not stop the onslaught of christian delusion, we can no longer enjoy our crimes.

Lets stop being pretentious. The conflict is not about evidence or scientific proof, but whether you like what Jesus was saying or not. He predicted long time ago that his church will be hated by the world because his teaching is a scandal to them. Jesus' enemies will continue to disprove him, and his followers will continue to prove Him.

no one ever said the devil was a bad lier

I watched this tonight, along with the Ted Koppel roundrable discussion which followed with considerable interest, and as a Christian I didn't really see anything presented that would shake or otherwise challenge my faith. The premise they presented was a somewhat intiguing one, but at the end of the day offered way too little in the way of actual hard evidence to support it, relying instead on both speculation and a series of interesting, but hardly conclusive coincidences. Too many unconnected dots there to support this theory as being, umm, you know "gospel."

As for all this stuff about Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene and having kids, didn't Hollywood already try to sell that bill of goods with the DaVinci Code last year?

As filmaking goes, I did enjoy the whole archeaological backstory though.

-Glen

"James Cameron and the Discovery Channel Cause the Collapse of Christianity."

Wow, if a TV show could do that, then how strong is your faith to begin with?

Well, you can mixed it up, or twist a little bit to suit your taste: "Christianity caused the collapse of James Cameron and Discovery channel".

BoP,

I have to agree with Howard Dratch in his general assessment of your article.

But I also point out to you that I am persuaded by the possibilities that this discovery presents. In its present form, it is being exploited as a freak might be, and real science is being pushed to the side.

I would point out that it does not pay for Israeli archaeologists to throw rocks at Christianity. Secular Israeli are scared of the Gentiles (just like Jews in Russia were scared of the Cossacks) and are afraid to throw rocks at them with discoveries in Israel. These self-same archaeologists will have no have no trouble declaring that there is no evidence to prove the Tana"kh. So they have an agenda in what they say - repect for the Gentile, contempt for the fellow Jew.

The real issues here are the provenance of the various books in the NT, and the story of who Jesus really was, assuming that he actually lived.

I do not know enough of these books to discuss them intelligently and would not even insult your intelligence by trying to. But others on this site do. I await their appearance on the comment thread...

Best regards from Ma'aleh Levona,
Reuven

BTW, BoP,

Yesterday, me and the boys went to a Purim "Se'udá", a meal in honor of queen Esther and her cousin Mordekhai;

The oldest teen had the TV on and there was a movie on cable - "Pearl Harbor". I remembered you mentioning a long time ago that you had seen this attack as a boy living in Hawaii, and thought of you as the screen showed Zeros flying low over Oahu, hitting ships of the American Pacific fleet.

What's different between your form of blind faith and Islamic fundamentalism? And don't say, the violence, twenty centuries will prove you wrong.

Ruvy, Happy Purim. I've always been inspired by the story of Esther. She sure beats the modern image of a superhero hands down! Too bad last year's movie (supposedly based on the Bible story) rewrote the story thinking they could improve on it! They made a mess of the whole thing . . . especially with the goofy pendant with the hidden star of David flashing around like a mirror-ball at a cheezy senior prom!

In any case, you have a good memory. I did post on Pearl Harbor Day in Hawaii here and mentioned jets flying in formation over my home. But this was just back in 2005. Personally, I wasn't born until 10 years after the real-deal Pearl Harbor Day. I can't say that I have actually survived much of anything in my life except for the occasional snarky comment on the internet!

Aloha, Jim

ok, actually watched the program last night, and have a few Thoughts to toss out for chewing upon that i thought were significant

many have tried to discount the statistical evidence (notice my choice of words, evidence is NOT proof) due to the names being very common in the first century in the geographical area

but what those detractors toss aside, are some of the unique details about the names which make the probabilities MUCH greater than the very conservative numbers put out in the program

examples: Jose, Mariah, and Marianme

Jose - is considered a diminuative of Joseph, which is a very common name then, but the spelling of said diminuative NEVER occurs in ANY other ossuary in all of Jerusalem...which is significant because it only appears in the Gospels referring to ONE individual, Jesus' brother...making this a very high probability of a match

Maria - a latinization of Miriam(Mary)...while Mary is indeed common, the latinized spelling is NOT...this is bolstered by the Greek written original Gospels referring to here in the same latinized manner, as well as other early scriptures which do the same (some like to discount it all because of the "Matthew" buried there, and his name not being among the Jesus direct geneology as laid out in the Gospels, they forget that Matthew is a VERY common name on Mary's side of the family...again, check your geneology...)

Marianme - again, this is tossed aside due to it being translated as just another "Mary", that name being common to about 1 in four women at the time in Jerusalem based on archeological evidence...what it fails to take into account is the linguistic unusualness of it being a unique spelling but also it being Greek...which fits with someone from the trading town of Magdalene
the VERY big thing here is that there is only ONE instance of anyone being called such in scriptures, the Acts of Philip, written by Mary Magdelene's brother...discount the veracity of this text all you like, it's provenance is accepted by all biblical scholars, and copy in the best condition refers to Mary Magdalene with that EXACT use of a name

the James ossuary - this is a separate thing that does appear to fit due to spectrograph evidence involving the residue patina on the ossuaries having identical properties...which NO other sampled ossuaries had even a resemblance to

when taking ALL of these names into the calculation, even using the very conservative methodology...the statistical analysis becomes far too convincing to be discounted easily

what would be required to further the case would be complete DNA testing of all the occupants of the tomb, to see is everyone except Marianme shares maternal DNA and if Judah (some of Jesus and Marianme) does indeed carry both Maia and Marianme's genes...

such would be about as conclusive as possible,and would show that the Iraneus tradition was false in some instances (bodily ascension into Heaven), but tend to bolster the Valentinian school of early Christian thought (Enlightened/Gnostic)

Bird_Paradise: "...I can only conclude that Cameron... seems to be betting that people are gullible enough to believe anything..."

Millions of seemingly 'rational' people believe a guy walked on water, **brought a stinky dead guy back to life, was later killed, stayed a stiff for three days, came back to life, walked around grossing out his friends by asking them to poke a finger in his wound -- and later disappeared into the sky like a plateful of cash at a whorehouse bar after tent revival.

Based on that, I'd say Cameron's Bet has better odds than Pascal's Wager.

**Frankenstein is a jewish name, right?

===========

Worst/Best unconscious ironic use of language by BoP:

"This time, however, Cameron is not only trying to resurrect that same eerie authenticity..."


~ahahahahahahahahaha!

BTW, Bird'oParadise: here's a writing tip:

NEVER start out an "opinion" piece with an assertion that is so Universally Wrongheaded that it undermines everything that follows:

"Film director James Cameron made a pretty good movie when he filmed Titanic."

Yer welcome,
S

Sorry guys, you can't win against a God. You can try....

AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER AMEN!!!

The conspiracy against christianity only proves the following:
1. Jesus' words hurts. Therefore He is an effective teacher.
2. He is an effective teacher because He is real.
3. They envied Him
4. They feared Him
5. Though considered dead by non-believers, he remained a threat to the earthly rulers of today

Not a conspiracy? I had done my research and my sources aren't idiots. All this war against the divinity of Christ, the christmas tree, etc. are organized. They even have a tight schedule, and they always make it during chritmas or lent.

put the kool aide down , and back away slowly

30 pieces of silver is enough to transform an educational network into a great liar. So much with my favorite cable channel ,we discovered its dishonesty.

Let there be chaos on earth, and let it begin at Hollywood

I dislike zionism and the Israelis because of their occupation of arab territories, but this time I wish to express my appreciation for the professionalism and integrity of Amos Kloner, Joe Zias, and the rest of their Israeli team for standing by the truth.

The premise they presented was a somewhat intiguing one, but at the end of the day offered way too little in the way of actual hard evidence to support it, relying instead on both speculation and a series of interesting, but hardly conclusive coincidences.

Hmmmm...now what does that remind me of?

Isn't it a touch hypocritical for someone to demand hard evidence for one telling of a 2000-year-old myth when the followers of "the official" version of the myth reject calls for any kind of evidence to support their version of events? Ya gotta have faith in one case, but only evidence will do in the other. That just doesn't seem fair, does it?

I haven't seen the film, but maybe it's okay for Cameron's "followers" to just have faith in his story, even if they haven't seen hard evidence to support it.

Worldwide religions have been founded on less. What's one more fairy tale added to the pile?

"The premise they presented was a somewhat intiguing one, but at the end of the day offered way too little in the way of actual hard evidence to support it, relying instead on both speculation and a series of interesting, but hardly conclusive coincidences. Too many unconnected dots there to support this theory as being, umm, you know "gospel.""

Thats funny, I think the same way about ALL religions. BTW "My God can beat up your God" has been the cause for Billions of deaths through out history. Darwin is the one true God. :P

The premise they presented was a somewhat intiguing one, but at the end of the day offered way too little in the way of actual hard evidence to support it, relying instead on both speculation and a series of interesting, but hardly conclusive coincidences. Too many unconnected dots there to support this theory as being, umm, you know "gospel."

That's funny I think the same way of all religions. I think there are too many relgions in the world. Which do you choose? If there is a God would he not smyte those following the wrong path?

The only reason that Christianity is so popular is because it is easy. A life long serial killer could kill 600 people,but if he "finds Jesus" before they through the switch, he will be in heaven sitting at the kids table right next to Pope John Paul II eating Thanksgiving turkey.

If you are a Christian, Please stop giving your money to the church. I think your Preist can go 1 summer with out his country club membership and his new BMW.

Lori, Fairytale Pie sounds yummy! The only problem with it is that one hour later you're hungry again. One (pie)ce of evidence for the Christian faith is its staying power . . . its ability to change lives for the better . . . even its ability to repent of, condemn and self-correct its own historical misbehaviors. One more thing . . . Fairytale Pie never ever gives anyone a case of indigestion . . . The Christian religion, on the other hand, will give almost anyone a case of severe heartburn! Because it is such a potent diet and can easily be misprepared if the recipe is not followed properly.

There is no shortage of fairy tale books from where I live. But for this religion, we placed our lives on the line because its power to satisfy spiritual thirst is out of this world. But I don't expect you to understand us.

Lets just say people of this world are of two kinds, the blind and the wise. Non-believers say Christians are blind while blasphemers are wise. But majority believes that its the other way around.

Those who were not invited to the feast cannot understand the sweetness of the secret manna from Heaven. I pitied them, they missed the best experience they could have enjoyed. Millions do not flock to the church for nothing.

But scriptures are never wrong. The devil planted his own people upon this earth, and they shall do battle with the church. But in the end, they will fulfill their part in the script which is to be the loser.

a lot of people believe that islam is the true faith as well. why don't you guys fight it out?

oh.

well, i'm glad that those who are enlightened are showing us the true path to salvation.

i really don't get why death and destruction have to be a part of it.

based on what i see from all your religions, i'm gonna turn buddhist. it seems to be fairly peaceful.

wait, wait... if christianity's proof is it's staying power, what does that say about judaism? and, wait, wait... if judaism is older than christianity, why should i believe christianity over judaism? and wait, wait, if judaism is nothing but christianity without a messiah, then which am i to believe based on all this james cameron nonsense? judaism has time on its side... according to one of the christians here, that's all you need.

oh yeah, the secret manna from heaven. forgot about that. you mean like the roman gods? didn't your god kill those gods? murdering gods... i can't fucking take it when they murder. like that whole flood thing. fucked up, that.

the blind and the wise... oh, what is it that you see, doubting thomas? am i to believe that you have seen proof positive that christianity is the way? where? what?

science and logic have been around as long as christianity has, and we've got bigger, longer books than you do. so there. and lots of people have believed it for a long time, and you guys look foolish with your 6,000 year old earth and your "we couldn't have come from monkeys" and "gay people are evil" and "kill the jew" and all that.

you consider every other viewpoint to be false and all the people in the world who believe a different religion or no religion at all to be damned and foolish, yet what makes you figure that a vast majority of the world is wrong and you are right? a book? written by men? that contradicts itself?

find your own faith. spirituality is not wrong. organized religion is the work of the devil, if you believe in that, or, more rightly, is the work of evil men.

I repeat (pay attention this time), those who are not invited to the feast cannot understand the sweetness of the secret manna from Heaven, the word who became flesh Jesus Christ. I would like to highlight "cannot understand" (like dumb or something).

answer the questions, then, dan.

if you can't answer a question, or at least respond, then why should we pay attention to what you have to say, dummy-boy?

Jesus taught the disciples that those who are not against them are not their enemies, even if they are from other flock. Individuals from other religion who do not hate Christ like you do are obviously not dumb. They have no problem with the love and peace preaching. Those from other faith who knew nothing of Christ but believe in brotherhood, justice, and love, are obviously in their right mind. But those who oppose the tenets of love and peace may have some mental disorder or something.

i don't "hate christ." that's just silly. i just don't believe in the bible. christ, the man, the idea, was and is just fine. i'm sick of all the violence that religion causes. that's nothing against peace, "brotherhood, justice, and love," which are all wonderful things.

what have i said that makes you think i "hate christ?" i am not "against" jesus at all. those who believe in jesus without falling for all that false hatred (for those that the church, never jesus, deems evil) are okay, too.

if you can separate what jesus ACTUALLY taught from all the bullshit that you find in the bible and in church teachings, then i have no problem with you.

some of what is to be found in the bible is good. there is a lot there that forms a good moral basis upon which to live your life. unfortunately, it also teaches a lot of hate, and it teaches a lot of things that christians pick and choose (homophobia is good, because it's taught in the bible, women are subserviant, becuase it's taught in the bible, but what about slavery, which is also condoned in the bible?)

you shouldn't believe the bible as literal truth. that's the problem with religion. every religion thinks that THEIR book is to be completely believed, while all others are just so much silliness. do you think it right when muslims interpret the koran literally? "kill the infidel?"

does this foolishness not extend to you? yes, there is much to learn from the bible. overall, it is an okay book. but why is so much of it used to hate? and why would you believe the way that that is the way it was intended?

Well, I agree with you that interpreting the Bible is dangerous business. Of course, it is also a historical account of the Jewish people and we cannot say that its a fake just because it recorded violent events. As for our church, we have a magisterium (official teaching authority) that can be traced back to the apostles and Jesus Christ, and it interpreted the Bible just fine. God reigns in the hearts of men of goodwill (Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.) for His laws are written in their hearts. Those people will obviously dine with Him in His feast.

...on the entrails of non-believers! Bwa-hahaha-haha!


Love,
A vengeful, wrathful god

Now you know how satan laughs. For him, God is vengeful and wrathful. Well, he deserves to be treated that way by God anyway.

Zing, your comments go for me, too. If longevity is the ruler of truth, then Judaism is more true than Christianity, and Buddhism more true than either. "Staying power" means nothing. Superstitions & fairy tales can go on & on with each generation. For example, take the 'virgin birth' myth, which has occurred in just about every religious myth recorded - or better, the resurrection theme, which also recurs in every major religion. Each new religion just borrows elements from the older ones. A very large proportion of Christianity is lifted/plagarized wholesale from Mithraism & other, older middle-eastern traditions involving gods, demi-gods, & heroes.

Then there are the recorded historical contradictions within the christian bible itself. Add in the other main versions - the Gospel of Thomas, of Mary Magdalene, of the Gnostics, etc. - & you have an unintelligible mismash of gibberish.

Most of the current christian theology is not derived from JC per se, but from Paul, who taught almost exactly the opposite of what JC himself is reported to have preached - & practiced. Consider that Paul was a flaming & zealous anti-christian. The likelihood that he suddenly DID "see the light" is dim; far more likely is that he is history's most successful agent provocateur & mole, who succeeded in making a mockery of the actual original christianity by subverting the teachings of The Master & substituting his own: equality of women before God for submission of women to male authority; forgiveness & tolerance for separation & shunning; etc. I could go on but you all have copies of this book for yourselves to find all the contradictions betwixt the messages given in the gospels as opposed to the teachings of Paul.

The towering edifices of christianity were built on the mechanations of men - venal, corrupt, power-hungry men at that. Had it not been for the whimsy of Constantine & his official imperial patronage, christianity would still be skulking in the shadows - if it still existed at all. That it came to prominence is due to its political exigencies to people like Constantine, NOT to any inherent superiority per se. And since history is almost always written by those who conquer, the "truth" of christianity & its various permutations ("churches") is extremely suspect to any but the vacuous, gullible, or desperate.

You say, "oh, you don't believe - you're on the side of Satan". Bullshit. That's the glib & easy disclaimer & sorry excuse for every christian since the beginning when they can't explain or justify the religion & have no facts to fall back on - nothing except fairy tale pie, as one commenter wrote. Easy to weasel out of argument & proof by claiming that faith alone is the justification & anybody who doesn't line up for shearing like the willing sheeple who do choose to believe has got to be on the side of the Enemy. This kind of argument/'proof' has been the refuge of charlatans, con artists, & swallowed whole by idiots since the beginning of human time. It's just another scam.

"But scriptures are never wrong."

no?

ok, what were the last words of Jesus, and what was the inscription over his head at the crucifixion?

careful, there's two different version..depending on which Gospel you read.

the words of Men are indeed fallible, and that's what scriptures are...the words of men.

Were there were remains in the ossuary of Jesus? Were the remains examined for evidence of crucifixion? If Jesus had a son named Judah were is his name in the new testament? Surely the son of the founder of Christianity would have some recognition in the new testament or even the Gnostic Gospels? Was the name Judah also included in the statistical equation that was used in the documentary? If not, why not? Nowhere in the new testament and that includes the Gnostic Gospels is there a mention of a Judah son of Jesus. Surely the founders son would merit a mention somewhere in the historical documents. If the names used for statistical analysis used those that are only mentioned in the historical documents,then the stats may not be reliable.One should include all the ossuarys'names that were found in the tomb as part of the equation. That means Judah son of Jesus should have been included in the equation. The stats may be quite different if all the ossuarys' names are used. If one is trying to prove a thesis of this sort one must rely on historical documents for guidance when possible. All the historical documents make no mention of Judah son of Jesus.The documentarians have tried to prove a thesis without taking into account Judah son Of Jesus. Otherwise they use the documents to help prove their thesis when it suits them .But they forget about those possibilities that don't help their thesis.

Hi, I'm commenting all the way from Malaysia. We don't have the documentary here yet, and what I've read is straight from the internet (there seem to be a media blackout on this over the mainstream papers as well).

OK, let's go back to the findings. Of all the statistical, DNA forensics and patina testings, I would say that the patina test is the most interesting. The producers have added a 'dramatic' twist to the show by saying that the tenth missing ossuary actually belonged to the 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus' ossuary discovered earlier. The patina 'fingerprinting' test, which is a relatively new technique, scans samples on stone surfaces, in this case samples from ossuaries taken at random from a dozen tombs from various locations in the Jerusalem area, with an electron microscope to reveal a chemical spectrum/measurement of elements such as magnesium, aluminum, phosphorus, potassium, titanium and iron. The preliminary results indicated that the chemical spectrum of the James ossuary strongly "echoed" those of the Talpiot wall surfaces and its ossuaries.

The hypothesis that the James ossuary belongs to the Talpiot tomb has already been discounted by most scholars as the dimensions of the missing ossuary is different from the one documented (65 x 25 x 30 in the Jesus ossuary vs 57.5 x 25 x 30 in the James ossuary) and it is not plain as noted in the Talpiot excavation. However, Dr James Tabor in his blog, has pointed out that the initial excavation findings reveal only a very faint rosette pattern which is due to accumulation of earth which is not initially brushed off yet. Furthermore, he gave an example of certain ossuaries, eg Mariamme, which is quite elaborately decorated and not 'plain' as in the James ossuary.

However, the statistical findings that this is a unique cluster of names not to be found elsewhere fail to convince me. The odds can be 1 in 100, 1 in 600 or 1 in 1000 or whatever. The findings were only based on certain assumptions in the calculation done by Andrey Feuerverger from the University of Toronto. For example, it is assumed by the producers that, Mariamme e Mara refers to Mary Magdalene. This drives up the computation substantially.

Speaking from everyday experience, what are the chances of meeting your friend at a train station in London? Have you ever found a word you require by the first flip of a dictionary? (Well I have!). What's the probability of seeing 3 patients with the same name on the same day in a clinic? I've actually seen them in my clinic. This is just my personal testimony.

What's the probability of the Jesus family having a tomb in Jerusalem when it should most likely be in Nazareth, his birthplace? - the answer is we don't have the statistical figures to work on, as we are looking from a purely historical and cultural point of view. Therefore, there is not going to be an absolute answer to this whole issue as far as statistics is concerned and people are going to argue till the cows come home. Statisticians are only there to give a rough estimate.

The DNA test is also unconvincing although it is not the fault of the producers (they could not find bone fragments from other ossuaries. The bones were all buried, on discovery, according to Jewish law). The experts are only able to extract mitochondrial DNA, and not the nucleus, and it is found that the ones in the Jesus and Mariamme ossuaries are not related. The producers are quick to jump in and say that it may probably mean that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and they had a son named Judas. This is predetermined mindset and it has angered many people. I hope they would retract their assumption to defuse the widespread furore.

In conclusion, I'm more interested in the intellectual debate that will prevail, rather than assumptions and wild accusations from both sides.

Clearly, an independent team needs to be sent there to verify or discount the patina test. They need to take more samples from other ossuaries in the Talpiot area. This patina test is quite confusing - and as most of us have not heard of this technology before, unlike carbon dating. The producers have said that it is a match but how good a match? It is hoped that more random sampling will be done, and hopefully there will be more refined patina testing machines to clear the issue for the sake of analytical minded people like me! The tomb, itself, which has been sealed by the Israeli authority needs to be reopened and reexamined. More authoritative epigraphical work needs to be done and the final consensus should be made known.

Hope I've not bored you on giving such a long comment, which to me, is the the most controversial discovery in the history of mankind.