What would it take to prove to the Pope that some 1st century bones are those of Jesus?
The ossuary of no one in particular
The whole St. Paul’s bones issue has left me wondering. What would it take to convince the Pope Benedict and the Vatican that a number of first century bones were those of Jesus, and that he was not in fact physically resurrected?
If you recall, a few years back, the famous case of the James the brother of Jesus ossuary was debunked as a forgery, and for very good reason.
Now imagine that archaeologists actually find an ossuary and authenticate an inscription that says it contains the bones of Jesus himself. Imagine this inscription is conclusively shown to have been made by first century Gnostics, who believed that Jesus was not resurrected. Surely an authenticated inscription is a level above the two millennia of oral tradition that have been used to argue the case for the St. Paul bones, and just because the Gnostics did not benefit from a friendly Roman Emperor to help them spread and grow like the Catholics did, it does not automatically make their beliefs any less valid. Imagine also that the bones in the ossuary are dated and found to exactly match the time of Jesus’ death with any margin of error being well within the limits (unlike the St. Paul case).
Would this be enough evidence to convince Pope Benedict XVI and Christians in general that Jesus was not bodily resurrected into Heaven like they believe? Will the Pope hang up his pointy hat and announce that the central belief of Christianity – salvation through the resurrection of Jesus – has been disproven?
I guess not! So what kind of scientific evidence and how much of it would it take to convince them that Jesus died and stayed dead?
Comments please!
Tags: bones of Jesus, ossuary, Pope Benedict XVI, St. Paul's bones, Vatican
How could you ever convince Christians or, worse, the Pope that Jesus stayed dead? There is so much evidence anyway that Christianity is made up that they should have seen that already.
It’ll take a time machine.
I just saw an update on the assuary. It passes all tests as an item from that time period and the inscription piece that passed only 2 of 3 tests is the 2nd half, surprisingly, not the first.
In archaeology, “absence of evidence is not equal to evidence of absence”. The assuary as a whole passes almost all tests of legitimacy, but part of the inscription doesn’t pass every test. Scholars are still split.
As a Christian skeptic, I find archaeology interesting but it’s a generally true kind of science for me.
No doubt if the pope were presented with evidence that some ancient bones were the bones of Jesus, he would keep it under his hat.
It wasn’t Jesus…it was his body double.
Most Christians do not believe that Jesus was resurrected like a warmed up body from the dead, so to speak. Neither was he, as the blogger put it, “bodily resurrected into heaven” if that means that he went like a live rocket straight up into space! Even if some artists of previous centuries painted scenes like this, it was in the first place a metaphorical image of something that cannot be visually expressed. The “resurrection body” was not the same as his pre-crucifixion body. The Gospels also try to explain and express something that was out of the ordinary and not at all easy to narrate. They use images for a happening that defied explanation by everyday language. That Jesus is “alive” is something that is experienced today still by millions of Christians for whom his spiritual presence is a reality. One either experience it or you don’t.
Check out “Another Roadside Attraction” by Tom Robbins
The Vatican already has the bones hidden away
Regarding the Vatican and the Pope, may I refer you all to: http://richardsmindspaces.blogspot.com/2007/04/is-pope-connected.html
I loved the ‘Benny and The Cardinals’ bit, Richard. Now I have to learn to play an instrument, so I can form that band LOL!
Even if a box of bones from exactly that time was discovered with a sign on it saying “These are the bones of Jesus of Nazareth” it wouldn’t prove anything.
It would just be a box of bones and a sign- unless you could establish reliable testimony from the time about who wrote the sign and why.