Jerusalem Post Article on "Jesus Tomb"

The link above is for a good article in the Jerusalem Post about the new "Jesus Tomb" documentary. The author quotes Amos Kloner, who reiterates his position that all this speculation is nonsense, and even addresses the missing ossuary that the documentary will claim is the "James son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus" ossuary. Interesting reading, but more evidence that this documentary is a sensationalized film intended for the fun and profit of the makers.

Strike That - Titanic Director Reruns Old Story

After doing some further investigating, I don't think there is any new information in the "Jesus Family Tomb" story. An excerpt I found from The Jesus Dynasty by James D. Tabor states,

Shortly before Easter in 1996 another dramatic story broke: "Jesus Family Tomb Discovered." It was reported that a tomb discovered back in 1980, but never brought to public attention, contained a significant cluster of names associated with the Jesus family including a Mary, a Joseph, a second Mary, a Jude son of Jesus, a Matthew, and most significantly, a Jesus son of Joseph. the London Sunday Times paraded the story in a full front-page feature article under the title "The Tomb That Dare Not Speak Its Name" on March 31.

The only new wrinkle I see is that now they claim to have DNA tests of two of the ossuaries from the tomb. All they can tell us though is that Jesus son of Joseph and Mary are not blood relatives. Hardly earth shattering new information. Of course, we'll have to wait and see the documentary to see if there are any other new claims.

Tabor also relates in his book that

"Amos Kloner, who subsequently published the official report on the Talpiot excavation, maintained that the 'possibility of it being Jesus' family [is] very close to zero.' Motti Neiger, spokesperson for the Israel Antiquities Authority, agreed 'that chances of these being the actual burials of the holy family are almost nil."

Why pursue an old story? Follow the money. James Cameron wants to get back in the limelight, and Tabor has conveniently timed the release of the paperback version of his book for one month after the documentary first airs. Not to mention the yearly attempt to discredit Christianity during the Easter season.

Titanic Director Debunks Christianity!!

James Cameron is releasing a documentary claiming to have found the tomb of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, their son Judah, just to name three. The tomb contains the remains of ten individuals. I don't have all the details yet, but a couple of things make me instantly suspicious.

1. Why would archaeologists release this information in the form of a documentary instead of in a scientific journal? I subscribe to Biblical Archeology Review and have not seen anything mentioning this. If there has been, please correct me.
2. They only mention five of the ten names in the article. All five were very common names in the era of the people in the tomb. Why haven't they mentioned the other five? My guess is that they probably don't fit the mold of it being Jesus' family.
3. They only tested the DNA of two bodies, those of "Jesus Son of Joseph" and "Mary known as the master". They determined these two people were not blood related. Since they were in the same tomb, they also concluded they must have been married. Why didn't they test the rest of the bodies? I would think they could have laid out the family relationships by doing this.

I haven't been able to dig deeply into this yet, these are just my gut reactions. I'll be doing more research in the coming days. I plan on investigating the website set up for the documentary. It can be found here.

If Only This Guy Had Access To Pornagraphy

I'm sure this guy wouldn't have committed this crime if had access to pornography. That's what many so called "progressive" minds would have you believe. I'd be willing to bet the farm that his porn collection rivals that of Larry Flint. Do you really think this man could have resisted his urge to abduct and assault an 11 year old girl while he was naked, if he just could have fulfilled his "needs" in the privacy of his own home. The more likely scenario is that the scenes he has seen in pornography conditioned his mind to think, if only for a while, that this was OK. He couldn't resist it. After all he is only an animal with urges and instincts. Why should he be held to a higher standard?

Of course, this is all just speculation on one individual case, but more and more studies show the link between pornography use and an increase in sexual crimes. One that I know of was published in 2002 in the journal Mind, Medicine, and Adolescence, by Dr. Claudio Violato, Dr. Elizabeth Oddone-Paolucci, and Dr. Mark Genuis. In it they studied 12,000 participants and concluded that exposure to pornography leads to increased risk for committing sexual offences.

There are many more studies that have shown the same link and several good anti porn websites. I will not link to them here, because many of them have content that may be objectionable to some, but if you don't have to search very hard to find them.

The Original Agenda of Planned Parenthood

My wife and I are enrolled in a program put on by Familia called The Splendor of Love. We meet once a month with a few other couples to discuss a book written by Fr. Walter Schu called, The Splendor of Love, John Paul II's Vision for Marriage and Family. This book is an explanation of John Paul II's Theology of The Body. Tonight, while reading the material for next month, it reminded me of some interesting information about Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, that always bears repeating for those who aren't aware of it.

Margaret Sanger was heavily involved in the eugenics movement in New York before the founding of Planned Parenthood, which was originally called the American Birth Control League. The basic philosophy of the eugenics movement is the improvement of the human race through the reproductive sciences. Sanger took this to extremes by declaring certain members of society genetically superior, and proposing to weed out the unfit with birth control. It is unnatural selection, where the elites decide who is fit for reproduction.

Fr. Schu includes one telling quote from a private letter Sanger wrote to Clarence Gamble dated October 19, 1939.

"The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

Obviously, Sanger was no great champion of women's rights as she is ofter made out to be. She was firmly behind your right not to reproduce if you were poor, a minority, or otherwise what she determined was a burden to society. Judging from her words, she would not have supported your right to reproduce unless you were deemed fit. But who separates the fit from the unfit? Soon you are trampling all over basic human rights, to say nothing of moral law.

Fr. Schu includes many other damning quotes in his book. Most are taken from Sanger's 1922 book Pivot of Civilization. It would probably make for interesting reading if you could keep yourself from becoming ill in the process.

The question today is whether Planned Parenthood's agenda has really changed all that much over the years. They have more tools now to achieve their goals with abortion and the morning after pill to go along with birth control, but the main thrust is still an attack on the basic right to life.

Birth control is a gateway to abortion and euthanasia. Blinded by narcissism, advocates of these methods are attempting to play God. Soon they are happily skipping down the slippery slope, and making these decisions for others. For their own good of course, all the while selectively weeding out those segments of society they deem unfit. Seems like back door genocide to me! Pray that they don't deem you unfit.