[Buddha-l] Lost Tomb of Jesus

[Evelyn Ruut]

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 09:42:32 +0800 (GMT-8)
From: Wong Weng Fai <wongwf at comp.nus.edu.sg>
Subject: [Buddha-l] The Lost Tomb of Jesus
To: Buddhist discussion forum <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.64.0703060938570.11235 at sf0.comp.nus.edu.sg>
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OK... I'll cast the first stone... so what do folks think of the 
"archae-porn" shown last night on Discovery, i.e. The Lost Tomb of Jesus?

Evidence vs faith etc...

W.F. Wong

Hi,

I'll bite.   

I thought it was an interesting show, and digging up stuff from the past is always something that captures the imagination.    

I don't think it will destroy Christianity, nor will it destroy the "true believers" for whom nothing scientific matters anyway, including evolution.   

I think it probably is real, for the reasons which were explained in the program itself.   The sheer odds of all those related names appearing in the same place, the time element, etc.   If these individuals actually ever existed, there was something they left behind; Writings, their physical remains, whatever.    

There are buddha relics out there too.   Do these change the way we view buddhism?  Do they help our practices?    I think that finding such relics might actually serve to inspire more than to work against a particular faith.   People do like the tangible, the real.  It somehow makes the founder of a faith more human.

What I find is tremendously ironic is that the actual remains that were in the ossuaries ended up in some mass grave thirty years ago shortly after they were found.  This makes DNA testing for relationship between these persons remains much more iffy.

I am sure the Catholic Church has much in the way of writings in its archives from early christianity that the world would just love to see, but that they keep classified because it is in their best interest to keep things just as they are.  Magic and Mystery are great tools to keep the faithful in line.

In short, I liked the show, thought it was well done, think it is very possible that the tomb and its former occupants were real, but that nothing will change because of it.

Best Regards,
Evelyn Ruut
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