Pharyngula: Lost Tomb of Somebody

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Another point important to recognize is that the creation was 'mature' from its birth. It did not have to grow or develop from simple beginnings. God formed it full-grown in every respect, including even Adam and Eve as mature individuals when they were first formed. The whole universe had an 'appearance of age' right from the start. It could not have been otherwise for true creation to have taken place. 'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them' (Genesis 2:1).

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« The other dangers of non-anonymous blogging | Main | Creationist clown car »

Lost Tomb of Somebody

Category: History
Posted on: April 12, 2007 1:51 PM, by PZ Myers

Remember "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"?

You can forget it now. Even some of the pro-Jesus documentarians featured in the show are backpedalling away from it.

Comments

Posted by: justathought | April 12, 2007 2:00 PM

Maybe it's the secret tomb of Dionysus, he supposedly was resurrected, so he would have a secret tomb as well.

Or Appolonius of Tyana,

or maybe Hermes Trimegistus.

Hmmmmmmm, so many saviours, so few secret tombs.

Posted by: Ex-drone | April 12, 2007 2:22 PM

If in fact this goes away, it will serve as a good example of how extraordinary claims need to be challenged early before they get irrevocably embedded in the pseudo-sphere and develop an army of staunch advocates. By contract, I'm not holding my breath that a similar rational denunciation will occur for the shroud of Turin.

Posted by: peter | April 12, 2007 3:19 PM

who intelligent would actually heed this silly info on the supposed tomb? lol

Posted by: Dwimr | April 12, 2007 3:36 PM

Just great! Next thing you know they'll be telling us the alien autopsy was fake.

Posted by: Roy | April 12, 2007 3:38 PM

Only the rich had tombs. Wasn't Jesus supposed to be poor? Maybe Joseph made a mint making crosses for the Romans and felt bad for letting his son become a dropout beatnik, and the entombment assuaged his guilt some.

I always wondered, did Joseph understand the boy wasn't his? And, since Jesus was born before Mary's marriage was consumated, then the boy was a bastard, right?

Frankly, I feel sorry for Joseph. He got cuckolded.

Posted by: ordinarygirl | April 12, 2007 4:19 PM

My first reaction was to laugh.

But then I read this that Simcha Jacobovici has an Emmy. Who would give that guy an Emmy?

Posted by: AustinAtheist | April 12, 2007 4:38 PM

I can see it now...

"Ha! It wasn't Jesus' tomb after all! Those pesky scientists with their damned numbers were wrong! HE REALLY DID RISE FROM THE DEAD!"

Which is to say I'm a bit pessimistic at the moment. But otherwise, great news!

Posted by: Skeptico | April 12, 2007 5:15 PM

I gave those interpretations of Feuerverger's statistics 5 weeks ago. I'm good.

Posted by: Kristine | April 12, 2007 6:15 PM

What gets me is that, as with the Da Vinci Code, people hyperventilated: "The cynical atheists were trying to disprooove the Resurrection, and now they're wrong!" No, no, no. The Da Vinci Code is a crap novel and this "Lost Tomb" business is crackpot archaeology. And that's true whether one believes in the Resurrection or not (which I don't). I'm not interested in "disproving" the Resurrection any more than I feel a need to "disprove" Osiris's resurrection.

What I'm more interested in is the so-called archaeologist who claimed several years ago that the snakes in Alexandria told her where the tomb of Alexander the Great was buried beneath the city. Haven't heard from her lately. ;-)

#10

Posted by: pablo | April 12, 2007 8:37 PM

Anyone catch PBS's "Secrets of the Dead" about the shroud of Turin? It's like a commercial for catholicism. They only talk to true believers and crackpots. No mention of McCrone's pigment findings at all.

#11

Posted by: AustinAtheist | April 12, 2007 8:54 PM

A friend and I were watching that yesterday. For a minute I thought we were watching TBN, but then I realized it was KLRU.
How disappointing.

#12

Posted by: Skeptic8 | April 12, 2007 9:27 PM

I liked the story when it came out. Please unnerstan' that the "tomb" wasn't found; it was an ossuary. The difference has become a bit vague amongst the public.
I have been verbally assaulted only once, here in Austin TX,by an "evangelical" since the story got play. My quick reply was multi-levelled: "If Yeshua supposedly "ascended" and now they have found his "tomb" isn't that a bit of a conflict?"
I watched a face-morph to 'vengeful'. After a very few "inerrant" quotations I added, "They've got his DNA." Confusion. There are severall strings on this cat indeed:
"They have Yeshua's DNA and his mother's so they can figure out God's DNA." I might add "It appears that God's DNA isn't much different from Joseph's".
The only thing that many aggressive evangeos know about DNA is that it magically "got some crim'nals outta jail". Is that what worked for Paul?. Use this to fire quips!
BRY

#13

Posted by: Mike Huben | April 13, 2007 7:47 AM

The basic problem is that the critiques get lost, and the original is cited forever by generations of the gullible. Which is why it took so long for the creationism movement to be opposed during it's 70's re-emergence.

#14

Posted by: yank in london | April 13, 2007 10:31 AM

I find this news very disappointing. Fortunately I plan on buying Moses' autograph to make up for it!

#15

Posted by: Saint Gasoline | April 13, 2007 10:41 AM

How can somebody who didn't even exist have a tomb?

#16

Posted by: Righteous Bubba | April 13, 2007 12:45 PM

The Jesus tomb stuff remains more plausible than God choosing some poor girl's vagina as a gateway to the world.

#17

Posted by: Skeptic8 | April 14, 2007 12:33 AM

I pray to Saint Gasoline to consider the possibility that a Rabbi Yeshua really did exist and that he was of the "school" of R. Hillel. The edited "gospels" seem to leave some of Hillel's sentiments intact. I think that there is a higher probability of THAT Yeshua having existed and been buried with his family than any "immaculate Conception" or "Assumption". The accretions authored by Saul borrowed from the Mithras cult that was well entrenched in the Roman Army. So, let this discovery fit your hand as a tool to lop off the God/ Savior cult seeking Dominion hereabouts in a manner that would scrap our Constitution.
BRY

#18

Posted by: Keith Douglas | April 14, 2007 11:57 AM

Skeptic8: Yeah, but at what point do you give up on the thing? It is like the story:

"Guess what! Santa Claus is real! His real name is Steve Dudley, he lives in Miami, hates children and never buys gifts because he's too busy obsessing over his skinniness"

#19

Posted by: DJB | April 18, 2007 12:57 AM

You might want to read this before jumping to any conclusions:

http://jesusdynasty.com/blog/2007/04/17/those-backtracking-scholars/