Jesus
Bones
Stephen Harris
February 26, 2007
It would seem that some, including James Cameron, believe that the bones of
Jesus Christ and his family were discovered in 1980 in a suburb of
Jerusalem. I haven’t yet seen the
documentary purporting this theory which is scheduled to air this coming
weekend, but the frenzy surrounding the suggestion is in full swing. Of course a lot of people are calling it
bunk, which it very well may be.
A biblical scholar named
Stephen Pfann from the University of the Holy Land in
Jerusalem was interviewed for the documentary and said "I don't think that
Christians are going to buy into this, but skeptics, in general, would like to
see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold
dear." What I find interesting
about this statement is that he apparently believes that this somehow would
poke holes in the story of Jesus.
There is always this
struggle between literal and metaphoric interpretations of the Bible. A pervasive irony that I see is that so many
people cling to what they think of as a literal understanding of the Bible, or
a literal understanding of anything for that matter. But even that seemingly literal understanding
is itself metaphorical. To purposefully
deny this aspect of the nature of knowledge is to divorce oneself from the
potential of understanding.
If your faith hinges on
Jesus leaving no physical trace after his resurrection I would contend that it
is not the skeptics who are punching holes in your beliefs, but rather that
your beliefs where already holey to begin with.