Another Skirmish in the Culture War

Hello all,
Well, last night's Discovery Channel special on "The Jesus Family Tomb" is yet another example of the recent fad in our culture to undermine Christianity. What was most striking about the conclusions drawn by the presenters of this information was their obvious cluelessness about the theological implications of what they are saying. The fact that they propose that they have an ossuary containing the bones of Jesus and that it does not have any theological implications to Christians is a perfect example. If Jesus was resurrected bodily from the grave "which is the claim of the Bible", then there would be no bones to bury.

Mr. Tabor, who is the author of the accompanying book about the tomb stated last night that he didn't think that the majority of Christians even believed in a bodily resurrection of Jesus. Nothing could be further from the truth. If Jesus had not been resurrected bodily from the grave, as he predicted many times in the Gospels, he would only be a man making claims. Outrageous claims, at that! It is quite clear that on this topic, Tabor simply doesn't know what he is talking about.

Science and religion have historically had a considerable amount of tension between them. I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. Scientists would very much like to make proclamations about what is "truth" without being challenged or being required to defend their conclusions. Science has brought humanity a long way and our knowledge is increasing in leaps and bounds every year. Unfortunately there are some irresponsible people who call themselves scientists without doing the work required to make their claims scientific. This work would include peer review, independent studies by other scientists to confirm their findings, and making statements that can be proved beyond reasonable doubt. This is simply not the case with any of the individuals involved in the Jesus Family Tomb project. They have rushed to press with weak assumptions that cannot be backed up by fact.

It all boils down to yet another skirmish in the culture war. There is an element in our society today that wants nothing more than to destroy the traditional Judeo-Christian culture that has characterized America for the last two centuries. The far left mindset in our culture hates traditional values because they hold us to some accountability in our personal values and behaviors. So, they delight in such things as this tomb business because it is a direct attack on traditional people, Christians in particular. The problem with their attach is that, as usual, it is poorly conceived and not well presented. They can't make the claim that this is science because it is not. It is nothing more than conjecture.