Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Jesus' bones

The scandalous "Jesus Family Tomb" has been in the news. Personally I'm praying for an opportunity to talk to someone about the Lord because of this new publicity. I'm sure you've seen all the Christian responses to the "controversy." Here's one that I thought of this morning: After reading the actual archaeological report of the Talpiot tomb, and noting the how common the names were in ancient jewish communities, the following exchange occurred to me:

JOURNALIST: "We've found a gravesite in Dallas with the names John, Jacky, Bobby, and Edward -- It MUST be the Kennedy family grave!"
OBJECTOR: "Um, it can't be -- Ed Kennedy isn't dead."
JOURNALIST: "You've been led to BELIEVE he isn't dead. But what are the odds of finding all these graves together? It MUST be the Kennedies!"
OBJECTOR: "Those are some of the most common names in the country. And besides, that's not how Jackie Kennedy spelled her name."
JOURNALIST: "Well, there was a newspaper article once that spelled it that way. Perhaps it's a variant."
OBJECTOR: "None of the Kennedies are from Dallas; why would they be buried there?"
JOURNALIST: "It's where John died, isn't it?"
OBJECTOR: "I notice you're not an archaeologist or a historian. Are you sure you're not insisting on this for reasons other than objective historical research?"
JOURNALIST: "What? I am offended that you would insinuate that the millions of dollars from book and movie deals are motivating me to stretch the truth! The money means nothing to me! (By the way, the book is available at all major bookstores.)"

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