Recently in Life Under the Sun Category

So, have you heard the big news? They've discovered the tomb of "Jesus" and guess what? Despite the published reports by eyewitness to his resurrection and the fact that the tomb was empty, James Cameron will offer proof that it's the tomb of Jesus, his mother, Mary, Mary Magdalene and Jesus' son, Judah:

The cave in which Jesus Christ was buried has been found in Jerusalem, claim the makers of a new documentary film.

If it proves true, the discovery, which will be revealed at a press conference in New York Monday, could shake up the Christian world as one of the most significant archeological finds in history.

The coffins which, according to the filmmakers held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene will be displayed for the first timeon Monday in New York.

Jointly produced by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and Oscar winning director James Cameron, the film tells the exciting and tortuous story of the archeological discovery.

The story starts in 1980 in Jerusalem's Talpiyot neighborhood, with the discovery of a 2,000 year old cave containing ten coffins. Six of the ten coffins were carved with inscriptions reading the names: Jesua son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Matthew, Jofa (Joseph, identified as Jesus' brother), Judah son of Jesua (Jesus' son - the filmmakers claim).

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According to the filmmakers, the film's claim is based on close work with world-famous scientists, archeologists, statisticians, DNA specialists and antiquities experts.

How will this impact Christianity? I'm sure that people will probably use this as yet one more lame excuse not to believe in Christ but those of us who know that Jesus is the Son of God and came to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, will not be swayed by this attempt to destroy Christianity. Greater men than Cameron have tried and have failed to destroy it because Christians believe for a reason. There is a reason for the hope that is within us and that can't be destroyed by a tomb containing the remains of those who bear similar names to those of Jesus and others mentioned in the Bible.

Even the guy involved in the discovery isn't buying this and views it as a publicity stunt:

Excitement over the discovery of Jesus' burial site is premature, Israeli archeologist Professor Amos Kloner said.

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"The claim that the burial site has been found is not based on any proof, and is only an attempt to sell," Kloner said.

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"I refute all their claims and efforts to waken a renewed interest in the findings. With all due respect, they are not archeologists," Kloner said, referring to the filmmakers.

According to him, the names inscribed on the coffins were very common in the Second Temple era, and as such were not sufficient proof that the cave was the burial site of Jesus' family.

I have no fear of what will be said tomorrow because my faith is built on the word of God:

Matthew 7:24-27 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Friendly Atheist compares some of the current best-selling Christian books with some of the current best-selling atheist books and notices a difference. The Christian books have a smiling picture of the author (with their hand folded) but the cover of the atheist books contain just words, no imagery. This leads him to conclude the following:

Why are the covers of atheist books so different from the Christian counterparts?

One explanation might be that the Christian books are driven by personalities. The authors/pastors themselves are the selling points of their books, moreso than their content which is essentially interchangeable.

Atheist books, on the other hand, are less personality-driven and more content-oriented. Because of that, we seem to focus the covers more on the words and less on the imagery.

I would agree that some of the Christian market is personality-driven but that percentage is small when you compare it to the larger market. And when you do, you find the following bestsellers (from Amazon):

None have a picture of the author on the cover, smiling or otherwise. Yes, they do use imagery but you would have to agree that each is selling more on content than image.

But that's not even the extent of the market, lets take a look at some of the bestsellers throughout church history:

I'm just skimming the surface here. And I haven't even included the best-selling book of all time:

I don't think you can get plainer than that! (What? No smiling Jesus?)

Maybe we use imagery in our books because we understand that we don't have to disconnect the visual from the intellectual, that the visual can convey something to the reader that author would like to invoke. I contend that the atheist authors are conveying what we would have if we accepted their message: life in a sterile, colorless world. Bound by nature and never to transcend into the supernatural.

Why no smiling atheists on the cover of books? I would think that it would be hard to smile when you say, "This is all there is. You live, you die, you don't get anything else." Nilism doesn't tend to make people very chipper. (Though Friendly Atheist looks pretty chipper). See how disconcerting it would be to put a smiling atheist on the cover of a book entitled "God is Dead And How to Keep Him That Way."

We smile because we have good news, "This isn't it! The madness, despair, injustice of this life is not the extent of our existence. There will be a time when our tears will be dried and justice will prevail. When we will live in peace and joy." That tends to make people happy.

Go check out Sarah's poster on my other blog.

I'm glad I had him for New Testament Introduction before he left. I wonder who will be teaching that class now? He was an excellent professor (all of Westminster professors are excellent -- I've never disliked any of my professors).

The NTI class looks at various issues related to the New Testament: Second Temple Judaism, the history of Israel up until Christ's birth and beyond, cannon issues, textual criticism issues and the use of the Old Testament in the New. It really was an interesting class and I learned a lot. Here are three of the books we had to read for the class that I found the most helpful:

This book was very helpful in giving me an understanding of what the environment was like when the New Testament was written. It has chapters on Roman law, rulers, Greco-Roman religion and philosophy. This is a very easy read with pictures :-)

We had to write a paper on this book. I found it helpful in understanding why a Jew would reject Jesus. It isn't hard to see why a Jew who loved the Torah would have a problem with a man would claimed to be the Son of God and who said things like this:

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

I was just over at WTS bookstore and I noticed this book:

It looks pretty interesting. I wish I had time to read it, but maybe you do? If you decide to read it, please use my link so I can get my kickback :-)