The Jesus Tomb DNA

[August]

Hi there,

I did a quick writeup on the likely quality of the DNA evidence from the "Jesus" tomb.

One thing that is mentioned in passing in the Jesus Tomb documentary is the DNA testing. It immediately struck me as odd that they will release fairly detailed supporting documents for all other "evidence", but that the DNA analysis is not really shown in detail anywhere.

There is a lot of precedence for the testing of ancient DNA, most notably on mummies. DNA testing on mummies has shown this type of testing to be quite hard. DNA is one of the first things that decompose. Decomposition will break up the DNA strands, which will lead to false sequencing. The factors that lead to decomposition include temperature, PH and the availibility of oxygen and water.

I don't want to repost the whole thing here from my blog, but feel free to drop by and read the whole article:
Jesus Tomb DNA

If there are any DNA experts out there who notice some glaring mistakes in the article, I would love to hear from you.

God bless.

John

 

[Chris]

Good points.

I'm curious, though: who do the naysayers expect this DNA to link this corpse to, anyway?

Jesus is alive, well, and seated at the Father's right hand. This dead guy in the tomb - who are they going to link him to via DNA, anyway?

 

[August]

Chris, right now they are just claiming to have proved that whoever was in the Miriamne (Mary Magdalene?) ossuary did not have the same mother as whoever was in the "Jesus" ossuary. They are not linking it to anyone, because they do not have the right type of DNA to establish paternal links.

All things being equal, if they had to test two samples for maternal relationship, they should have done Mary and Jesus, to see if there was a maternal relationship. That may have strengthened their case, but they show their agenda by wanting to establish the whole "Jesus was married and had a kid" hypothesis.

Pretty useless, unless you can establish DNA lineage for what they claim, and I don't think you can reliably do that.

 

[Chris]

Part of me is hesitant to even *discuss* this, because it's so absurd, but for the sake of argument:

If we knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we had Mary's bones/DNA, and we found a tomb named 'Jesus' and DNA from it confirmed that the corpse was related to 'Mary', what does that prove?

 

[August]

Nothing, except that there was someone named Jesus who was the son of Mary.

Could be anyone. But I'm trying to be as generous as possible to Cameron and his buddies on their own grounds to see that even if you grant their assumptions, the case holds, and right now, it does not.

 

[Chris]

trying to be as generous as possible to Cameron and his buddies on their own grounds .

By all means, we should be generous to them.

If we don't know, as believers, that their efforts are 100% guaranteed to fail, because we, as believers, know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Tomb is Empty (as pointed out on the other thread) then our faith is useless anyway.

The truth will always come out. Let them exhaust themselves against the impenetrable fortress of the Truth. For that matter, enjoy it. This will end the same way every other attack on His Diety has ended for the last 2000 years.

 

[MrMerlin777]

By all means, we should be generous to them.

If we don't know, as believers, that their efforts are 100% guaranteed to fail, because we, as believers, know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Tomb is Empty (as pointed out on the other thread) then our faith is useless anyway.

The truth will always come out. Let them exhaust themselves against the impenetrable fortress of the Truth. For that matter, enjoy it. This will end the same way every other attack on His Diety has ended for the last 2000 years.

The tomb is empty. He lives!

 

[Dieter Schneider]

The empty tomb

Christians ought to be proactive rather than reactive. Never mind the latest fads!
The truth of Christianity hinges on the empty tomb (a space-time event in history), and the apostle Paul (an eye-witness of the risen Christ) spells out the implications to the Church in his own day in response to those who deny the resurrection, see 1.Cor.15 (passim).
I shall say nothing about the Sadducees in New Testament times.
So let's not get alarmed - it really is hard to be an original heretic!

 

[etexas]

Christians ought to be proactive rather than reactive. Never mind the latest fads!
The truth of Christianity hinges on the empty tomb (a space-time event in history), and the apostle Paul (an eye-witness of the risen Christ) spells out the implications to the Church in his own day in response to those who deny the resurrection, see 1.Cor.15 (passim).
I shall say nothing about the Sadducees in New Testament times.
So let's not get alarmed - it really is hard to be an original heretic!

My Pastor is a firm believer in not giving these carnival barkers the satisfaction of the attention of orthodox believers......I rather agree. This is a tool of the Devil (a liar and the father of it) and the wicked who follow. Grace and Peace

 

[August]

My Pastor is a firm believer in not giving these carnival barkers the satisfaction of the attention of orthodox believers......I rather agree. This is a tool of the Devil (a liar and the father of it) and the wicked who follow. Grace and Peace

I would agree to an extent that these types of attacks do nothing to shake the faith of strong believers, but then we have many people who are seekers or believers who may be having doubts because of these clowns. It is giving an answer to those who may be asking.

Personally I don't want to give any sort of credibility to the heretics, but destroy their credibility, and hopefully make my own humble contribution to the glory of God in that way.

 

[Dieter Schneider]

2 Timothy 2:14b-26 springs to mind. What a blessing to know that our faith does not rest on human opinions!

 

[Semper Fidelis]

James White took this subject up on the most recent Dividing Line. He's planning on writing a book in response to it.

I agree with Dr. White that this is a serious issue. It's not necessarily for those of us who see right through this but it is for the myriad of intellectually lazy Christians out there. One could take the attitude that people who are gullible enough to believe this and The Da Vinci Code get what they ask for. I'm of the opinion that we ought to be ready to patiently return lies with facts.

The DL gives some great facts surrounding the sensationalism.

 

[MrMerlin777]

James White took this subject up on the most recent Dividing Line. He's planning on writing a book in response to it.

I agree with Dr. White that this is a serious issue. It's not necessarily for those of us who see right through this but it is for the myriad of intellectually lazy Christians out there. One could take the attitude that people who are gullible enough to believe this and The Da Vinci Code get what they ask for. I'm of the opinion that we ought to be ready to patiently return lies with facts.

The DL gives some great facts surrounding the sensationalism.

Thanks for the info Rich. I guess I know what I'm listening to after dinner tonight.

 

[etexas]

James White took this subject up on the most recent Dividing Line. He's planning on writing a book in response to it.

I agree with Dr. White that this is a serious issue. It's not necessarily for those of us who see right through this but it is for the myriad of intellectually lazy Christians out there. One could take the attitude that people who are gullible enough to believe this and The Da Vinci Code get what they ask for. I'm of the opinion that we ought to be ready to patiently return lies with facts.

The DL gives some great facts surrounding the sensationalism.

Rich I agree about not letting weaker Christians fall for this sort of thing and admire James White for standing against it. What I think and what Father Banek taught me is we must strike a balance so we are not tossing "chum" into a feeding frenzy.