Monday, February 26, 2007

The discovery of the millenium?

Thousands of year of history are suddenly challenged by a group of archaeologists, all because of the recent discovery of a tomb in Jerusalem. In this place, several caskets containing remains of people were found, and on top of each the name of the person whose remains were contained in them: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Along with them, the remains of Mary Magdalene and an alleged son of her and Jesus, Juda, are kept in that place.
Is this a coincidence, or are those remains really from the people described in the New Testament? The Discovery Channel will premiere a show (named The Tomb) on March 4 (in the US, March 6 in Canada) where they'll show the evidence that leads the archaeologists to believe that they found Jesus and his family's tomb.
Even when the documentary hasn't been broadcasted, there have already been some reactions from the Roman Catholic community, minimizing the importance of the discovery. A spokesman of the Roman Catholic Church in New York says that it's only speculation and absurd theorizing.
He's not the only one. Members of the Greek Orthodox Church and some historians have made know that they think it's "very unlikely" that those remains are really those of Jesus' family. Instead, they say, there are some individuals that like to play with stories in which people believe so blindly.
It's hard to tell an opinion about this discovery. I don't know whether the archaeologists did find Jesus' remains or not; however, I don't think that the finding will radically change the faith of thousands of people in the world. Even if they manage to prove that the remains belong to Jesus, people who really believe in the Catholic or Christian faith won't believe that, just because they are convinced of their faith.
I don't follow the Catholic or Christian faith, but still I wonder: What is, at the end of the day, the point of showing this discovery? Is it trying to convince millions of people that their beliefs are wrong? Or simply to make some money from sensationalism?.
Anyway, I think that it will be interesting to watch Discovery Channel's documentary. It will be attention-grabbing to know if those remains belong to Jesus or not. But whatever the conclusion is, I don't expect millions of people to look different towards their religion after watching such show. Do you?

Photo by The Discovery Channel

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home