James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus

[Ben Dhyan]

I missed this 2002 news of the bone box of James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus at the time, and am posting this old article which provides an analysis here in case that there are others like me who missed it at the time.

After reading the full analyais, there seems little doubt that Jesus was indeed a historical figure, not that I personally doubted it, but I know many do and this may help them to accept the fact.

Link - James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus

Close-up of the Aramaic inscription: “Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua” (“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”, found on an ancient ossuary (bone box, used to encase the collected bones of the deceased after the initial decay of the body after death), purportedly originally found in the Jerusalem area. The find made headlines as the first artifact found to show physical evidence of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, his brother James, and father Joseph, as recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament. Paradiso, Wikimedia Commons.

Now the story doesn't end there has been archaeological doubts in some circles about the authenticity of the box and forgeries charges were brought against some men, however the case was dismissed recently.

You can read about it here... World Reacts to Jerusalem Antiquities Forgery Trial Verdict

 

[zenzero]

Friend ben,

Personally never doubted the stories of Jesus, Rama or Krishna But even if they are stories it is fine as being HERE-NOW the past is no more and future unknown as long as able to realize something HERE-NOW from those stories!

They were all born as humans and so they are labelled *avatars* and if they were mythological or imagination then they would have been labelled as *gods* or *angels* etc.

Love & rgds

 

[angellous_evangellous]

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I missed this 2002 news ...

:biglaugh:

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

After reading the full analyais, there seems little doubt that ...

Despite the recent verdict of Judge Aharon Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court acquitting accused Israeli forgers Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch, the jury is still very much out on the actual authenticity of the subject antiquities they were accused of forging. After a seven-year trial with 120 sessions where the judge heard 126 witnesses and dozens of experts, producing 12,000 pages of testimony with a final 475-page verdict, the world seems to be no closer than before to determining the truth about the antiquities in question. Among them, the James Ossuary inscription, the Jehoash Tablet inscription, and the diminutive Ivory Pomegranate inscription, await further research and testing before most or all experts can agree that they are, in fact, what they have been purported to be. ...

“The prosecution failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubt what was stated in the indictment: that the ossuary is a forgery and that Mr. Golan or someone acting on his behalf forged it,” stated Judge Farkash before the court. ... [ibid]

And you continue to miss things. :yes:

 

[arthra]

Well the names Joseph, Jeshua and James were pretty common at the time.. I think it's more likely that the remains of Jesus were secreted or hidden and less likely they would be in a grave known to everyone. The other aspect of this is that Jerusalem was largely destroyed by the Legions around 70 CE and so much would probably be destroyed or lost.

 

[thau]

And you continue to miss things. :yes:

Well, to be fair, this "relic" was dismissed in the Catholic / Christian community soon after its announcement and before we needed to rely on secular experts to point anything out. Of course, Catholicism maintains Jesus had no brothers or sisters (but does not rule out the remote possibility that Joseph was previously married, widowed, and with children) and it most certainly maintains / demands / teaches dogmatically, that Mary remained a virgin her entire life.

To sum: there is no need for any ossuary, et al. to validate the reality of Jesus and his many claims.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Well, to be fair, this "relic" was dismissed in the Catholic / Christian community soon after its announcement and before we needed to rely on secular experts to point anything out.

Beautiful: evidence is dismissed before being evaluated because it threatens dogma ...

 

[Kathryn]

Beautiful: evidence is dismissed before being evaluated because it threatens dogma ...

I was Catholic at the time and clearly remember the interest in this "artifact." It was not dismissed for that reason. Catholicism teaches that Joseph may have had children from a previous marriage, and the men would have been called Jesus' brothers, so there's no threat to finding an ossuary belonging to one of those "brothers." Also, the same word for "brothers" in the NT is also often used to denote close kinship, cousins, etc. So - so what?

The evidence was quickly dismissed because the ossuary came under nearly immediate scrutiny and there were about a brazillion red flags about the people presenting it and many of their artifacts - red flags which were validated by research.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Beautiful: evidence is dismissed before being evaluated because it threatens dogma ...

Laziness truly knows no bounds.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Don't those closed minds that are locked into a personal belief hate it when the evidence that supports their belief doesn't wash in a court of law, or even among their peers?

Take your snarkiness out on the skeptics and their legal team who failed to prove their case...losers..

Biblical Relic Dealer Acquitted in Forgery Trial

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Date: 14 March 2012

An Israeli antiquities dealer accused of forging biblical and early Jewish relics has been acquitted of the charges, a verdict that is unlikely to dampen the controversy over whether the items, including a box supposedly containing the bones of Jesus' brother, are real.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled today (March 14) that Oded Golan could not be proven guilty of forging inscriptions on a funerary box, or ossuary, and on a stone plaque supposedly from the First Temple, the main temple in ancient Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, the temple was constructed by King Solomon and was renovated in that late ninth century B.C. The plaque allegedly dates from these renovations. If real, the plaque would be the only surviving archaeological evidence of the temple.

As I mentioned in the OP, my faith doesn't rely on this sort of thing anyway, it's just fun to watch the skeptics go bananas on news like this...:danana:

 

[Ben Dhyan]

:biglaugh:

Don't those closed minds that are locked into a personal belief hate it when the evidence that supports their belief doesn't wash in a court of law, or even among their peers?

Take your snarkiness out on the skeptics and their legal team who failed to prove their case...losers..

Biblical Relic Dealer Acquitted in Forgery Trial

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Date: 14 March 2012

An Israeli antiquities dealer accused of forging biblical and early Jewish relics has been acquitted of the charges, a verdict that is unlikely to dampen the controversy over whether the items, including a box supposedly containing the bones of Jesus' brother, are real.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled today (March 14) that Oded Golan could not be proven guilty of forging inscriptions on a funerary box, or ossuary, and on a stone plaque supposedly from the First Temple, the main temple in ancient Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, the temple was constructed by King Solomon and was renovated in that late ninth century B.C. The plaque allegedly dates from these renovations. If real, the plaque would be the only surviving archaeological evidence of the temple.

As I mentioned in the OP, my faith doesn't rely on this sort of thing anyway, it's just fun to watch the skeptics go bananas on news like this...:danana:

 

[Ben Dhyan]

And you continue to miss things. :yes:

What's your reading comprehension like?

Read the post above...

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Laziness truly knows no bounds.

And your reading comprehension too?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

:spam:

 

[gnostic]

Don't those closed minds that are locked into a personal belief hate it when the evidence that supports their belief doesn't wash in a court of law, or even among their peers?

Take your snarkiness out on the skeptics and their legal team who failed to prove their case...losers..

As I mentioned in the OP, my faith doesn't rely on this sort of thing anyway, it's just fun to watch the skeptics go bananas on news like this...:danana:

In case you haven't noticed, angellous_evangellous is a Christian.

If angellous_evangellous is skeptical about the alleged inscription on James' funerary box, then he has good reason for it.

I can't speak for A_E, but I think it is a little premature to say one or another that this is really the funerary box of James. I am not dismissing it yet, but I do find it to be strange (and very suspicious) that Golan had the box (and the alleged First Temple plaque) for 3 decades before he happened to realise its "importance" as a relic. An antique dealer would know that they have something important.

Many antique dealers are not known to deal with not only theft, but commit forgeries. That he was acquitted, doesn't mean that the box actually belong to James.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

After reading the full analyais, there seems little doubt ...

Don't those closed minds that are locked into a personal ...

Someone is projecting ...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I can't speak for A_E, but I think it is a little premature to say ...

Nonsense! Even an agenda-driven moron knows that the inability to prove forgery beyond a reasonable doubt constitutes prima facie proof of authenticity. :yes:

 

[Ben Dhyan]

In case you haven't noticed, angellous_evangellous is a Christian.

If angellous_evangellous is skeptical about the alleged inscription on James' funerary box, then he has good reason for it.

I can't speak for A_E, but I think it is a little premature to say one or another that this is really the funerary box of James. I am not dismissing it yet, but I do find it to be strange (and very suspicious) that Golan had the box (and the alleged First Temple plaque) for 3 decades before he happened to realise its "importance" as a relic. An antique dealer would know that they have something important.

Many antique dealers are not known to deal with not only theft, but commit forgeries. That he was acquitted, doesn't mean that the box actually belong to James.

Friend gnostic, that is my quote you have attributed to angellous_evangellous!

Sure, I have no problem with them being skeptical, obviously there are many among scholars, but their knee jerk reaction to the dismissal of forgery charges is not something that can be considered open minded. Methinks they had already made up their mind, and by dismissing my post and its contents out of hand in the arrogant manner they did is not the behavior of a humble student of truth, but typical of the ignorance associated with those with closed minds.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Friend gnostic, that is my quote you have attributed to angellous_evangellous!

I suspect that you're not used to that generous a compliment.