The Lost Tomb of Jesus

How dare you ignorant people dig up remains of the dead, no matter who it is! Have you ever heard of "rest in peace"? Doesn't anyone have a conscience anymore? I'll pray you atheist are not processed to damnation.

This is a means as to make money of the disceased, why can't you leave well enough alone! How would you like it if someone pried into your buriel site and played with your bones. This was suppose to be a private matter... none of your Business! Why can't you scientists leave stuff alone! Money? I bet y'all are a bunch of atheist and have no consideration for the dead, or alive! Just trying to make a Buck!!

Interesting how some people, generally the ones that treat Atheism as a religion, tend to claim that anything is 100% false if it's mentioned in the Bible... Right down to the existence of the Babylonians.

And you see some of that attitude in some of the other reviews.

And you also see the Gospel is 100% true in some of the reviews.

All I'm going to say is that there is a lot of slight of hand when it comes to names in this and that is not at all how history should be conducted. Jesus with a mother named Mary and a father named Joseph...

... it kind of reminds me of my grandfather who, whenever visiting a place like Little Italy, the Ukrainian Village, yadda, yadda, yadda, culturally ethnic, would yell out one of the most common names just to see how many heads would turn.

... here it's slight of hand using the most common names to make it seem rare.

So, this is 100% balderdash.

However, it is entertaining conspiracy theory ala Ancient Aliens balderdash. And that is what matters, the fun conjuncture, the "What if" that is just enough to make you go "hmmmm"

And that makes for an enjoyable watch. And that is the point, to be entertaining.

This is (of course) a very controversial film. I am, however, very disappointed in the Christian scholars and lay persons alike. They are too quick to accept passages and quote them as fact and proof of a historical Jesus, even if scholars and the Catholic Church admitted it to be spurious, such as a passage found in later copies of the works of the historian Josephus.

Or other archaeological finds, that have been used to prove a historical Jesus, such as a burial box that is assumed to be that of the High Priest Caiaphas (who, according to the New Testament tried Jesus, circa 30 AD.) Caiaphas' burial box only mentioned the name Caiaphas, with no reference to him being a priest much less associated with Jesus. But the Christian community quickly and willingly accepted this as proof that Jesus lived and was tried by Caiaphas.

Christians are too quick to accept weak evidence while promoting the evidence as conclusive proof, if they feel it supports there view and belief. But will disregard and even bash science and archeology if it contradicts or disagrees with their religious belief.

I am amazed how many people I have spoken with about this documentary that instantly stated it was fabricated evidence to simply attack the Christian faith, and they did not even watch the program.

Ultimately, the bottom line will be for you to decide. Either the evidence is real or it is not. And if it is real, you still may not have anything to fear concerning your faith. As Paul said in I Corinthians,

I Corinthians 15:50, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;"

If flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, then the bones of Jesus and his burial box is very possibly still here on earth. So think about this, if this is real, this is the most conclusive proof ever discovered that the Jesus of the New Testament actually lived.

This is a must see documentary.

Lost Tomb of Jesus, The (2007)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This controversial documentary claims that a buried family tomb that was discovered in Jerusalem is in fact the tomb of Jesus and his relatives. That's pretty much all you have to say to start up a heated debate among people who either don't want to believe this is the tomb fearing that it could cause people to question their faith or the other side wanting to use it as proof that there entire faith is false. Look, I grew up in a church as my grandfather was a preacher and I've heard from countless different religions in my lifetime. At the same time I tend to look at myself as rather open-minded so I can accept science, technology and new findings. I'm not going to sit here and take a side in this heated debate because I'm not an expert on any of the subjects covered here. I'm also not one that's going to get offended by anyone's point of view even if it goes against mine. What I can say about THE LOST TOMB OF Jesus is that it's a very entertaining documentary that kept me glued to my seat as the story was unfolding up to its conclusion. I think the film works well as a "film" because they tell the story in such a way that you really feel as if you're watching some mystery or adventure film unfold. The movie manages to contain some nice drama and especially towards the end when the main goal is trying to figure out where the lost tombs are and to see if they can dig up any more evidence. Again, depending on your point of view you might not like what they discover or you might even agree with it but feel that there weren't enough experts giving the testimony. Whatever way you see it, the film at least manages to be very entertaining, which was the most important thing for me.

This glorified discovery channel documentary, part biblical study, part treasure hunt, all misappropriated, might have sat well in it's television origins but falls flat as a feature film. Right from first glance of it's cheesy looking cover art, one may cast doubts upon the integrity behind this serious subject, shown on front case relegating the search for Jesus's tomb to a generic action font that looks more National Treasure or Tomb Raider then any informed debate and examination of the historical burial site should. Such is the underhanded way in which the entire proceedings revolve.

More curious child then worthy researcher, Simcha Jacobovici's explorations come across as self-indulgent while his research comes across as manipulative. For all the fascinating revelations this filmmaker tries to impart on his viewers through supposed evidence, a flood of repetitious statements reiterating the same research and findings over and over proves The Lost Tomb of Jesus has very little information to back up the bloated, albeit entrancing claims. What this amounts to is a very frustrating attempt to beat the audience over the head with the same small factual evidence in support of this tomb's authenticity, which ironically detracts from it. While tirelessly linking together many of these mini-coffins found together to support the Jesus of Nazareth theory, this research forsakes a well-rounded approach to continuously pursue this romanticized archeologist's singular obsession. There may be some impressive factual data which helps shed some light on many traditional dogmatic Christian-held beliefs, but essentially the shady nature of this project made it come across as merely an exploitation piece, financed at a time when The Da Vinci Code was all the rage.

In the end, the cheesy cover art was right. Despite my appreciation for documentary form, The Lost Tomb of Jesus takes an always interesting topic and turns it into overlong and unvaried geriatric adventure hunt, substituting any relevance and sacredness for the uninspired motivations behind this team. By the time these tomb raiders have finished their explorations, reluctantly having to stop research because of social demands, viewers are left with the sense the director was insistent on forging this mystery whether it was there to begin with or not. There are a few genuinely potent moments where the halls of history come marching through this documentary in unassuming ways, but all the decoding, exploring, and theorizing in the world still left this misguided vanity piece in an uneasy void of apathetic response.