James Ossury is a fake

Abaddon

The James Ossury, and another piece (a inscription relating to repairs to the temple) have today been declared fakes by the body of scientists tasked by the Israeli Antiquities Authority; no URL reference, this is off the radio (BBC World Service).

greven

The WT is not going to like this: they had an article in the WT about it a few weeks ago....

logansrun

This is big news

logansrun

I've tried to edit my post but something is wrong. Well, here is an AP article I found. I hope this works better. Experts: Ossuary inscription a fake By STEVE WEIZMAN

Israeli Consul General Meir Romem inspects damage to the James Ossuary during its media unveiling at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada in this Nov. 14, 2002 file picture. (AP Photo/Frank Gunn)

JERUSALEM (AP) - An inscription purporting to link an ancient burial box to Jesus' brother James is a modern day forgery with no link to New Testament figures, Israel's Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

The ossuary, used to bury human bones in ancient times, had been hailed by some in the archeology world as an extraordinary discovery. The box read "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."

In the Bible, Matthew 13:55 refers to James as Jesus' brother. He later became head of the church in Jerusalem, according to the New Testament.

Israeli officials on Wednesday described the inscription, as well as another purported archeological marvel, the "Yoash inscription," as "forgeries."

"The inscriptions, possibly inscribed in two separate stages, are not authentic," the Antiquities Authority said in a statement.

The James inscription cut through the ancient limestone box's patina, a thin coating acquired with age, the experts said, proving the writing was not ancient.

"The inscription appears new, written in modernity by someone attempting to reproduce ancient written characters," the Antiquities Authority statement said.

The officials reached their conclusions after intensive exams by several committees of experts, the authority said.

Oded Golan, the Israeli owner of the ossuary, dismissed the officials' findings.

"I am certain that the committee is wrong regarding its conclusions," Golan said Wednesday. He had previously complained that the committee had "preconceived notions."

The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Jerusalem police launched separate investigations into the two items after Golan offered one for sale.

The Yoash inscription is a shoebox-sized tablet from about the ninth century BC inscribed with 15 lines of ancient Hebrew with instructions for maintaining the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

When it was first disclosed two years ago, it caused a stir in the archeological world, with some experts calling it a rare confirmation of biblical narrative.

But a biblical language professor, Avigdor Horowitz, who served on one of the investigating committees, said not one inscribed passage on the tablet was without a linguistic mistake.

"The person who wrote the inscription was a person who thinks in modern Hebrew," he told a news conference in Jerusalem. "A person thinking in biblical Hebrew would see it as ridiculous."

The existence of the James ossuary was disclosed last November at a news conference in Washington by the Biblical Archaeology Review.

Israel Antiquities Authority head Shuka Dorfman said the ossuary itself was not examined because its authenticity as an ancient burial box was not in question. The practice of reburying Jewish remains ended around AD 70.

"The box is original; probably we have in our storeroom hundreds of the same or similar ossuaries. The inscription is false," he said.

The artifact had been valued at $1.35 million to $2.7 million Cdn, based on the claimed link with Jesus.

Robert Eisenman, who wrote a book on Jesus' brother, studied the box and said the writing on the box, written in two different hands, along with the artifact's sudden appearance, made its authenticity questionable.

"I always considered the timing of the James ossuary very odd and worrisome," he said. "There was a spate of books on James and his importance in 1997 and 1998, then the box appeared."

The ossuary, exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum in November and December 2002, developed cracks en route to Toronto from Israel. The cracks extended through the latter parts of the inscription, now deemed a forgery. The museum's conservation staff made efforts to redress the damage.

Golan said he bought the James ossuary in the mid-1970s from an antiquities dealer in the Old City of Jerusalem for about $270 Cdn, but he said he could not remember the dealer's name.

Antiquities inspectors, who have questioned several Old City dealers, were also checking suspicions Golan bought the ossuary only a few months ago. In such a case, those involved in the sale could be prosecuted for dealing in stolen goods.

The police investigation into how the box was acquired will continue regardless of the committee's findings.

Dorfman said the antiquities experts made a purely scientific examination of the artifacts, without trying to prove or disprove any allegations against Golan.

IslandWoman

This is absolutely amazing.

Not the claim of forgery but the fact that even after 2000 years the Jewish, Christian, and Gentile "experts" are still debating the veracity of evidence proclaimed by some to prove the existence of Jesus of Nazareth!

Amazing, simply amazing. It would seem this could go on forever or at least until the real "Jesus" comes along and sets things straight.

I wonder though, if he came again would he just turn around in disgust and leave mankind to take care of their own sorry mess they have created despite the efforts of so many like: Zarathustra, Jesus, Paul, Gandhi, E. Roosevelt, T. Jefferson, A. Lincoln, T. Paine, J. Locke and so many many others, who have striven with their life's blood to drive some common sense and love into mankind?

I think "Jesus" would want to turn around in disgust and plead with his Father to just let him be at peace and not have to come back to such stupidity and greed as is found on earth today among many of the powerful and the wealthy who control the reins of both government and religion and also those that prefer to live for the moment regardless of the consequences for future generations not to mention their own little children.

Yes, I could easily envision him taking the living children, both young and old, to himself. Taking all those on earth who truly love and who are truly his own, and leaving the greedy to their own fate.

Makes me salivate just to think of it.

IW

No Apologies

IW,

Most of those individuals you mention never claimed to be a divine being with supernatural powers, sent here by God as mankind's only hope. That's why no one gets too bent out of shape over whether they were "real" or not.

Just a thought...

IslandWoman

No Apologies,

That's why no one gets too bent out of shape over whether they were "real" or not.

Of course you are right. But to be bent out of shape for 2000 years over whether or not Jesus existed is a bit much, imo. This is the problem with blind faith, there is no proof so the "discussion" will be endless, without firm resolution. Of course the true believers need no proof as the disbelievers also need no proof of their own position in order to continue holding it, maybe it's more of a "the winner takes all" kind of thing.

IW

yxl1

Greven said "The WT is not going to like this: they had an article in the WT about it a few weeks ago...."

Greven

Any chance of a scan of the article? Or a least let us know which issue it was in

James Ossury is a fake

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