TAYLORS, S.C. (BP)–There has been a plethora of news articles in past days about a documentary detailing the finding of several ossuaries in the suburban areas of Jerusalem. Although most scholars reject the claim, a handful say these funeral boxes contain the remains of persons who went by such biblical names as Jesus, Mary and Jose.
It’s interesting to note that these boxes were found in 1980 and only now in 2007 are making the massive “contribution” to biblical knowledge. The boxes contained some kind of human remains and most had inscriptions in Aramaic on the outside.
The interest is interesting to me. While many, on the left, have doubted and denied the very existence of Jesus at all, those same persons now are jumping on the belief that Jesus was real, but that He was only human and did not rise bodily from the grave. I believe the only thing that the discovery of these ossuaries proves is that there were many persons named Jesus and Mary during first-century Israeli history. In fact, the names were not rare prior to the time of Jesus.
Could it be that people are always looking for an opportunity to disregard and to deny biblical truth? Why is this so? Jesus warned us that it would be so. Jesus told us to beware of many false teachers who would come.
I am convinced that our response to this kind of story must be one of honest examination of the truth. However, along with an honest examination of the truth must be a desire to live out the life-changing message of Christ. We know that He is alive! We know this not only from Scripture, but from the fact that He is transforming our lives even today. We have tremendous scriptural, archaeological and historical evidence as to the veracity of Jesus and His resurrection. What the world needs more than anything now is to see that truth lived out in the lives of everyday believers. Let us show the life of Christ in how we live!
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Frank Page is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. Visit his website at www.sbc.net/PresidentsPage.
