Bibleufo.com Revisited

Now that the "Jesus tomb" controversy is in full blossom, many Christian apologetics sites are loading the cannons and battening down the hatches. One such site is the subject of a previous entry from me. Overall claiming a Bible-UFO connection, the site previously published a list of ridiculous assumptions and baseless claims in the run-up to Sunday's airing of the Jesus tomb documentary.

The latest round is even more mystifying in its sheer obstinance against sticking to facts. The goal, this time around? Try to connect Simcha Jacobovici, a documentary film-maker who has made films on both the James ossuary and the current Jesus tomb, as much as possible to the fraud charges leveled against the James ossuary owner, Oden Golan, who is now on trial in Israel for forgery.

Apparently, if one makes a film about a genre of subjects, such as archaeological finds with religious or Biblical significance, one is then intrinsically tied to whatever is eventually determined on those finds. In the case of the James ossuary, the only ones claiming it to be a forgery is the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which has not issued a detailed report as to why they consider it a forgery. The Israeli police arrested and charged Golan with forgery and his trial is ongoing.

Thus, BibleUFO.com tries to claim the James ossuary inscription is a complete hoax based on nothing more than an unverified IAA claim and subsequently, any other films by Simcha Jacobovici must ALSO be hoaxes since he made a film about the James ossuary too.

If you feel like the logic is somewhat lacking in the above assessment, don't worry, you aren't alone. It's simply a very twisted and convoluted way of approaching the scholarly assessements of these finds in any manner which protects the integrity of Christian belief.

BibleUFO finished up with this misleading statement, which is damn near an outright lie:

Do we really want to consider this potential history-shattering and Christianity-debunking documentary valid, when it comes from a man, who brought us another fake ossuary just three years ago, without the very closest fine-tooth combing and white glove scrutiny?

Jacobovici didn't bring us the James ossuary and he certainly didn't bring us a "fake" ossuary either. No agency or researcher has ever claimed the ossuary to be anything other than an authentic find from the period in question. The inscription is certainly under debate, with at least two agencies claiming opposite stances. The aforementioned IAA maintains its forgery claim, which the Biblical Archaeology Review officially states the inscription to be genuine. Either way it turns out, Jacobovici remains a documentarian doing his job. Trying to "kill the messenger" in this issue is not just deceptive, but dirty.