Nature of "First Century Christians" revealed in Jerusalem Cave

[ilkhani'tus]

Has this (http://www.leaderu.com/theology/burialcave.html) been posted anywhere else here?

If you know the feeling of genuine excitement about the workings of the Lord, then you will be ecstatic to learn that archaeologists have found first-century dedications with the names Jesus, Matthias and "Simon Bar-Yonah" ("Peter son of Jonah") along with testimonials that bear direct witness to the Savior.
A "head stone", found near the entrance to the first century catacomb, is inscribed with the sign of the cross.

Yeah. Have to love that unbiased view...

[ChrisChillin]

If there is any validity to this, then legitimate Christian scholars would have picked up on it.

[shunyadragon]

Has this (http://www.leaderu.com/theology/burialcave.html) been posted anywhere else here?

Yeah. Have to love that unbiased view...
The biggest problem is the fictional nature of the statement.

[Sacrificial Ram]

Has this (http://www.leaderu.com/theology/burialcave.html) been posted anywhere else here?



Yeah. Have to love that unbiased view...

Well, there are some problems with that article. First of all, yes, that says that
Christians were there fairly earliy in their existance, but what that article
does NOT bother to say is that there are indications (In my opinion) that
during the timeframe that they where in the catacombs, the early Christian
apparently carved Christian symbols into tombs that were already there.

One thing that was not noted is that 5 of the coins came from a single tomb of a young woman that was in her late teens. These coins all were of a style
that dated from 15 or 16 C.E. (Those were the dates the coins were minted).
IF it was just one coin,that wouldn't mean much, but having all 5 coins from the same date in the same tomb indicates to me that this particular tomb was
created in a year or two of the minting of those coins. This tomb had a lot of
Christian symbols on it. This indicates to me that it is extremely possible that much of the Christian symbols were added to the tombs later, and were not part of the original burials. Unfortuneatly, I can't find a translation of the original work by the person who wrote about the tombs (It was supposed to be about a 20 page treatie written in the late 1800's, in Italian). Reading the original work would make an evaluation much easier. However, it seems not to have made much impact from an archeological point of view.

Because of the questions involved in the first centry tombs, I think it would be safe to say that early christians inhabited that site, but it seems likely that it would be hard to pin down WHEN exactly they started using it. The
item that I would look for would be Christian symbols that were discovered in the interior of the tombs, rather than the exterior writing on them.

[kofh2u]

Has this (http://www.leaderu.com/theology/burialcave.html) been posted anywhere else here?



Yeah. Have to love that unbiased view...


It may not establish anything more definite than that the supposed "myth" of Christ had very early roots in a close proximity to 32AD.

Many Anti-theist challange Christians to produce non- bible historical support the existence of Jesus. Many counter Chrisian proseltyzing with such demands, anti-Christs in the mould of today's anti-semetic non-holocausters.

So, biased or not, those who see t is as direct evidence of Jesus are at least ever closer than before.

This discover was followed just recently with another, though.

The cave of John the Baptist adds more concrete evidence that scripture is a factual report.

How does this cave story impact the tombstone story except to augment the inferences?

[jccampione]

When you see things like this:

Also found in the same area was another monogram inscription comprised of the Greek letters Iota, Chi, and Beta, which is translated: "Jesus Christ the helper [or redeemer]."
Then you know it has no credibility. Three letters do not get "translated" into three words.

Were these actual findings then they would have been blockbuster publications with scholars falling all over themselves, whereas the author here pretends these were "forgotten" discoveries.

No references to the actual publications, and this is a very, very big red flag.

[shunyadragon]

When you see things like this:


Then you know it has no credibility. Three letters do not get "translated" into three words.

Were these actual findings then they would have been blockbuster publications with scholars falling all over themselves, whereas the author here pretends these were "forgotten" discoveries.

No references to the actual publications, and this is a very, very big red flag.
Very, very true. The same with coral encrusted chariot wheels in the Red Sea.


You get Five pearls for this one!

[Sacrificial Ram]

It may not establish anything more definite than that the supposed "myth" of Christ had very early roots in a close proximity to 32AD.

Many Anti-theist challange Christians to produce non- bible historical support the existence of Jesus. Many counter Chrisian proseltyzing with such demands, anti-Christs in the mould of today's anti-semetic non-holocausters.

So, biased or not, those who see t is as direct evidence of Jesus are at least ever closer than before.

This discover was followed just recently with another, though.

The cave of John the Baptist adds more concrete evidence that scripture is a factual report.

How does this cave story impact the tombstone story except to augment the inferences?
Well, the cave of John the Baptist shows that it is likely there were baptists, but it says nothing about scriptures being a factual report, any
more than evidence of the Civil war points to "Gone with the Wind" being
a factual report.

[jccampione]

Very, very true. The same with coral encrusted chariot wheels in the Red Sea.


You get Five pearls for this one!
You are very kind, Shunyadragon.

Thank you.