The Discovery Channel’s documentary on the Jesus Tomb aired this evening. Over the next few days, I will be making a series of posts in response to this documentary. The first will focus on the family names that appear in the tomb. The second will discuss the specific name that is the center of their argument: Mariamne, and why they suppose that it is Mary Magdalene. The third will discuss the implications of the patina evidence pulled from the James ossuary.

Finally, if enough interest exists, I will exapand and edit these posts into an e-book, which will be for sale at a modest price. If little interest seems to exist, I will still combine them into an article and post it on my articles page. I am also collecting links to other sites that refute the Jesus Tomb, and will be posting these by the Da Vinci Code refutation sites and the Blasphemy Challenge answer sites.

The first issue that the documentary touches on is the names that appear within the tomb on the inscribed ossuaries. The statement that Jesus son of Joseph, Mary, and Jose (a nickname for Joseph) appearing individually would be nothing of significance. However, seeing all of these names together in the same tomb increases the liklihood that this is Jesus’ family, since according to the gospels His family all had these names.

The film does its best to stick to the sensational, rather than the facts. As the best surviving historical records from the time of Christ, the gospels cannot be discounted, ignored, or left out. To their credit, the film uses the gospels whenever it helps them out, as it does with the name Jose. Indeed, according to Mark 6:3, Jose (or Joses) is one of Jesus’ brothers.

Another ossuary carries the bones of Matia, or Matthew. Nowhere in the gospels is a Matthew referenced as the brother of Jesus. However, in the geneology of Luke 3:23-38, several Matthews (or variants of the name) are noted in the line. The film says that this is Mary’s lineage, and that since the ancestral name “Matthew” was prominent it is therefore likely that she named a son Matthew.

The gospel accounts do not bear this out. As indicated earlier, the gospels are regarded as the best historical testimony to Jesus’ life; therefore, the fact that they do not record Jesus having a brother named Matthew is a major problem. Just moments ago, the film states that the tomb attests to the gospel account. Now, they stretch the gospel to support their conclusions. Sherlock Holmes stated that conclusions must support facts, facts cannot be twisted to support conclusions. It seems clear that this documentary is not sticking to the facts that are presented.