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<title>RevelationIndia - Jesus Alive</title>
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<BR><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size = 2 color="#cc0000">
<font size="4">JESUS LIVED : Oldest evidence discovered by Archeologists
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An unadorned limestone burial box apparently bought 15 years ago on the
Jerusalem antiquities market may be the oldest archeological evidence of
Jesus and the first object ever found that relates to a member of his family,
archelogical journal announced.
<BR><BR>
An inscription on a burial artifact that was recently discovered in Israel
appears to provide the oldest archaeological evidence of Jesus Christ, according
to an expert who dates it to three decades after the crucifixion. </FONT>
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<B>It reads "Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui diYeshua," which translates as
"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus".</B>
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An inscription on a burial artifact in Aramaic Reading</FONT>
<FONT face="verdana" size=1 color=#cc0300> "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."
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Writing in Biblical Archeology Review, Andre Lemaire, a specialist in
ancient inscriptions at France's Practical School of Higher Studies, says it is
very probable the find is an authentic reference to Jesus of Nazareth.
The Archeology magazine planned to announce the discovery at a news
conference Monday.
<BR><BR>
The box is about 20 inches long, 10 inches wide and 12 inches tall, widening from
bottom to top, much like a windowbox. The 7.5 inch long inscription is written in
Aramaic, the language spoken in first century Palestine and Syria.
<BR><BR>
That Jesus existed is not doubted by scholars, but what the world knows about
him comes almost entirely from the New Testament. No physical artifact from the
first century related to Jesus has been discovered and verified. Lemaire
believes that has changed, though questions remain, such as where the piece with
the inscription has been for more than 19 centuries.
<BR><BR>The inscription, in
the Aramaic language, appears on an empty ossuary, or limestone burial box for
bones. It reads: "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Lemaire dates the
object to 63 A.D.
<BR><BR>Lemaire says the writing style, and the fact that Jews
practiced ossuary burials only between 20 B.C. and A.D. 70, puts the inscription
squarely in the time of Jesus and James, who led the early church in Jerusalem.
<BR><BR>All three names were commonplace, but he estimates that only 20 Jameses
in Jerusalem during that era would have had a father named Joseph and a brother
named Jesus.
<BR><BR>Moreover, naming the brother as well as the father on an
ossuary was "very unusual," Lemaire says. There's only one other known example
in Aramaic. Thus, this particular Jesus must have had some unusual role or fame
- and Jesus of Nazareth certainly qualified, Lemaire concludes.
<BR><BR>It's
impossible, however, to prove absolutely that the Jesus named on the box was
Jesus of Nazareth.
<BR><BR>The Archeology magazine says two scientists with the
Israeli government's Geological Survey conducted a detailed microscopic
examination of the surface patina and the inscription. They reported last month
that there is "no evidence that might detract from the authenticity."
<BR><BR>The ossuary's owner also is requiring Lemaire to shield his identity, so
the box's current location was not revealed. <BR><BR>James is depicted as Jesus'
brother in the Gospels and head of the Jerusalem church in the Book of Acts and
Paul's epistles.
<BR><BR>The first century Jewish historian Josephus recorded
that "the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, James by name," was stoned to
death as a Jewish heretic in A.D. 62. If his bones were placed in an ossuary
that would have occurred the following year, dating the inscription around A.D.
63.
<BR><BR>
Pilgrims who travel to Israel to walk where Jesus walked may soon have something
new to connect them with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
<BR><BR>
Scholars have recently examined a box carved out of soft limestone, made to hold
the bones of a first-century Jew. On its side is carved an Aramaic inscription,
"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."
<BR><BR>
The bone box, known as an ossuary, is in the hands of a private collector in
Jerusalem. But its existence, revealed in a news conference today in Washington,
D.C., has already generated a buzz among archaeologists and biblical scholars.
<BR><BR>
The news conference was convened by Biblical Archaeological Review, which reports
"an archaeological landmark" in its November-December issue. The ossuary was not
uncovered in an archaeological excavation, but apparently surfaced on the antiquities
market. This means that potentially important evidence for evaluating the box is
missing.
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<B><FONT face=verdana size=3 color=#990099>
<CENTER>JESUS AND JAMES</CENTER>
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An expert on ancient inscriptions is claiming that the wording on a
first-century burial box - "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" - refers to
Jesus of Nazareth.
<BR><BR>If the artifact is authentic, it raises two questions:
Who was James? And did Jesus have a brother and other siblings?
<BR><BR>The
Gospels call James the "brother" of Jesus, and other New Testament books say he
later led the Jerusalem church.
<BR><BR>The second question is trickier and
involves a three-sided church debate.
<BR><BR>Protestants traditionally read the
New Testament as meaning Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin and then had
James, three other sons and at least two daughters with Joseph.
<BR><BR>In accord
with church fathers writing after the New Testament era, the Eastern Orthodox
and Roman Catholics teach Mary's "perpetual virginity," which means she and
Joseph never had marital relations.
<BR><BR>The Orthodox think Joseph had James
by his first wife, and after she died he married Mary - whose only child was the
virgin-born Jesus. Thus, James was Jesus' stepbrother.
<BR><BR>Catholics commonly
hold that James was merely Jesus' close relative, perhaps the son of Joseph's
brother Clopas or a cousin on Mary's side. The new inscription, if authentic,
would rule out that option.
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