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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Massachusetts USA |
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| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Feb 26th, 2007 02:34 pm |
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Here we go again. Just after putting up with the Da Vinci Code, here comes Titanic director James Cameron with a "documentary" for the Discovery Channel that purports to tell the world that Jesus' bones have been found.
Cameron should stick to maritime disasters such as the Titanic and Pearl Harbor (knock offs of "A Night to Remember" and "Tora Tora Tora," respectively.) This joke of a documentary is scheduled to run on March 4th.
What is it with the Discovery Channel and its group of docu-channels, including the National Geographic Channel, that it feels obligated to engage in intellectual and financial self-flagellation? Hasn't it taken enough of a pounding from the so-called Judas "gospel" run by the once-proud National Geographic Channel to be wary of such scams?
Most of the viewing public has by now grown weary of such outlandish claims lacking any credible shred of truth. Apparently, not Hollywood's docudrama, infotainment and fraudumentary cottage industries.
Even Satan's given up on trying to "prove" the existence of physiological "remains" of Jesus after 2,000 years. What do these contemporary Indiana Jones wannabes think they even have over on Satan no less? He'd be the first one to take advantage of this nonsense. Then again, he's probably a lot smarter than many pseudo theologians nowadays and he's more than willing to sit back and allow them to make jackasses out of themselves for his sake.
About the only thing missing in this ridiculous farce is the terrifically funny horse racing "commentator" played by Wm. H. Macy in "Seabiscuit." If Cameron had any brains, he'd pay Macy to replay that role to give this boneheaded film any shred of credibility.
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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CajunRick
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Posted: Mon Feb 26th, 2007 02:52 pm |
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Steven Barrett wrote: Here we go again. Just after putting up with the Da Vinci Code, here comes Titanic director James Cameron with a "documentary" for the Discovery Channel that purports to tell the world that Jesus' bones have been found.
It's actually even worse. They claim to have found 10 caskets containing the bones of Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdelene, one of Jesus' "brothers", and who knows who else.
Obviously this will turn out to be a fraud. It is interesting that these caskets were found 30 years ago, but not publicized until somebody figured out how to make money on it.
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1398 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Feb 26th, 2007 02:58 pm |
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Yep, I read the part about the ten boxes of bones. So, I suppose they're going to play the mother of all shell games with nine bogus "shells" or bone boxes to fool the public with. Anything new to make a buck.
I would've mentioned the ten bone boxes, but it just didn't seem right to spoil the readers' fun by revealing even more "fascinating" tidbits of "facts" to chew on or laugh out loud at.
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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JasPax
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| Joined: | Wed Nov 22nd, 2006 |
| Location: | North Carolina USA |
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| First Name: | James | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Episcopal to Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Feb 26th, 2007 05:46 pm |
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You are correct with the "here we go again."
I suppose the Discovery Channel will have commentary by the "Historical Jesus" crowd who do the Mysteries of the Bible Series. I am always confused by their use of this title (mysteries) because those bright people tell you quite plainly that there is no mystery at all.
It's just one more fraud to confuse people. The heresies never end!
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James
"Abide in me, and I in you..." John 15:4
"He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." John 6:56
RSV-2CE
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 1398 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Feb 27th, 2007 11:02 am |
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And what an amazing coincidence, the usual suspects ("historical Jesus" clique) never fail to haul out the Baghdad Bob of pinheaded theologians: John Dominic Crossan.
If the Discovery dingbats don't tap Crossan, you can count on ABC's Elizabeth Vargas to find him.
I'm still putting more money on the credibility of the horse racing "commentator" played by Wm H Macy in Seabiscuit than anything put out lately by National Geographic and Discovery Channels and of course, to round out the unholy trinity of the three theological stooges, the "historical Jesus" bunch.
Any more of these "discoveries" I'll be wondering if Mel Brooks is really floating trial balloons for a new comedy. Only he could surpass the hysterical Jesus crowd and the clueless discoverers.
We ought to also file this buffoonery under a Lettermanesque "bottom ten" list for intellectual activity.
My wise Protestant boss always loves to point out the problem with some "intellectuals" and their ever-gullible followers, "Some people's education surpasses their actual level of intelligence."
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Dona Moyer
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| Joined: | Thu Mar 1st, 2007 |
| Location: | Lafayette, Indiana USA |
| Posts: | 6 |
| First Name: | Dona | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | lifelong Protestant, became Roman Catholic 2006 |
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 12:02 pm |
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| Wow, I've been absent from this forum for a long time. A lot happening in my life. I even had to re-register. Anyway, once I started hearing about this new 'documentary', I began to wonder what my old friends on CHN were saying about it. The really ignorant thing that I heard James Cameron say in his press conference about the documentary was his statement that this is the first actual physical evidence of Jesus' existence. I just wonder if he really believes this. His basis seems to be the names on the sarcophagi. (not sure about that spelling) What he fails to comment on is the fact that in the first couple of centuries the most common names in Christianity were Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. They remain among the most popular names in certain Christian cultures today. It might have been more believable if the name of Jesus had been given as 'Jesus, the Christ, son of Joseph the Carpenter.' I'm not sure though if this is really just an attempt to make money or if it is yet another step in the secular takeover of American culture. What do you think?
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Steven Barrett
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| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 01:39 pm |
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Dona,
One would think that Cameron might've had enough sense to save himself from a lot of embarrassment and ridicule by simply reading Acts and the Nicene Creed.
On the other hand, I have to admit that some people out in LaLa Land have a well developed and hard to break habit of never letting facts get in the way of making a film or "point" that'll also bring a lot of bucks. Perhaps Cameron figured since Al Bore got away with it, (and bagged an Oscar, no less), "Why not me?"
Those clowns on the left coast never fail to trip my bullcrap detector alarm.
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 1398 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 02:47 pm |
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At the risk of picking on this bone too long (Oh, awful pun!), I want to share some of Chuck Colson's column about Cameron, e/a. " Sinking Credibility
The Media and the Bones of Jesus March 1, 2007 (Colson's "Breakpoint" column.)
This is classic Colson:
". . . Archaeologist Amos Kloner, who "did extensive work and research on this very tomb and its ossuaries" ten years ago, said "it's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever . . . " Lawrence Steigler of Harvard told National Public Radio that Cameron's claim "sounds rather preposterous."
When even Harvard and NPR call your bit of revisionism "preposterous," you know that you are way out on a limb. Then again, Cameron is far from the first person to dash his credibility to pieces against the stone that was rolled away that first Easter.
Like others, his ultimate explanation for what happened that Sunday morning is a cover-up. Like others, he has no explanation for why the Apostles would be willing to die for what they presumably knew to be a lie. I know a thing or two about cover-ups and conspiracies: No conspirator willingly dies for what he knows to be untrue—or, in the case of Watergate, even go to jail. The closest men around the president of the United States testified against him to save their own skins. You're going to tell me the Apostles maintained their story at the cost of their lives? Impossible.
What's worse than Cameron's "preposterous" claims is the credulous reaction of the media.
At the website Get Religion (which analyzes the media's coverage of religion), Daniel Pulliam put it this way: Many "news organizations [are] reporting [Cameron's] words as gospel truth." He's right. A headline in the New York Times's blog read "Raising the Titanic, Sinking Christianity?" Time followed, proclaiming that "this time, the ship [Cameron's] sinking is Christianity."
While Newsweek magazine did manage to quote Cameron's critics, as Pulliam pointed out, "their words [were treated] as equal to that" of the moviemaker—who, by the way, admits he's not a "theologist or an archaeologist," just a filmmaker.
Pulliam is right when he says that "at this point" the coverage of this story "is an embarrassment to reporters." And they wonder why they are held in low esteem among believers? ..."
With apologies to Casablanca's Vichy France's Inspector Louis (terrifically played by Claude Rains) - "I'm shocked" to learn that reporters have a low reputation within us endowed with a special religious DNA. Being a former reporter, I can't say I'm shocked. Not in the least.
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 05:07 pm |
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Steven Barrett wrote: Being a former reporter, I can't say I'm shocked. Not in the least.
I am also a former reporter, and I must say that the most shocking thing about this whole story is that so many people are shocked.
Reporters typically latch on to an "expert" and believe everything he says. If he sounds credible and is willing to state something as fact (regardless of whether or not it truly is), most of the media will be buffaloed.
And most of us will believe it. In all my time reporting on the radio, I never had to issue a correction or retraction, or apologize for a story, because I always made sure to get it right the first time. Still, three or four times a week I was told I had something wrong because it was reported differently in the newspaper. They actually had a daily "corrections" column. Still, to most people I was wrong.
Such is life.
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