Four guests reacted to the claim that Jesus' tomb may have been found. During the first 90 minutes, ancient language scholar Mike Heiser and theological researcher Darrell Bock shared their thoughts. The finding of ossuary boxes from a 1st century tomb is actually "old news," dating back to a 1980 discovery, Heiser pointed out. Bock concurred, calling it old evidence being given a fresh spin. The theory that the boxes once contained the bones of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is "a lot of hype," he said, and though their names were inscribed on the boxes, those names were very common in the population of that era. If it was truly Jesus' family tomb wouldn't it be found in Galilee, he asked. Heiser noted that even the archeologist who made the original discovery was skeptical of the current claims.
In the second 90 minutes, Glenn Kimball, an expert on ancient manuscripts, and investigative mythologist William Henry appeared. Such tomb claims are prolific, Kimball declared, citing Japan, Kashmir, Africa, and Western Europe as other places where Jesus has been said to be buried. Henry mentioned FDR's interest in finding Christ's casket in China. He commended James Cameron and his crew for putting together an interesting investigation, but he believes the real issue worth exploring is the resurrection, the bodily transformation/ascension that is within us all. Kimball noted the story of resurrection dates back much earlier than Jesus, and was, for example, described in the ancient Sumerian records.
Biography:
Mike Heiser received his Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and ancient Semitic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Academic Editor for Logos Bible Software, a company that creates ancient language research software and digital resources for studying the ancient and biblical world. Mike is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Institute for Biblical Research, the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, the American Academy of Religion, and the Evangelical Theological Society. In 2005, Mike was named by Fate Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Ufology.
Biography:
Glenn Kimball has a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Communications. In addition he has successfully completed all course work for a Ph.D. in Communications and passed his doctoral exams, lacking his dissertation. He was the former president of International Exchange School and vice president of two cellular phone companies. Glenn has taught school at Southern Illinois University and was ranked by student evaluations in the top ten instructors at the university. He has been collecting ancient texts since the age of fifteen and is famous for being able to integrate very diverse texts into a contiguous story line.
Due to the censorship of time and doubt, most of the documents and oral stories chronicling the early life of Jesus were destroyed, lost, or forgotten. After 25 years of research, during which Kimball visited museums, Indian tribes, medicine men, and universities, he assembled some of the missing links and unsolved mysteries of Christianity.
Biography:
William Henry is an investigative mythologist and author of ten books on ancient mythology and neo-archaeology with a Stargate twist. By applying the latest theories in science and consciousness to ancient myths of the gates of the illumined gods, including Sumerian, Egyptian and Holy Grail gateway myths, he hopes to uncover the secrets of the guarded, by such groups as the Illuminati. His latest book, Oracle of the Illuminati, states that we are on the verge of rediscovering the sacred science of creating peace on Earth.
