Quo Vadis?

Did anyone watch the Discovery Channel special last Sunday about The Lost Tomb of Jesus? I am very much of two minds about the entire subject. I am fascinated by anything archaeological that either tends to prove or disprove Bible-recounted events. But I hate sloppy reasoning and hype even more.

The one fact that no one either in the "documentary" or in the following panel discussion acknowledged was that no matter how good a statistical probability is, it's still merely a statistic. It is most emphatically NOT proof.

Remember, and as Mark Twain so cogently noted, "[t]here are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

A 1 in 600 chance that the tomb in question was not that of the Biblical Jesus and his earthly family means that there is still a real possibility that said tomb is not Jesus's. The closest anyone came to recognizing this is when the statistician who compiled the statistics reminded everyone that his calculations are only as good as the assumptions he used are true and complete.

I will continue to follow developments and comment on them as the need arises. It truly is fascinating from every angle--not to mention that the only person on the discussion panel who had any trouble accepting that the tomb might truly be Jesus's own was the Protestant fundamentalist. He kept arguing that the tomb couldn't be Christ's because then the Biblical accounts of the Resurrection would be incorrect. The Catholic priest on the panel had a much more nuanced and mature thought-process in his interpretation. For him, if it does turn out to be Christ's tomb, it means our understanding of the Bible may have been lacking, not the Word of God itself.

But the university professor had the best take on the entire subject: she noted that no one should accept anything passively. Christians have a duty to use their God-given critical thinking skills to evaluate the quality of the science behind any claims made about how an archaeological find may change the basis of their faith.

Ted Koppel did yeoman's work moderating an often-contentious group of panelists--the most contentious of whom were the documentary film-makers themselves. They just didn't want to hear that there possibly could be any question as to the accuracy of their interpreation of their finds. They obviously forgot that statistics are not proof.