Exploring the Bible

 In 1980, construction workers clearing ground for an apartment complex in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem struck rock. They had accidentally uncovered the entrance to an ancient burial cave. Inside, archaeologists found ten limestone ossuaries (bone boxes) dating to the first century. The artifacts were cataloged, the bones were reburied according to Jewish religious law, and life went on. But twenty-seven years later, the world’s media exploded. A 2007 documentary produced by James Cameron, The Lost Tomb of Jesus , claimed that this unassuming cave was actually the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. They argued that the ossuaries contained the remains of Jesus, his mother Mary, and even a "son" named Judah. If true, this discovery would dismantle the central tenet of Christianity: the Resurrection. If the bones of Jesus are in a box in Jerusalem, the tomb was never empty. However, when the sensationalism fades and the cold, hard facts of archaeology and history...

In the Gospel of John, he writes about the burial place, the tomb, of Jesus. John records that it was a carved tomb that had never been used and was located in a garden. “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.”   John 19:41 Now, almost two thousand years later, researchers have discovered evidence that supports the accuracy of the Gospel story. With the rare opportunity to excavate beneath the floors of the ‘ Church of the Holy Sepulchre’ , archaeologists have made a rather startling discovery. Professor Francesca Romana Stasolla led the team of researchers. The team was allowed to excavate materials from deep beneath the church's current floor. The archaeobotanical analysis found a large number of preserved seeds and pollen from Olive trees and grapevines. Not only were seeds and pollens found, but the researchers also found that small dividing walls had been constructed and dirt hauled in t...