I know I’ve probably beaten this topic to death, but I can’t resist. Here’s the best summary I’ve found yet…

Cherry Picking Casket Evidence: 45 Problems with “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” (PDF document)

The golden rule of drawing is “Carry a sketchbook with you wherever you go”. Following that rule just got a little easier.

Today I was at my local Barnes and Noble, and they had a neat little Moleskine display. For those who don’t know, Moleskine (pronounced mo-lay-skee-nay) are luxurious high-quality journals and sketchbooks produced in Europe, and they are a big fad right now in certain art circles. But for good reason. Most moleskine’s are nice, smooth drawing paper mounted with a classy cover, a cloth bookmark sown in, and an elastic band attached which protects the sketchbook by holding it closed (or open). Also, the pages lie flat when opened for easy scanning.

Like most small sketchbooks, they fit nicely in the large pockets of my winter jacket but are a bit clunky to carry around during the warmer months.

So I was delighted to see that my local Barnes and Noble now sells what I’ll call “moleskine minis”. You can get a package of three small, 64-page sketchbooks for about $7.00. 192 pages for $7 is not bad as art supplies go, and the books are small enough (3.5″ x 5.5″) to fit in the pocket of my jeans but not too small to do a decent sketch on each page.

Now I have no excuse not to draw whenever I’ve got a little down time. And I couldn’t be happier.

PS–If you browse the moleskine website, the sketchbooks are listed under “notebooks”. Instead of sketchbooks they’re called “plain notebooks”. Go figure.

The upcoming assignment for DrawerGeeks is “Sandman” (as in the Marvel comics villain from the upcoming Spiderman 3 movie). I don’t know much about the character, other than that he can turn himself into sand, so this silly doodle is what I came up with.

My wife and I just finished watching this movie. Truth be told I wasn’t looking forward to it, but ten minutes into the movie I was hooked. If you have never seen it, go rent it now! This is one of the best films I have seen all year. I mean it–this movie will captivate you.

Did you know that in 1994 almost a million people were massacred in Rwanda? Neither did I. The event received very little press here in America, which is a shame. In fact, the world by and large stood by and did nothing as the bodies piled up. This film tells the true story of a shrewd and courageous hotel manager who sheltered over 1,200 refugees in his high-class hotel while the country around him spiralled into chaos.

Surprisingly, the movie conveys the gut-wrenching horrors of war with hardly any actual “blood and guts” depicted on screen. The film also gives us something we rarely see from Hollywood these days: a true hero to admire.

I tend to be somewhat finicky with my taste in movies. So believe me when I say, this movie is good. (It was nominated for a “Best Picture” Golden Globe). Definitely worth your rental dollar.

Here is an informative article that does a much more thorough and convincing job of refuting “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” than I did in my last post.

And even more articles are listed here. Just scroll down to the “Christian Blog Responses” section and start clicking on links.

Radio host Albert Mohler also discusses the “Lost Tomb” on his show which you can listen to here.

If you haven’t heard already, on March 4th the Discovery Channel will air a documentary by Titanic director James Cameron called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”. The documentary claims that archeologists have discovered the actual grave of Jesus and his family, including his wife Mary Magdalene and their son Judah. If true, this find would shake the very foundations of Christianity.

In 1980, ten small caskets were unearthed in a suburb of Jerusalem. Six of the caskets contain inscriptions with the Biblical names “Jesus”, “Maria” (or Mary), “Mariamne” (or Mary Magdalene), “Matthew”, “James”, “Yose” (Joseph), and “Judah, son of Jesus”. If this really is the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, and if those really are his bones, then we have scientific proof that the resurrection never happened and Christianity has been officially debunked. Even the apostle Paul admitted, “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:14-19)

But don’t go closing the church doors just yet. The “lost tomb” theory is far from clear-cut. In fact, it’s full of holes. A quick Google search will reveal that there are plenty of scholars who doubt the findings or even dismiss them outright. For one thing, the tomb was discovered back in 1980. Archeologists have known about it for over 25 years. If the find is really so earth-shattering, why didn’t anyone say anything sooner?

Below are several flaws in the theory that this is really Jesus’ tomb (taken from Christian News Wire):

Ben Witherington, New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, and other scholars offer 10 reasons why they think the “Jesus tomb” claims are false:

1. There is no DNA evidence that this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth.

2. The statistical analysis is untrustworthy.

3. The name “Jesus” was a popular name in the first century, appearing in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries.

4. There is no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married or had a child.

5. The earliest followers of Jesus never called him “Jesus, son of Joseph.”

6. It is highly unlikely that Joseph, who died earlier in Galilee, was buried in Jerusalem, since the historical record connects him only to Nazareth or Bethlehem.

7. The Talipot tomb and ossuaries are such that they would have belonged to a rich family, which does not match the historical record for Jesus.

8. Fourth-century church historian Eusebius makes quite clear that the body of James, the brother of Jesus, was buried alone near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries, making very unlikely that the Talipot tomb was Jesus’ “family tomb.”

9. The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal, but simply has the name Mary, one of the most common of all ancient Jewish female names.

10. By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty, making it highly unlikely that his body was moved to another tomb to decay for one year before putting his bones in an ossuary.

Here’s another problem with the “We found Jesus’ grave” theory: From the very beginning the enemies of Christianity have wanted to crush it. The reason guards were posted at the tomb of Jesus was to keep the disciples from stealing the body and claiming a ressurection (Matthew 27:62-64). If Jesus did not really rise bodily from the grave his enemies could have simply gone to the tomb, thrown the body in a cart, wheeled it down the streets of Jerusalem, and Christianity would have been dead in the womb. But even Jesus’ enemies had to admit that the body could not be found. And the disciples died horrible martyr’s deaths because of their belief in a risen Jesus. Would they really have given their lives for something they knew was a lie?

Every year around Easter we see stories in the media designed to undermine Christianity. But eventually they all crumble because they are built on sand. If you decide to watch the Discovery channel special, keeping the above facts in mind will help you separate the truth from the hype.

(EDIT: According to a blog at TIME magazine, immediately after “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” on March 4 the Discovery channel will air an hour-long panel discussion hosted by Ted Koppel. “The panel will explore the filmmakers’ profound assertions and challenge their assumptions and suggested conclusions.” I hope there will be someone on the panel that points out the many flaws in the documentary and set the record straight. But I’m not holding my breath.)