The tomb of J...whose?

(That was my silly little attempt at a play on words. I'm sorry, I'm no Libby.)

I don't like to get into debates or any kind of controversy, really. In fact, I pretty much like to steer clear of anything uncomfortable or divisive.

This, however, is just a little important.

It seems that some Hollywood people (that's right, not scientists) are making a documentary about these tombs that they say contain the remains of Jesus (along with Mary Magdalene and a kid they allegedly had together).

It's The DaVinci Code meets James Cameron meets some skeptical archaeologists.

Some facts to consider if you're tempted to buy into this:

• This is not a recent discovery. These tombs were discovered in 1980, which means this news is as old as I am. To watch the news, you'd think this happened yesterday and is a groundbreaking discovery. If the scientists didn't draw these conclusions 26 years ago, one should wonder why it took a millionaire producer and his director to connect the dots now.

• The archaeologist who originally uncovered the tombs is disputing the conclusions the Hollywood people are drawing from his findings. He says that the claims of James Cameron and the makers of this new documentary (that these are the remains of Jesus) "are unfounded." The names on the tombs were quite common at the time.

• The makers of the documentary claim that they have "DNA evidence" linking these remains to Jesus Christ. However, it remains unclear what secondary DNA source (besides the bones in the tomb) they are using to make the connection. (As far as I know, there aren't any 2000-year-old blood samples labeled "Jesus of Nazareth" that they can use as a reference point.)

I could keep going, but I won't. The point is, this documentary is more about sensationalism and making money than it is about looking honestly and impartially at the facts and drawing a logical conclusion.

This whole thing is making the news because it claims to be evidence that Jesus didn't raise from the dead. Does that matter? Yeah, it does. (I could go into all the lines of evidence and reasoning that support Christ's bodily resurrection, but that's another blog for another day.)

I know how much easier it is to be spoon-fed what to believe, but it's worth it to do your homework before swallowing this crap for breakfast.

In conclusion, here's my favorite quote from a CNN.com article:

"The fact that [the 1980 archaeological finding] has been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."