This column is not about recommending a book to readers. It is about reading with discernment and not taking everything that is in print or on television for fact. Last year, I wrote a column on a book called "The Jesus Dynasty" by Dr. James D. Tabor. Frankly, I found the book speculative and not persuasive. I did not think it deserved a permanent place in our collection because it bent facts to make audacious claims about Jesus’ life. Since that time, we have returned it to the book leasing company from whence it came.

This year as Easter approaches, a new documentary produced by James Cameron (of "Titanic" fame) claims to have discovered the burial cave of Jesus and his family. This cave is one of those discussed in the "The Jesus Dynasty". Once again, a tremendous amount of speculation seems to have gone into this documentary and its assumptions. (You know what happens when you assume?) When I watched the television news report on this documentary, I knew exactly the cave and the so-called evidence to which they referred. The proof that the cave at Talpoit is the burial tomb of Jesus and his family is flimsy at best. I became so offended by this pseudo-history that I felt driven to address this topic again.

Although the documentary has yet to be broadcast, in interviews Cameron and his director make the following assertions:

• This is Jesus’ Tomb, based upon the statistical improbability of finding all these names in the same tomb.
• The name "Mariamne" on one of the ossuaries indicates that it is the coffin of Mary Magdalene.
• The DNA from the Jesus ossuary and the Mariamne ossuary does not match, which is evidence that they were married.
• The famous or notorious James ossuary also must have been stolen from this tomb. (Jesus had a brother James.)

Okay, addressing just these four issues, the name Mary or Mariamne, which is Greek for Mary, was one of the most common in first century Israel. (As was Jose, Jesus, Judah, and Matthew.) Therefore, statistical probability seems fairly slim evidence to say this is Jesus’ Tomb.

The tomb’s Marianne was Mary Magdalene. In "The Huffington Post" Dr. Robert Eisenman, a highly respected Judeo-Christian scholar, says, "To think that an inscription seemingly bearing the name on one ‘Mariamne’ has anything whatever to do with some character we think was called ‘Mary Magdalene’… is a stretch of immense proportions."

About the DNA evidence, did they compare the DNA in the other coffins? Does the DNA in the coffin of "Jude the son of Jesus" match that of the "Marianne" coffin? Maybe they did? I have yet to see the documentary, but they certainly did not promote their movie with that evidence.

Oh, about the "James ossuary"—the evidence is now fairly firm that this was a forgery. To my way of thinking, this makes it a poor piece of proof.

Other considerations—it has been almost thirty years since this tomb was uncovered. In all those years, respected archeologists have not asserted that this tomb was the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, Jesus’ father was a humble carpenter. He could not afford a luxurious burial tomb for his family. Finally, from the first century onward Christians have worshipped the empty tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. They worshipped there because the earliest Christians told them that this was Christ’s burial tomb. Wouldn’t the first Christians know?

Archeology is a fascinating science. I sometimes wish I had become an archeologist. It clarifies and teaches us much about the history of societies and their cultural and religion practices. The discovery of the "Jesus Tomb" was a major find, but when others take the facts and stretch them to fit their own agenda, this discovery is being misused. It does make for an interesting discussion; however, with anything you read or watch do so with discernment.

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