The serious and intensely relevant outcome of the Talpiot tombs tale we find in the response of each individual.
In taking the outcomes of archeological research to their (impossible) extremes, everyone can ask which of two extreme discoveries they would cheer.
On the one hand, archeologists could find an empty tomb with interior walls seared by an inexplicable blast of radiation, re-crystallized rock structures precisely dated by isotopic composition to 2007 years ago, and dried drops of blood with Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) exactly matching that on the Shroud of Torino (Turin). Boom, the resurrection story is true!….and you better start thinking about how you will respond to it.
In the other extreme, archeologists could find a sealed casket or ossuary complete with verifiably undisturbed contents, with dating incontrovertibly and accurately establishing by multiple techniques an age of 2007 years, and the box conveniently labeled with the name and history of their resident, one Yeshu bar Jehosef of Nazareth. That history, carved in authentic Greek or Aramaic of the period (definitely not Latin) would in a nutshell describe how Yeshu got crucified, put in this box, and obviously stayed there.
Take your pick. Which happy ending do you want? I ask that with no facetiousness whatsoever. Either archeological outcome, taken to such impossible extremes, would inescapably force people to face up to some very personal issues.
That question, which outcome do you want, forces a choice, doesn’t it? Or as I would say, it forces The Choice.
To either of the two extreme options, many folks will respond with an enthusiastic “Whoo Hoo!”
Some will celebrate “yes, eternal life! All the promises are true! We will live in His Kingdom, in peace, in continual worship, in selfless love!”
To the other extreme discovery many people will celebrate “yes! No eternity to worry about! It was all an institutional scam! I don’t have to worry about ever facing that [...], or that turning the other cheek stuff, or forgiving, or loving, or being called to judgment! Party on!”
The present controversy over yet another P.T. Barnum style publicity stunt involving some illegible letters chiseled into old stone boxes will soon blow over, though not before some tidy little profits are tucked away in someone’s burgeoning investment portfolio.
But that question, what outcome do you want, won’t go away. The individual’s response to that question defines their foundation for every choice through every day. Living for today versus eternity, living for the self or for others, living with hope or with money, living as part of God’s universe or as a Youniverse around which you expect everything else to orbit.
Which outcome you really would like to see (were such a definable outcome possible) is the purest of all choices. There is no convincing, no arguing, no debating, no logic or rationale, no compilation of data, facts, or discoveries that ultimately compel the individual’s free Choice of desired outcome.
Some dusty stone boxes and a shrewd entrepreneur simply pose one more phrasing of that age old Choice, the freest of Choices we each ever have to face: how do we want the story to end….how do we want our story to end……which is to say, what story will we write with our life today.
Don Ray, (from DrDonRay.spaces.live.com)