Earlier this week, news broke that a documentary entitled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" was scheduled to be aired March 4 on the Discovery Channel.
The documentary, produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron, focuses on 10 small caskets discovered near Jerusalem in 1980.
It argues that these caskets may have contained the remains of Jesus Christ and his family, which the documentary argues consists of his wife, Mary Magdalene, and a son — whose casket is marked with the title, "Judah, son of Jesus."
When I first read through the article, I laughed at the thought of Jesus having a family. To me, the funny thing is that in the documentary, Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, says the name on the casket could have been read incorrectly. He believes the name on the casket is "Hanun" and says Ancient Semitic is very hard to translate.
I was brought up by going to church services and Sunday school classes every week, as well as attending confirmation classes during my teens.
The thought of falsehood in something that I have believed in since I was a young child was, and always is, tough to think about. Whenever I hear rumbles of Mary Magdalene or evolution, I usually laugh it off and stick to my beliefs.
Near the end of my confirmation classes, my pastor asked us all to make a banner of something related to what we had learned. My banner was about the Apostle's Creed, and at the bottom of my banner, I listed my favorite Bible verse: Hebrews 11:1. The verse reads, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."
Whether it was in the movie theater watching "The Da Vinci Code" for the first time (which I know is fiction, and sits near the top of my favorite nonsports movie list), or sitting in my ISB class taking notes on Charles Darwin and evolution, I always think back to this verse, and I advise others to do the same, whether or not the situation deals with religion.
There is no way to fully prove the findings in this documentary are true, unless there is DNA of Jesus Christ floating around somewhere. Likewise, there is no way to prove that any of the Christian beliefs are true.
This is why there are countless different types of religions and why some people don't believe in anything at all.
My purpose in this column isn't to bust out the Bible and recite verse after verse as to why I believe this documentary is a joke, and it's not to preach the word of God. It is, however, about faith. After all, faith isn't just religion-based, it's a key component in our lives and often defines who we are as people.
The beliefs that each of us hold dear contribute to all aspects of our life — whether it be deciphering between right and wrong, deciding if that special person in our life is "the one" or deciding how we are going to raise our children and what values we want to instill in them.
Faith is one of the things that keeps families together when the going gets tough, and keeps individuals on the right track in dark times. Even if there is disagreement in one person's faith, it is something no one can ever take away from you, and that just may be the most important aspect about faith.
The inevitable truth about faith is that it is always questioned. Whether debating the lineage of Christ or shaking your head in dismay in the way some people raise their kids these days, someone always feels compelled to throw their two cents in.
Chances are we can never prove our deepest beliefs to be true or not. But, something we can all learn from the Bible, whether you are a believer or not, is to stand up for your beliefs and to live your life by the important values you hold dear and what you believe to be true.
The simple fact is that faith is just a gut feeling, and no matter how hard you look, some things can never be proven true or false.
And that is when your faith is the most important.
Cash Kruth is a State News intern. Reach him at kruthcas@msu.edu.
