Sunday, November 04, 2007

Jesus in the Himalayas

I caught part of this documentary on Discovery HD yesterday. It seemed interesting enough, so I recorded it on DVR, and watched the full program today.

It investigated the possibility that Jesus may have travelled through the silk road to India and Tibet before he began his ministry, and after his crucifixion. Nothing conclusive was reached, but it offered up some possible evidence, chief among them were:
  1. A tomb in Kashmir purported to be the tomb of Jesus after his crucifixion, because a small cross was found within it, and there was a food sculpture that seems to depict wounds on the foot that could correspond to Jesus' wounds from the crucifixion.
  2. An ancient manuscript that detailed the life of Saint Issa, whose story was very similar to the life of Jesus as depicted in the Bible (except the part about traveling to India and Tibet).
  3. The similarities between the Buddhist prayer beads--the Japa mala, and the Catholic rosary beads. Both have 108 beads, and these are the only religions with prayer beads.
The most important of these arguments is the ancient manuscript, according to the program. Unfortunately, it has long since vanished, not long after its translation was transcribed by Nicolas Notovitch. This document is what sparked the idea that Jesus went to India and Tibet. Without it, there is no way to prove that any of this actually happened. I don't know that even with it, would it offer irrefutable proof that this Issa is the same as Jesus.

The problem I have with the tomb theory is that it had a cross. The cross didn't become associated with Christianity until the second century AD, so there's no reason why Jesus would be buried with one.

The program then states both the Japa mala and the rosary have 108 beads. But this is not true--while the Japa mala traditionally does have 108 beads, rosary beads typically have 150.

It then further states that Christianity (Catholicism) and Buddhism are the only religions to use prayer beads, implying that Jesus brought the idea of using prayer beads to his followers due to influence from Buddhism. Yet this is also untrue, as there are several other religions that use prayer beads. Also, it is said that rosary beads were brought to St. Dominic by the Virgin Mary, not Jesus.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also saw The HD theater program. However I din't find any reason to deplict it. I thought it was a little spotty here and there, that's what makes it a T.V. Documentary. I thought that Jeff Salz was courious enough to get off his a$$ and explore the possibility. If all cultures could find a little similarities in thier religion, ethics, and or politicts maybee they would come to the conclution that were all not so differnt after all. So not saying become a hippy grow some dreddlocks and go live in a tibetian buddist monistary; but be your own filter and stop tring to be one for others accually pursuing an idea.
love,
J.P.

Glenn said...

There's such a thing as "journalistic integrity," which I believe documentarians should also adhere to.

There's nothing wrong with being curious and wanting to find out more. If we weren't curious, we wouldn't have watched the program.

However, documentaries are supposed to educate the truth, not distort them. Having incorrect information which I can find out about in 10 minutes worth of research is just lazy. If he knowingly left all the false information in his film, then that's reprehensible propaganda.


Also, I don't know what deplict is, nor do any dictionaries I can think of. You need to stop being an unthinking sheep, believing everything that's being spoon-fed to you, and figure out with what little reasoning skills you have what the truth is.

KITOOMAL said...

One of the ways the devil uses to prevent people from knowing Jesus as the only true Living God, is through religious deception.
I am an Indian and an ex-Hindu and I beleive that there is a tendency among Hindus to try to get all credit for everything. The attempt here (whether of Notowich or anyone else) is to make Jesus look incomplete and dependent on Hindu and other religions; and to give the impression that he created a faith by mixing and matching 'good points' from all religions. Such people have never really read the Bible prayerfully and are living in the dark. Indeed, as John 1 says, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."
Probably these are the people "whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." (2 Corinthians 4:4)
May YAHWEH open the eyes and hearts of people according to His sovereign will!

Anonymous said...

Hinduism is not a religion by itself. It is just a road map to achive the ultimate. The ultimate of human life is not a materialised well being, But a self realization. This world has seen many self realized masters Jesus, Goudhama Budha, Krishna, Rama, and many.... People follow Rama and krishna call themself Hindu, which is not. Just following the self realized masters is of no use, but following there path to attain self-realization should be the aim. People just try to politicize everyting without understanding the core. People on the path of self realization will not distinguish the Jesus from Rama or Budha. They are the people shown us the way to achive the ultimate. Life is not about following a god, but to become the god (Merge with ultimate.

Anonymous said...

please lets leave all discussion of Christ for the Church, there is no Jesus of budha or rama...you cant pick and choose the things of Jesus that you like and leave the rest of the other things that you dont like. the church for more than 2000 years now has proclaimed the gospel that is Jesus has risen...Jesus is the Son of God and he is the second person of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit). When you talk about Jesus you have to take the whole plate...no just a side or two! The apostles were the depositaries of the true faith, which they communicated and embodied to their best disciples, whom they also made their successors of the churches they founded and so on and so on...they can trace their teachings back to Peter and back to Christ himself. If Jesus went to the Himalayas or where ever people are claiming he went or if it even was necessary for the disciples to know i think they would have written about it..but they didnt. end of fairy tale. I would say that Jesus does actually realize who he is after he is resurrected by the Father through the Spirit finding that he is God's Son....and with that as we lay down ourselves and follow him..he gives us a self that is true....He gives us his identity by joining us to himself by the Spirit to share in the Father's love. In the End Jesus will give us a self..but its not something we achieve but something that is given. Life is about following God, as the church has said, following this man Jesus, who is God, and as we do that he makes us to be what he desires and that is to share in his divine nature...we are to be partakers of the divine nature. The Father makes room through the Spirit in his Son for us to come and share in the Trinitarian Love....God has made a room for all of creation and that is Jesus...Jesus is the room where we can share in the love of the Father Son and Spirit. This is open to the world but it is the church who participates in it now yet it is not fully realized until Christ comes back. This is what it means to believe in Jesus...to believe that with his life, death and resurrection the whole creation, cosmos has been redeemed from sin and death to participate in the life of God. Jesus is not just some really cool master who is mere creature. Please take the whole Christ, the church't testimony for 2000 years plus, not just bits and pieces of what works for you.

Hildur said...

"One of the ways the devil " ??? Get real.

I think this story of Jesus going to live in the Himalayas is the most logical explanation of what actually happened to him after the crusifix. No...lets see. God opened up the cave his body was laying and let it fly up to heaven...Right. A physical body has no reason to be in "heaven".

I have always believed in Jesus Christ but this story of the resurrection has never made any sense to me. Ofcourse his followers opened the cave at night and brought him out. Alive or dead.

Jos said...

Where can i find this video plz