World Watch
By

Robert Berger /

CNET/ December 22, 2009, 4:21 AM

2,000-Year-Old Home Found in Jesus' Hometown

This story was filed by CBS Radio News correspondent Robert Berger in Jerusalem.
(AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
Just days before Christmas, there has been a significant archaeological find in Jesus' hometown. Israeli archaeologists say they've found the first house in Nazareth dating back to the time of Christ.

"The character of the walls is typical of Jewish villages in the early Roman period. So this would be the sort of house that Jesus or people of his period would have lived in," said Yardena Alexandre of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who headed the excavation.

Alexandre said the remains suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way village of just 50 houses, covering only about four acres. Based on pottery shards found at the site, the house apparently belonged to a "simple Jewish family."

The find was welcomed by local Arab Christians.

"They say if the people do not speak, the stones will speak," said Father Jack Karam, a priest at the Basilica of the Annunciation, which marks the site where, according to Christian tradition, the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and told her she would give birth to the Messiah.

"This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with," Alexandre said.

Arab Christians, who are now outnumbered by Muslims in Nazareth, described the find as a "Christmas gift."

Today, Nazareth is the largest Arab-majority city in northern Israel – where Muslims outnumber Christians two to one.

Alexandre said that in Jesus' day, some 2,000 years ago, the entire population of the small hamlet would have been Jewish, and the locals constructed elaborate caves to hide from marauding Romans. The size and remoteness of Nazareth at the time, however, made the caves unnecessary in the end.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
64 Comments Add a Comment
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rwsmith29456 says:
Man, they found crumbled remains of a house in Nazareth that Jesus MIGHT have lived in, visited or walked by or maybe never even payed attention to it. Why does everybody get so riled up?
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troutfishyman says:
by ToolMangler1 December 22, 2009 7:35 PM EST
you just called the New Testament a complete lie. You are fixing to have a very interesting life>


Aside from the fact that creation is described in the Old Testament.

I say the New Testament is a creative mix of fiction and fact. I leave it with you to decide which parts ;)
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ckh123mmm says:
At no time did Jesus claim to be the son of God, but Christian argue with him. There is no proof of God. There never has been. Believe it if you must and go ahead and believe in unicorns and fairies too. Religion is an excuse for bad behavior. So what if a house was found in the "time" of Jesus, Christians will use this as evidence for his title as God and creator but it just isnt so. What a shame so many people just dont want to do their homework. Science is all we have despite its shortcoming, but thats the fact.
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displeased replies:
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The bible is fiction. Creative and entertaining, but fiction. And you're right, ckh123 will probably have a very interesting life. Instead of dwelling on the afterlife and being a slave to your god, he/she will gain REAL knowledge that contributes to civilization moving forward, not backwards.
newsterl replies:
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Yeah they always pull that stunt, anything 2000 years old or so is automatically a bejebus story in the works followed by mini sermonettes about jebus, gawd and the buybull.
They fail to consider theres thousands of religeons on this planet, and not one of them is 100% valid, they are all fantasy, fiction and wishfull thinking at best.
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troutfishyman says:
by raydernation December 22, 2009 3:54 PM EST
My point none of this happened by happenstance. There has to be a higher intellect to construct all I just talked about no big bang could have produced this.



Ah, the old Intelligent Design argument.

You are entitled to your opinion, but don't confuse that with FACT.
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I_am_me1953 replies:
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RE: by troutfishyman December 22, 2009 6:16 PM EST

"Ah, the old Intelligent Design argument.

You are entitled to your opinion, but don't confuse that with FACT."

__________________________

And the "FACT" of the Big Bang is? Where did all of this matter come from? According to Science and Physics matter is neither created nor destroyed, right? It only changes shape or form. Please explain your "FACT".

What about the "FACT" of the starting of life? Lightening striking some primordial ozze hundreads of thousands of years ago? Does it still occur today? Please support your "FACT".


As for me, what I have seen in gross human anatomy and embryology tends to lead me to there being a greater power at work here than science can explain.
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dramapsychic says:
look folks...bottom line is this....the existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven. Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to. However fanatics take their faith to be evidence in the absence of evidence. No book of faith is evidence of God. Religion is man made for social and economic purposes. take it from me who once was clergy. It's a 'business" and the clergy get weak minded followers to do their bidding for them.. be that Christian or Muslim. People take their relgious beliefs to far and then want to inflict others with their belief. Atheism is no better it's just State Religion ie former soviet, cuba, north korea...i'll close w/ this...you know why Angels can fly? Because they take themselves lightly..so ligthen up folks and Merry Christmas...
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starving1968-1 says:
by endurorob_5 December 22, 2009 2:00 PM EST
Touche. But the emails concerning the professional aspects of their jobs should be public. And they were trying to prevent access to the data base. The emails were not debunked. These are scientists that were manipulating data to support a theory. The scientific community should be up in arms about this.






Should be public?!?!

Then how could they possibly trademark any possible inventions / discoveries related to their research, if everything they do is "open source"?
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iirishamerican says:
I would believe in other life on other planets and solar systems like ours before I would believe in bible non-sense made up to scare people into behaving exactly like they wanted them to or face the pit of fire that god will send you to. wow,Sounds like the beginning of a Stephen King book
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driscola replies:
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You are welcome to believe what you will, but there is unarguably more evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazarath than extra-terrestrials. Some people see judgement in the words of Jesus - others see hope,love,freedom. Maybe what we see depends on what we are looking for.
cleric60 replies:
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iirishamerican: Your wisdom is God's foolishness, Again, A fool says in his heart there is no God." Psalm 14:1 Again, "fools despise wisdom and instruction."(Proverbs 1:7)
Keep saying it to yourself "there is no God" and just maybe you will believe in your own man-made myth. "Behold Human Reason! Hear O iirishamerican is your God!" Bow down and worship your human reason! At least it is not an idol made of wood, stone covered with gold or silver.
It's your own mind that you worship!
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iirishamerican says:
God and/or religion is nothing more than a crutch for the weak that would freak out if they believed this world is purely scientific and there is no heaven or 70 vigins waiting for you or whatever you believe. When your dead your dead, thats it and many people can't face that. With the scientific world today it's amazing that people still believe in mythical beings sitting in heaven watching, waiting for us to not follow the rules so they can cast us into a pit of fire, it sounds like something a cave man would write about oh wait, cave men did write it before the word science was even invented.
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troutfishyman says:
"This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with," Alexandre said.


Or not .....
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starving1968-1 says:
by endurorob_5 December 22, 2009 11:10 AM EST

Thats not debunking that is someone trying to deflect from reality. There is a big difference between hacking into someones personal email and hacking into a data base that should be public and not kept secret as if you are trying to hide something.







They didn't hack the database and access the data - they hacked the SERVER and accessed the e-mail!!
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endurorob_5 replies:
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Touche. But the emails concerning the professional aspects of their jobs should be public. And they were trying to prevent access to the data base. The emails were not debunked. These are scientists that were manipulating data to support a theory. The scientific community should be up in arms about this.
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