Did anybody else see this story about the tablet they found (albeit some 10 years ago), dating to BC times, that depicts a messianic figure who is sacrificed only to rise from the dead 3 days later? I don't know exactly if it will have any impact but I think it's pretty fascinating. But maybe it's just because I happened to watch The Last Temptation of Christ over the weekend, so I have Jesus on the brain.

I'm still rather fuzzy on Jesus and what he supposedly did (ie, if he died for everybody's sins, well, why do Catholics still need Confession?) and who he was, but the exploration of his history is pretty nifty, when it's not totally obscured by dogma. This new tidbit is interesting in that it predates the whole Jesus/Easter weekend thing, which could either be seen as proof that the Jesus thing is mostly myth, cobbled together from various, long-established traditions (along with all the pagan seasonal celebrations that coincidentally seem to happen on days also sacred to Christian, go figure). Or you can look at it and say it was prophesied long before it happened. Folks love that prophecy stuff! I suspect the anti-evolutionary, ultra-fundamentalists will see it that way. After all, these are the same people who claim god planted dinosaur bones to 'test' creationist beliefs.

So far my research indicates that Life of Brian is still the most accurate depiction of Jesus' life and times.