What Some Call Evidence

[Jeremy]

How were historical or holy sites determined? I know the bible does have factual historical places in it, but I'm talking about the empty tomb or mountain where Jesus was crucified. There seems to be several sites that are talked about when visiting the "holy city" but what evidence is there to support their claim?

[mwc]

Start with Constantine and his mother Helena to get an idea where much of this came from. They wanted to know and people gave them "answers."

 

As for the "tomb" and the "mountain" both are guesses. There is more than one tomb but different people have different preferences as to which is the "real" one. Different traditions go back further (such as the path jesus walked to calvary) so they are not as disputed even though they are obviously guesses as much as any other.

 

As I recall the location of Nazareth was simply a field with a well when Helena first arrived and "Mary's Well" was born. Later a cave became known as "Mary's Cave" or some such nonsense but the cave was unknown when the well was first revealed but was just as ancient and revered by the locals (yeah, right...they saw the money train coming from tourists). And so it goes for pretty much all the "beloved" sites of antiquity.

 

mwc

[Lycorth]

I assume that Xians just went around, used the Babble as a guide, saw some likely candidates, and otherwise relied on their emotions the Holy Spurt to show them.

[Jubilant]

IMHO, no matter what, this is no different than religious sites of Greek, Roman, Egyptian gods, etc. etc.

[Piprus]

Not so much a matter of evidence, but church authority. "The pope says this is the place, the pope is infallible, so this must be the place".