Doubts About The First Christian Site! by Milota Sidorova

This could be one of the most important milestones in Christian history. Just recently unearthed cave under St. George's church in Rihab, 70 km east to Amman, claims to be a worship center of early Christians during the first century A.D. Moreover, it should have been a place where first seventy disciples nestled during massive pursuit. Created by circle of stone seats, long tunnel leading to the water source, the cave should have been a perfect secret place for Christian rituals. However, this clearly joyful discovery hasn't got that much recognition as expected. Although Christian representatives hail finding, claiming that it is the prove of Christian authenticity in Jordan area, many world known archaeologists demand more relevant evidences.Declaration, that the cave is the oldest Christian worship center is surely little bit courageous. The fact, that it is located underneath St. George's church, probably the oldest church built in 230 A.D., can be impugnable. According Australian archaeologist Kate da Costa of the University of Sydney, who works in northern Jordan, the church is at least 200 years older than any other Christian church in the world. This points to a considerable time line jump and brings doubts into the authenticity of the date.Even the second key evidence seems to only mist the resolution. Although the floor mosaic, inscribed by the words ' the 70 beloved by God and the divine', points to the same number of Jesus disciples, it doesn't really prove that the cave was used during the first century exactly by those people. Moreover, the mosaic ornaments recall the themes typical for 5th century.S. Thomas Parker, a historian from North Carolina State University suggests, that the cave should have been used even before, however, not necessarily by Christians. Hidden temple was used by Christian later on, the question remains, exactly when did it all happen?

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_re/jordan_oldest_church;_ylt=AratTpMp4Q6vUY8xs93_qXes0NUE

by Milota Sidorova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.<br><br><font size=2>These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.</font><br>


edited by Katarina Gaskova