In a 2001 movie, "The Body," the bones of Jesus were supposedly discovered by an archeologist in a tomb in Jerusalem. A Vatican priest was dispatched to investigate and concluded that the body was indeed that of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph. He was so shattered by the finding that he lost all faith and committed suicide.

And now we have a real claim being made by "Titanic" filmmaker James Cameron that the tomb of Jesus has been found. Cameron called the evidence compelling.

Fifty years ago, when I was a Catholic, the story might have caused me some concern. Forty years ago, when I was an admirer of the Rev. Billy Graham, the foundations of my faith would have been shaken at least a little, although I would have curled my nose and called the story a hoax.

Today, however, even if scientists happened to link up the DNA in the bones found in the tomb with blood residue found on the Shroud of Turin, it wouldn't affect my faith in Christ in the least. In fact, I would rejoice at the news. That's because my brand of Christianity rejects any literal interpretation given to a physical body rising from the dead, either by Jesus, or by the masses on some far-off day of resurrection.

Paul said in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians that the body that has to be "raised" is not the body that was buried. He used the analogy of a grain of wheat, pointing out that the grain of wheat that is planted is not the grain of wheat that is raised. Of course, like so many other things in the Bible, there can be so many self-serving interpretations.

My faith today is based on psychical research. Such research in the area of the near-death experience strongly suggests that we all have an etheric body that separates from the physical body at the time of death and vibrates so far beyond the physical shell that it is not seen by ordinary eyes. That etheric body has also been referred to as an astral body, spirit body, celestial body, soul and higher self, although these terms are also sometimes given different interpretations.

These and other out-of-body research also suggests a "silver cord" connecting the etheric to the physical body, sort of a counterpart of the umbilical cord. Once that cord is severed, physical death is complete. While undergoing some aspects of dying and death, the near-death experiencer does not feel complete severance of the cord and thus is able to return and tell of encounters with celestial beings.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

Concomitant with the belief that the physical shell is resurrected is a belief in "soul sleep." However, here again, we run into assumptions that the word "sleep," as used 54 times in the Old Testament and 18 times in the New Testament, should be interpreted to mean total unconsciousness. Indeed, modern psychical research suggests that we awaken on the "other side" in degrees of consciousness equal to the degrees of spirituality achieved in the earthly life. The benevolent and enlightened soul will experience no real "sleep," while the depraved and unenlightened soul may be so unconscious as to not realize he or she is even "dead" and may require years in earth time to regain consciousness, perhaps experiencing a "fire of the mind" while attempting to regain true consciousness.

So why should Christianity fear the discovery of the bones of Jesus? Credible scientific research has revealed that it has absolutely no bearing on the great message of soul immortality that he came to give.

Michael E. Tymn, a Kailua resident, is vice president of the Academy of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies Inc. and contributor to metaphysical magazines and journals.