Replies

Tell us more, Polycarp about your previous assertion that Joseph had a wife BEFORE Mary that produced the sons James, Jude, Joses and Simon. Here, since your memory is selective, I'll repost what you said on THIS thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/783760/posts

Here is what YOU, Polycarp, "opined" on the subject earlier...

The stepbrother hypothesis is, in fact, the earliest one on record. It is endorsed by a document known as the Protoevangelium of James, which dates to the year 120, within sixty years of James' death (James died in A.D. 62). According to the Protoevangelium, Joseph was an elderly widower at the time he was betrothed to Mary. He already had a family and thus was willing to become the guardian of a virgin consecrated to God. The stepbrother hypothesis was the most common explanation of the brethren of the Lord until St. Jerome popularized the cousin hypothesis just before the year 400. The stepbrother hypothesis is also supported by the fact that Joseph apparently was significantly older than Mary, as he appears to have died before our Lord's public ministry began. Bottom line: If the ossuary of James bar-Joseph is that of James the brother of the Lord, it sheds light on which of the theories Catholics are permitted to hold is most likely the correct one, but it poses does nothing to refute Catholic doctrine. If authentic, as seems probable, it is to be welcomed as further archaeological confirmation of the life of our Lord.

Please, favor us all with some more of your "scholarly" thought on what YOU previously posted, Polycarp.

Please, favor us all with some more of your "scholarly" thought on what YOU previously posted, Berned. You hung the sun, the moon, as well as the stars on this hoax. You too have been debunked, fortunately, but you will NEVER admit that.

When I'm wrong, or incorrect, I openly admit it, apologize and seek forgiveness. You have never admitted the sinister way you used this hoax to try to deceive folks on this forum.

That is the difference between a Christian and a fraud.

Never mind, I should have known better than to give someone like you the benefit of the doubt.

I did indeed post the source of these comments in my post.

Yet you try to insinuate I wrote them, knowing fully that I posted a link to their original source.

Typical of the frauds you have perpetrated throughout the course of these bone box hoax debates.

I'll not debate any longer with a proven deceiver such as you.

" The stepbrother hypothesis was the most common explanation of the brethren of the Lord until St. Jerome popularized the cousin hypothesis just before the year 400. "

The earliest Church Fathers taught that Jesus had Stepbrothers. Jerome says no, they were cousins.

Which explanation is the truth? It can't be multiple choice.

Does Jerome prove the early Fathers wrong or should Jerome be labeled a heretic for teaching different from the earlier Fathers?

Maybe in catholicism it doesn't matter if 2 views are 180 degrees apart as long as they both support what you believe?

Since we are told that the Catholic Church is the sole deposit of truth and led by the Spirit to interpret scripture please tell me which explanation is correct.