Posted on 11/01/2003 7:19:13 AM PST by Happy2BMe
ABC asks (but in the wee hours): Was Jesus married?
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The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas concedes her network is stepping into a theological minefield with its one-hour exploration of whether Jesus Christ had a wife.
The ABC News special, "Jesus, Mary and DaVinci," is scheduled to air Tuesday, November 3rd, at 3:35 a.m. (The prime time slot on Monday is occupied by Monday Night Football.)
"You can't talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people," Vargas said earlier this week. "We're trying to do it as respectfully as we can."
ABC screened the special for some reporters and religious leaders on Thursday. The program is based on the best-selling novel, The DaVinci Code, which claims to be partly grounded in historical fact.
The book asserts that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife -- not a prostitute, as in some teachings -- and that she fled Jerusalem with his child after his crucifixion.
The story was kept alive for centuries by a secret society that included the painter Leonardo DaVinci, who supposedly inserted clues about it in his art, the book claimed.
The ABC special speaks to several theologians who either discount the story or assert that it is possible. Vargas said ABC found no proof that Jesus had a wife, but couldn't completely discount it, either.
Vargas, who was raised a Roman Catholic, said her own parents said to her, "Oh, my goodness, what are you doing?" when they found out she was working on the story.
It drew some immediate criticism, particularly from a representative of the Catholic League, who said ABC News relied too heavily on the opinion of the Rev. Richard McBrien of Notre Dame, who believes Mary Magdalene's importance has been historically understated and that it's possible she was his wife.
"The facts themselves scream out that this is a crackpot theory," said Joseph DeFeo, policy analyst for the Catholic League.
Why rant on me, just because I'm so good-lookin' online. :-) But was He married? We gotta trust the mainstream press, right?? [/sarcasm]
The Bible was completely rewritten in the early centuries AD. Certain information was removed in the new version:
-- In addition to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there were other stories of the life of Jesus.
-- Jesus married and had children.
-- There were more than 12 Apostles, and some were women.
8 BCE Roman Census
?8-7 BCE Jesus is born
?7-5 BCE The Wise arrive. Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt
4 BCE Harod the Great dies.
1 CE or 4 CE Tiberius Caesar is named heir to the Emperor Caesar Augustus
16-19 CE John begins his ministry (see here for why this is the possible date.)
22 – 24 CE Jesus begins his ministry
And now we are totally off the subject.
One of the amazing things about the Bible is that it IS INDEED a biography of sorts of Jesus. See Luke 24:27 "...He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF." (emphasis mine) Note that he didn't expound "his ministry" in the Scriptures (the Old Testament) but the things concerning Himself.
It opens up an exciting vista when we read it carefully.
Is it not possible that the Bible could at one time have had such references but that those references could have been removed in later versions of the Bible?
An oversight perhaps?
If only He had created his own Boswell
Good Lord, am I reallly asking this of a guy named "oztrich?
Well ... JUST DAMN!
(How perfect: The AP screwing up a potential ABCNEWS Schadenfreude story. Why don't they just throw in something completely incorrect about CNN and make my Psychic Circle of Work Pain complete?)
Sharon won't get pre-empted (at least not 'cause of this; now with any luck, MNF will run into overtime....)...
Mmmm, multiple clock-stopping injuries and a rain delay followed by double overtime, with the game not ending until about 2:15 am.... *drool* (They don't even have double OT in the NFL, though, do they? What's the best-case scenario for a game that goes on FOR-EV-ER?)
If so, nobody invited me to the wedding. :^(
It's kind of a joke now, with bar mitzvah's at 13, but it was serious back then. You started taking on adult responsibilities at age 13.
Rabbis were married men. Women were most often ignored. Jesus could very well have been married, and not to Mary Magdalene. Even though he was the messiah, his wife would not have been important. Mary, his mother was, because of the virgin birth, but the name of his wife, the disciples wives, were simply considered fluff basically. It would be like describing a sporting event's big play, then commenting about the color of the seat you were sitting at. Just not important enough to mention.
Jesus was flesh. I don't think it diminishes him in any way to have been married. It elevates him. If Jesus was not bound to the world in every way, it lessens the sacrifice.
I don't get those who believe that Jesus was basically a "saint" who was seperate from his flock. By being married, having human hungers, thirsts, desires, then being told to give it all up, and suffer on the cross, it is more powerful a sacrifice than being told that Jesus could do no wrong, was perfect, and basically wouldn't have anybody to miss back on earth.
If I was told that God made me, I was infallible, and I could hang out for 33 years, in exchange for spending a day on the cross, then I would go to Heaven and be all powerful again, forever, sure, that is suffering, but it's not a supreme sacrifice. Being human, fearful, able to feel pain, loss of seperation makes the act deeper. Having a human wife, who he could never again touch physically, not just sexually, but in a corporal state, for example, just holding hands, and being told to get up on the cross and leave it behind, that hurts.
No, but I understand Peter Jennings has trouble staying married...
I will ask you the same question Walter Mondale asked Gary Hart "Where's the beef?"
I am sorry you think the suffering of a mere man would be more sacrificial than God becoming man (Jesus is BOTH God and man; two natures, wills ect. Please do some research re Hypostatic Union) and dying for your sin. GOD died on the Cross. For YOU.
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