Was Jesus Christ A Married Man? (NYPost Review – “a tad confusing – pretty pictures”)

NY Post ^ | November 3, 2003 | Adam Buckman

[dead]

And was Mary Magdalene his wife?

Apparently, a lot of people will be upset if the answer to both these questions is yes.

As explained in tonight's "Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci" - a new ABC News prime-time special inspired by the best-selling novel, "The DaVinci Code" - proof that Jesus of Nazareth was a married man enjoying conjugal relations with his wife would upset the apple cart, so to speak, of all of Christianity since Jesus' divinity has been based for so long, at least in part, on the notion that he was celibate.

[Steve_Seattle]

"It is a mark of the historical and religious illiteracy of our time that this book - however cleverly written - is getting any kind of serious hearing."

Ditto.

[freekitty]

I am surprised. No one has traced their roots to Jesus?

[The Old Hoosier]

"The meek shall inherit the earth." Not that complicated. Need some vocabulary help or something?

[nightdriver]

"such as?"

Two that come to mind are:

Isaiah 53:8, "..and who shall declare His generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:"

and Dan 9:26 "...And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off,..."

Can you cite any Biblical sources that indicate that Jesus was married?

[Romulus]

The message of Jesus was such that it really isn't crucial to the story whether he was married or not.

Only if you're into reducing the Savior of the world to a portable pocket Jesus for Ethical Living.

Christians preach "Christ crucified", not "Christ teaching". Christ's crucifixion, including his death, is the "message".

[The Iguana]

Are you saying that the teaching of the bible don't have flaws? That's why it's called, "faith".

Well, claims that Jesus was celibate was not one of them, based on ALL of the available evidence.

Claiming that belief in the Resurrection long predated the Council of Nicaea was not one of them either.

[Snowy]

"The meek shall inherit the earth." Not that complicated. Need some vocabulary help or something?

Yes I do. Please explain that to me.

[Snowy]

"The meek shall inherit the earth." Not that complicated. Need some vocabulary help or something?

Ok, since you haven't responded to me, allow me. You imply that I just need a dictionary to decipher this sentence. "Meek", according to dictionary.com, means, "Showing patience and humility; gentle. Easily imposed on; submissive."

However, that is not what the original bible (untranslated) meant. The word we translated into 'meek' really was closer to meaning 'learned', which makes more sense. If you have ever taken Latin, Greek, or other ancient language, you will understand that many words are not perfectly translated into English.

Ok, anyone want to guess what "turn the other cheek" means?

[netmilsmom]

It would make sense to me that MM was "married" to Jesus in the legal sense. In that time it would have been difficult to travel with him in an unmarried state.
It also makes sense that she would have a child. She was a prostitute after all. This does not mean that it is Christ's, just that she gave birth before being saved.
Reasonably if she had a child, and He "married" her, then the assumption is that her child is His child, legally but not genetically.

Does any of this make sense or am I just rationalizing her?

[Robe]

Addressed in a much more scholarly fashion here.....this was pub. at least 25 years ago..Good Book !! Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, Richard Leigh

[newgeezer]

Gee...I wonder if they'd ever do the story: "Was Mohammad a slave-owning, polygamist?"

They would, if they thought it'd win the November sweeps. (By the way, you forgot pedophile.)

[HarleyD]

Don't forget Matthew 19: 10-12

"The disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."

I guess some people can't accept it!

[Steve_Seattle]

"They would [take a critical look at the life of Mohammed], if they thought it'd win the November sweeps. (By the way, you forgot pedophile.)"

I doubt it. Political correctness would trump any sweeps strategy. For the mainstream media, Christianity remains the only religion which can be criticized, distorted, and condemned.

[CobaltBlue]

I read the book this weekend. It really is a page turner, kept me up very late Friday and Saturday night.

One thing it's important to note - the author doesn't present the theories about Jesus and Mary Magdalene as if they are the actual truth, but as if they are theories of the characters in the book. He doesn't discount them, either.

One thing I learned which I thought was very interesting. Take a look at the recently restored "Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci. The figure on His right clearly is a woman, and if you take her out of the count, there are only 11 disciples in the painting. Then in the group of disciples on your left of the painting, Jesus's right, floating in the middle is a disembodied hand holding a knife. Weird.
http://artchive.floridaimaging.com/l/leonardo/lastsupp.jpg

[nightdriver]

"I guess some people can't accept it!"

I think you're right.

And then there are always those who are deathly afraid of anyone who has the authority to judge them morally, so they are always trying to discredit God and the Bible.

[The Grammarian]

As the Bible records Jesus himself as saying, "Be not alarmed that the world hates you, for it hated me first, and the student is not above his teacher."

[Snowy]

... and then there are those people who are not secure enough to see other possibilities.

[biblewonk]

Gee...I wonder if they'd ever do the story: "Was Mohammad a slave-owning, polygamist?"

They would, if they thought it'd win the November sweeps. (By the way, you forgot pedophile.)

And those are just a few of his less violent faults.

[newgeezer]

I doubt it. Political correctness would trump any sweeps strategy.

It sounds like you think these people side with political correctness due to some sort of strong (even 'moral') convictions they hold dear. On the contrary, I think their politics are shaped completely by their ability to make a buck. So, if they thought a no-holds-barred look at the life of Mohammed would be good for their bottom line, they'd rush to air it.

Unfortunately, the anticipated backlash from such a move prevents that from being a smart business decision today. Christianity is an easy target; we know we're right, no matter what the entertainment world does. Rather than protest, most of us are content to ignore them. God's will be done, in spite of their lame attempts to derail Him.

[The Grammarian]

However, that is not what the original bible (untranslated) meant. The word we translated into 'meek' really was closer to meaning 'learned', which makes more sense. If you have ever taken Latin, Greek, or other ancient language, you will understand that many words are not perfectly translated into English.

I don't know where you got the idea that praeis (translated "meek" in the KJV of Matthew 5:5) means 'learned.' Strong's marks it as 'gentleness of disposition, gentleness.' According to the word study W.E. Sangster did in his hagiography The Pure In Heart, it can be translated as 'gentleness,' 'forebearance,' and even 'kindness.' He also says, "Aristotle uses it as the mean between irascibility on the one hand and lack of anger on the other--thought it is clearly nearer to the latter than the former. 'Equanimity' is the central meaning Aristotle has in mind." My Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon from Oxford Press says that it means, 'Mild, soft, gentle, meek.' Nowhere does it mean 'learned.'

As far as the meaning of the Beatitude, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth," the common Christian understanding is that the gentle of disposition will inherit "the land" (thn ghn), which Adam Clarke and others say is "commonly used by the prophets to signify the land of Canaan, in which all temporal good abounded, #Jud 18:9, 10," and that "Jesus Christ points out that abundance of spiritual good, which was provided for men in the Gospel. Besides, Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God; and who is so likely to inherit glory as the man in whom the meekness and gentleness of Jesus dwell?"