Was Jesus married? Hal Lindsey debunks ABC program as baseless speculation

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, November 6, 2003 | Hal Lindsey

[JohnHuang2]

Was Jesus married?

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Posted: November 6, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

I was stunned by the audacity of the ABC News special, "Jesus, Mary and DaVinci," which sought to build a case that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. They even went so far as to give credence to a completely unfounded myth that he had a child by her.

Using unfounded and speculative sources, they sought to build a case on assumptions to prove their suppositions. The amazing thing to me is why a major network would give primetime to such baseless speculation that is in extreme conflict with the well-established history of the Bible.

Simon Greenleaf, who was head of the Harvard Law School for nearly 30 years, is recognized as the world's greatest authority on legal evidence. His volumes, called "The Laws of Legal Evidence," are still the standard work on how to evaluate evidence in the courtrooms.

In response to a challenge, he wrote a book called "The Testimony of the Four Evangelists." He evaluated the New Testament and ancient extra-biblical history using his "Laws of Legal Evidence." He concluded that the veracity of the Four Gospels is supported by fuller and better evidence than any other documents from antiquity.

One of the arguments he presented was based on the principle that the best evidence to support a case is the witness of the opposition. In the case of Jesus Christ, that pertained to the witness and actions of the Jewish religious leaders who had every motive to disprove any statement about Jesus that was not true. They were at such enmity with Jesus that they engineered his crucifixion.

So if they could have disproved or discredited any statement the Apostles first preached and then wrote about Jesus, they had every motive to do so. Within 50 days after the Crucifixion, the disciples of Jesus proclaimed all of the things in the streets of Jerusalem, later written down in the Gospels. If they could have disproved any point, they would have destroyed the movement at its beginning. Christianity would have been destroyed before it began.

But instead, we find they had no answers. So they put them to death to silence them, which was a moot admission that they had no case against what the disciples were proclaiming from the rooftops.

The real problem this ABC program brought out is how impossible it is for a person who is not born spiritually to understand spiritual things. The Bible declares: "The man without spiritual life does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:13).

This is why Jesus told a great religious leader of his time, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot perceive the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). He basically told the teacher that he couldn't talk to him about the things of God's kingdom until he was born spiritually. It is like trying to teach a man born blind what a rainbow looks like.

The natural man can only look at a man-woman relationship from a sexually based orientation. I am not saying that sex is in itself bad. In God's will, it is a wonderful gift. But there is a spiritual kind of love that God gives that is not sexual. It is a love that seeks the greatest good for the opposite sex. Jesus saw women in terms of their greater need for deliverance from sin and a relationship with God.

It is impossible for a person without God-given spiritual life to comprehend the true nature of the person of Jesus Christ and His all consuming reason for coming to Earth.

Jesus was driven by the mission for which his Father sent Him into the world. He said, "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). And on another occasion, He said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34) and "For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise Him up on the last day" (John 6:38-39).

This is the part that is so difficult for a person without spiritual life to understand. Jesus stated seven times in the Gospel of John that he came down from Heaven (John 6:33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, and 58). Jesus knew that He was both man and God in one person. He was truly man, but He was also the eternal second person of the Godhead who came down and took upon Himself a true human nature.

This is beautifully illustrated by His testimony to a hostile interrogation from the religious leaders. He made the statement that Abraham had foreseen His coming and rejoiced. The religious leaders challenged, "You are not yet 50 years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM" (John 8:57-58). Since Abraham had lived 2,000 years before this, what He was claiming is clear.

Jesus loved women, but with a kind of love that the unregenerate carnal mind cannot understand. If you would like to understand, then accept the gift of pardon for your sins that He died in your place to give you as a gift.

[Just mythoughts]

Hey let's not forget that the Heavenly Father "DIVORCED" Israel in the OLD Testment.

So in order to divorce, one must be married first, when did that "wedding" occur?

[mhking]

I watched the special (at least most of it) Monday night.

I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't give the theory any special credence, and actually presented just as much evidence that the "marriage" theory was so much used food. The special was more akin to a scholarly examination that I would have expected from the Discovery Channel or the History Channel than from ABC.

[truthchaser]

It's been around forever, and now it's getting a bunch of attention again because of a novel, and of course the media are more than happy to jump on ANY bandwagon that attempts to tear down Christ.

So true. Et in NY Times Bestseller List Ergo, right? Instant success forumula... stir up the New Age crowd and the socio-secularists with the grand revelation that a 2000 year old religion, the largest faith in the world by far, actually has mystical legends and traditions?

[Elsie]

Which one>

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-- King James
John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

-- American Standard
John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

-- New International
John 3:3  In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. "

 

-- Literal (Strong's numbers)

 John 3:3  |0611| answered |2424| Jesus |2532| and |2036| said |0846| to him, |0281| Truly, |0281| truly, |3004| I say |4671| to you, |3362| Except |5100| one |1080| receive birth |0509| from above, |3756| not |1410| he is able |1492| to see |3588| the |0932| kingdom |3588| of |2316| God!

 

 

Strong's Ref. # 509

 

Romanized  anothen
Pronounced an'-o-then

 

from GSN0507; from above; by analogy, from the first; by implication, anew:

 

KJV--from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

If the early Christians had claimed he was married, and if the disciples had recorded this in the books of the Bible, you might have a point.

But the fact that this isn't found in the Bible gives the most credence to the claim that this is a LIE.

If you use the Bible as a tool to understand who Jesus is, then you must then question why it isn't included in the text.

[longtermmemmory]

How long before CBS does a miniseries called "the jesus". The docudrama that will "reinterprit" the jesus story. This will make Jesus the PC victim de jour and really against all conservative stuff, pro homosexual, pro democrat party by specific "quotes", and opposed to school vouchers.

[Lost Highway]

Jesus loved women, but with a kind of love that the unregenerate carnal mind cannot understand. If you would like to understand, then accept the gift of pardon for your sins that He died in your place to give you as a gift.

Wow. Amen to that.

[Elsie]

So in order to divorce, one must be married first, when did that "wedding" occur?

 

I don't know, but................

 

 

Isaiah 50:1

  This is what the LORD says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

 

 

Isaiah 54:5-6
 5.  For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
 6.  The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit-- a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God.

 

 

Jeremiah 3:8
  I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.

 

[Just mythoughts]

The subject is what? "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him."

Now Christ responds with "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born "again", he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Then Nicodemus asks "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Is not a baby carried in water till birth and just when does that soul get placed in that flesh?

So talking about flesh dimension and spirit dimension.

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

John 3:12 -13 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He That came down from heaven, even the Son of man Which is in heaven.

II Corinthians 5 has some interesting insight about flesh versus spirit body. The book of Jude gives further insight.

[discipler]

Right, being married and having children is not sin. It is an error of Lindsey and others to suggest so. Hey guess what Hal, Jesus ate food. Does His eating imply carnal appetites? I don't think so. I would conclude by reading Scripture that Jesus was not married. But not for the reasons given by Lindsey. The real damage, as I see it, is to those who accept that marriage is somehow demeaning and carnal: if they accepted the major and minor premise, then their faith in Christ might be shaken. It is also dangerous to be so careless with Scripture as to read such things into it. All sorts of things can be read into the text; that is far different from drawing the truth out of the text. Drawing from the text, Jesus was not married (he also was not a gay interior designer).

[weegee]

The show's supposition is just that, a supposition. I could guess that Winston Churchill was actually a Zulu warrior who killed the real Wnston Churchill and then took on his identity using voodoo. Funny? Silly? H**** yeah. Anyone can make guesses and try to potray them as facts.

Have you seen the screener tape of the SeeBS docudrama on Winston Churchill? That scene is in there!!!

[pepsionice]

You forgot.....would Jesus prefer Pepsi or Coke?

[ArGee]

Dunno whether or not he was married, but the person to his right in the Da Vinci painting looks like a female to me.

And since Da Vinci was there painting "The Last Supper" as it was actually being eaten, we know it's true.

Don't worry about the fact that Da Vinci has them sitting in chairs but they were really reclining on cushons. Don't worry about the sun in the window even though passover seders are eaten at night. Don't worry about the puffy rolls on the table that, by law, could only have unleavened bread on it. These little details are just artistic license and in no way detract from the essential truthfulness of the femininity of the person on Jesus' right.

Considering what Da Vinci didn't know about first century Judaism, I'm not at all concerned with whatever crackpot theories he might have had about its greatest Rabbi.

Shalom.

[per loin]

In short, you agree that the figure in the painting is a woman?

[ArGee]

In short, you agree that the figure in the painting is a woman?

No, I don't have a copy in front of me, and never looked before to determine if I thought so.

I just thought the other errors were worth noting to underscore why I would not care.

Shalom.

[per loin]

I'd be interested in knowing your opinion on the gender of the figure in the painting after you've looked at it.

[gcruse]

the unregenerate carnal mind

This point was made well on the TV show.  Hostile denials of the possibility
of Jesus being married when the scriptures are pretty much neutral in this
regard, imply the question of whether Jesus' being married would be a thing
of   dirtiness and carnality.  This view of married sex limns a religion wholly
out of touch with the need for human continuity.  I don't particularly believe
Jesus married,  but if he did, how could that possibly be a negative thing
for believers?

[dr_who_2]

I was afraid to ask that question.

[WhiteGuy]

I think we can all agree that this is a subject that is worthy of deep thought and consideration.

One question.......................

What does TV's Barney Miller know about theology?

[CollegeRepublican]

I don't particularly believe Jesus married, but if he did, how could that possibly be a negative thing for believers?

It is not so much that Jesus might have been married, but that he had a child that upsets believers. Jesus, according to belief and tradition is divine, if he has mortal children what does that mean for his divinity?