US TV set for 'Jesus wife' storm

BBC ^ | 10/31/03

[nypokerface]

A leading US TV news reporter has said her network is taking a risk with a news special which asks whether Jesus Christ had a wife.

ABC's Elizabeth Vargas said Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci, to be shown in the US on Monday night, was being made "as respectfully as we can".

But she admitted: "You can't talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people."

The programme is partly based on the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

The book alleges Mary Magdalene - a biblical figure widely thought to have been a prostitute - was actually Jesus's wife.

The book also asserts Magdalene fled Jerusalem with Jesus' child after his crucifixion.

This story was supposed to have been kept alive by a secret society that included the medieval painter and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci.

Da Vinci left clues about the story in his art, the novel alleged.

ABC have already screened the special, which talks to some theologians to try and unravel the theory, for some journalists and religious leaders.

'Crackpot theory'

It has already drawn criticism from a representative of the Catholic League, Joseph Feo, who said the news special had relied too much on the opinions of Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame.

Father McBrien is said to believe the historical importance of Mary Magdalene had been under-rated.

Mr De Feo said: "The majority of the people who spoke believed in either the plausibility or the outright truth of [book author] Dan Brown's claims. The facts themselves scream out that this is a crackpot theory."

Vargas said ABC had not found any proof as to whether Jesus had a wife, but could not completely discount the theory either.

"For me, it's made religion more real and, ironically, much more interesting - which is what we're hoping to do for our viewers," she said.

[ItsForTheChildren]

Saturdays, at 9pm, it's Meet The Christs!

[Koblenz]

Well, Jesus is a religious figure in the Muslim faith. Maybe if Muslims object, then the TV movie will be pulled. Christian objections won't achieve anything, but maybe Muslim objections will...

[green iguana]

LOL - But shouldn't that be a Sunday show?

[SoothingDave]

Why would Jesus being married cause problems for the Christian faith?

Conceptually it does not.

For all practical purposes, however, it is simply something that is not true. If it were, it would have been part of the story passed down from generation to generation. It is not.

That said, to suggest the the Church and the Bible just failed to mention Jesus' wife is problematic. First, if He was indeed married and had a family, why was He out wandering around Judea? Did He abandon His wife and kids? That hardly seems appropriate.

And on a much more basic level, Jesus was the Incarnation of the Living God. He lived a life without sin. Exactly how cosmically unfair would it be to have Jesus as your father? What child could ever live up to such a role?

SD

[DannyTN]

"was being made "as respectfully as we can".

That's like me suggesting as respectfully as I can that the ABC executive's mothers were prostitutes and drug addicts.

[gulfcoastgumbo]

I am just finishing reading The Da Vinci Code...I think Christians and Jews should be sickened by it, although the Catholic faith is attacked. It is promoting paganism wrapped in a slightly interesting mystery.

[BabsC]

How about moho as a raging epileptic pedophile who invents a religion to satisfy the voices he hears in his head?

--who invents a religion to "explain" the voices and "justify" his lust for young girls as many as he could get. (married to a wealthy widow, who also didn't want her younger man's insanity to be known, then married 14 times over the next 11 years after her death. Only his daughters survived, guess he didn't want competition)

[Hollywoodghost]

I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ Latter day saints (Mormons) Believe he was married. What would make a better symbol to express his coming to the corrupt world to save it than redeeming and marring a whore?

[Gargantua]

As you know, the Christian faith is based upon the Bible. The Bible is clear about Jesus' life, and this TV show (and questions like yours), while provocative, are just more fulfillment of the prophecies that human scum would assail and mock God's Holy Word in the Bible.

God knows what is in your heart, and you will be accountable for it to Him. Best of luck.

;-/

[BlueLancer]

The Jesus Scroll
This book presented that theory (among others) many many years ago.

[Ogmios]

Geez, I was just asking a question and here you are condemning me to hell.

Sometimes people take themselves far too seriously, you being one of them.

[cars for sale]

do the "numbers" to the supposed code and they don't add up................oops

.....like global warming
start the theory,state it as fact,and get on the govt
teat to solve the made up problem ( or get the capitol
away from the people)

the treatment of Mel Gibson is more telling than the bible re-write

[txzman]

You don't put words or ideas into the Bible that aren't there - what is revealed to us is what we know. The rest is wasted mythology and speculation. And in this case GARBAGE.

[SoothingDave]

I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ Latter day saints (Mormons) Believe he was married.

I don't know what Mormons believe. They have some strange ones.

What would make a better symbol to express his coming to the corrupt world to save it than redeeming and marrying a whore?

How about taking on humanity and uniting it to Himself, to enable us to likewise become united with God?

SD

[JesseHousman]

When will they expose muhammed as a pedophile old scumbag?

[nightdriver]

"Why would Jesus being married cause problems for the Christian faith?"

It would be a humongous (that means big!) problem precisely because all the prophesies about Christ claim that he left no seed, no progeny.

The Biblical prophesies are the only authoritative revelation we have of Christ's existence, if some johnny-come-lately novel is considered to be more authoritative with a different story, all Christianity not only has a "problem," it collapses completely.

(Maybe that is the motivation behind the apocrophal stories, anyway.)

[WackyKat]

You don't put words or ideas into the Bible that aren't there

Christianity contains an enormous amount of doctrine and theology that isn't in the Bible..

[Cicero]

They're perfectly well aware that most Christians will turn the other cheek when insulted, while Muslims have a habit of killing people.

Those folks at the Brooklyn Museum who exhibited a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary smeared with elephant dung were probably in greater danger from Muslims than from Christians.

It's not permitted to show a picture of Muhammed, so you won't find any TV broadcaster doing it. But they're happy to insult Jesus. Let's hope the studio gets hit by lightning.

[Ogmios]

You see, Christains aren't going to blow up the studio and kill a bunch of people.

Muslims will actually kill people when they are pissed off, whereas Christians will voice their opinions strongly, and not kill people in the process.

[cars for sale]

shoot let's take this deeper

it is spewed like religious fact that "65
million years ago dinasours.." (fill in the blanks)
but here is the problem...........................

you walk into a room and in that room is a lit candle, 7 inches tall.
prior to your entrance no one has EVER been in that room.
no one ..........ever

the question is.....how tall was that candle before it
was lit ?

there is no accurate answer, not enough information

so the follow-up question by proxy(unless you are Larry King) would be ...when was the world started,I mean
the day year hour second type of thingie.
(Science and math do root in undeniable facts right?)

I just proved it doesn't here