Was Jesus Married?

[James the Persian]

The West does have doubts, James

Michel,

My point was not that everyone in west accepts that St. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute but that this idea was peculiar to the west and unknown in the east, thus proving that the popular notion that the Church tried to blacken her name to denigrate females (as is claimed by Dan Brown and others who are, or who are sympathetic to the, neo-Gnostics) is false. I'm fully aware that there are many in the west who do not accept St. Gregory the Great's error, but my point was that this was the error of one undeniably influential man rather than the official teaching of the Church. There was no conspiracy.

James

 

[Merlin]

Objectivity is rare in this case, because an objective observer often realizes the truth and joins the church.

May I respectfully suggest that you are being very hard on 'the rest of the world'. There are a huge number of people who are completely objective in their study of and listening to other people's faith systems. I completely agree that it is difficult at first to be objective. I suspect you would never be objective in studying another Christian tradition. But some others are.

If you are genuinely objective, then (excluding some lunatic fringe Christian sects) you will find that the differences between all of the mainstream Christian traditions are in reality very small. If we take away arguments about whoes priests have the only 'hotline' to God, and if we stop arguing about minor wording in various sacraments, then the fundamental beliefs are identical.

 

[michel]

If we take away arguments about who's priests have the only 'hotline' to God, and if we stop arguing about minor wording in various sacraments, then the fundamental beliefs are identical.

Merlin, I would respectfully like to remind you, that, to the Christians concerned, those (what you see as tiny) differences are fundementals, and are points that cause a great deal of angst.

While I personally agree with you (one the whole0 let us not deny the orthoxy (and other branches of Christianity) their right to their own views.

 

[James the Persian]

May I respectfully suggest that you are being very hard on 'the rest of the world'. There are a huge number of people who are completely objective in their study of and listening to other people's faith systems. I completely agree that it is difficult at first to be objective. I suspect you would never be objective in studying another Christian tradition. But some others are.

If you are genuinely objective, then (excluding some lunatic fringe Christian sects) you will find that the differences between all of the mainstream Christian traditions are in reality very small. If we take away arguments about whoes priests have the only 'hotline' to God, and if we stop arguing about minor wording in various sacraments, then the fundamental beliefs are identical.

You clearly aren't familiar with Orthodoxy (either Eastern or Oriental). Our beliefs are often very different from western Christians - particularly when it comes to some of the low church Protestant or non-Denominational groups. I'd say that the differences between us and even our nearest western neighbours, the Roman Catholics, are pretty huge. The whole mindset of Orthodox faith is different. I know this from personal experience having converted to Orthodoxy from Lutheranism as an adult. As far as Protestants go, Lutherans are probably as close to Orthodoxy as you can get but still the chasm is vast.

James

 

[Merlin]

You clearly aren't familiar with Orthodoxy (either Eastern or Oriental). Our beliefs are often very different from western Christians - particularly when it comes to some of the low church Protestant or non-Denominational groups. I'd say that the differences between us and even our nearest western neighbours, the Roman Catholics, are pretty huge. The whole mindset of Orthodox faith is different. I know this from personal experience having converted to Orthodoxy from Lutheranism as an adult. As far as Protestants go, Lutherans are probably as close to Orthodoxy as you can get but still the chasm is vast.

James

I would be genuinely interested in (say) the top five main differences.

 

[Bennettresearch]

I'd like to say something, **(steps aside and waits for dust to settle)**

I am only talking about my impression because of all of the questions brought up about this subject. It appears that Jesus was much like John the Baptist in as much as He traveled around a lot. Also, many prophets wandered in the desert or wilderness to get away from society so that they could get their thoughts together and have spiritual experiences. It also appears that Mary was a candidate for Jesus but there might not have been the time for them to get married and settled down as the story unfolded. I know that the Gnostic Gospels talk like Jesus and Mary were acting more like boy and girlfriend than a formal relationship. The whole question of whether they had sex is still a mystery. Jesus may have held off on this due to religious beliefs, or possibly, there was never a private moment that they could have done it without everyone knowing.
The whole Da Vinci code thing certainly believes this happened.

 

[Bennettresearch]

I would be genuinely interested in (say) the top five main differences.

I second this motion. Yes James, you are very knowledgeable so please share this with us. I would find it interesting too.