Jesus had a twin

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Leo Caesius

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I had a bit of a discussion with one of our departed Catholics about this. It's an extrabiblical tradition. The Catholics claim, in support of their particular tradition, that the Greek text follows the "Semitic" conventions in refering to all of Jesus' cousins as "brothers and sisters" but this is actually the exact opposite of the convention in Aramaic and other Semitic languages - which are quite precise about kinship terms and loath to apply them to people who are not blood relations. For example, the person your mother's brother has married is called your "aunt" in English, whereas in Arabic the equivalent term translates to "wife of my maternal uncle." Cousins are likewise distinguished as to whether they are on the maternal or the paternal side.

It is true that you can refer generically to a close friend as your "brother," just as you often call an older man your "uncle," but the fact is that these terms are used consistently for Jesus' (presumed) relations throughout the New Testament, which suggests to me a rather precise relationship, rather than the occasional application of a slang term.

I'm more than willing to respect the traditional Catholic position on this, but I think in the final analysis it's only as valid as those traditions that claim, for example, that these terms are meant to be interpreted literally and not metaphorically. Who can say? I wasn't there, so I certainly can't.
 
Greek: virgo to English: young woman
Greek: virgo intacta to English: virgin

Some translations left out the intacta part. So, Joseph and Mary had no other children after Jesus, unhun, yeah, right. Joseph was most likely not much older then Mary.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
That's Latin. You're thinking of parthenos, which can mean a young woman of marriageable age or a virgin (something like the term "maiden" in English). Parthenos is famously equivalent to the Hebrew term 'almah in Isaiah, which means a young woman who is "ripe sexually" - either unmarried or newly married.
 
Thanks, I knew it was something like that.

One of my teachers in college, said you could read the Gospel of Thomas in a way that said the human part of the Annionted One was Thomas, and the divine part was Jesus.
 
I think it's interesting how much confusion comes from translating the bible. Was Mary really a virgin? Did Jesus have siblings? I even heard that Jesus didn't die on a cross as we see today, but was instead nailed on to one beam with his hands nailed above his head. Any body know what I am talking about, or did I just make it up?
 
American_Samurai said:
I think it's interesting how much confusion comes from translating the bible. Was Mary really a virgin? Did Jesus have siblings? I even heard that Jesus didn't die on a cross as we see today, but was instead nailed on to one beam with his hands nailed above his head. Any body know what I am talking about, or did I just make it up?

You're talking about the Jo-ho's...I mean, Jehova's Witness :rolleyes:
 
The actual method of crucifixion, if I recall correctly, puts the cross diagonal to the ground, rather than one axis horizontal and the other vertical.
 
But to be a Virgin means you've never had sex. So are you implying that a man wouldn't have sex with his wife after the first child? Because of the male presence in this room, THAT I SERIOUSLY DOUBT.
 
Tradition doesn't superseed the word of God. The word of the pope doesn't superseed the Word of God. Christian actions don't superseed the word of God. The cannon of scirpture is correct in spritual matters.
 
Othniel said:
Tradition doesn't superseed the word of God. The word of the pope doesn't superseed the Word of God. Christian actions don't superseed the word of God. The cannon of scirpture is correct in spritual matters.

Indeed, who are we to doubt the truth of the Sybilline Books :rolleyes:
 

captsabre

Banned
This challenge will look at Jesus of Nazerath as a historical person. Now WI Mary had given birth to twins, one boy and one girl, instead of just Jesus. Would this affect the early church in any way? Plus, what would her name be?
Hey man her name would be merry magdalene , merry christmas or Mary Lucifera.
 

Jerry Kraus

Banned
This challenge will look at Jesus of Nazerath as a historical person. Now WI Mary had given birth to twins, one boy and one girl, instead of just Jesus. Would this affect the early church in any way? Plus, what would her name be?
So, do we now have a Holy Quartenary, instead of a Holy Trinity?
 

Jerry Kraus

Banned
This challenge will look at Jesus of Nazerath as a historical person. Now WI Mary had given birth to twins, one boy and one girl, instead of just Jesus. Would this affect the early church in any way? Plus, what would her name be?
This reminds me in some ways of "The Da Vinci Code", that popular novel of a couple of decades back, in which Jesus and Mary Magdalene are supposed to have had children.

You see, Christianity is actually a rather feminist religion, for the time. The whole idea of a woman bearing the son of God does depart very sharply from the Patriarchal tradition. Indeed, the very image of a pregnant female was a banned image in Greek culture, because of its matriarchal significance.

So, effectively, this adds another "turn of the screw", if we have a daughter and a son of God. I think it would not have been considered credible, at the time. Too big a departure from the Patriarchy. Very interesting idea, though.
 
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