Was Jesus Married?

[roddma]

In a writing forum for a site I work for, my post about common core got turned into religion. I guess it is partly my faulty mentioning all the flak against the Islam unit. I mentioned how while some churches like Catholics have become more accepting of gays etc, single people often feel isolated. They forget Jesus never married. An LDS woman sent me a pm saying they believed Jesus was married and we were created to marry blah blah. Mormons beleive marriages No offense to anyone Mormon but there's no concrete proof one way or the other Jesus married. And it shouldnt matter anyway.What do you think?

[gustava]

According to the Bible, Jesus hung out with a bunch of men. "nuff said.

[blessalessi]

I don't think there is any proof that there was one single historical figure called Jesus, and that all the various texts were referring to the same individual, so whether or not "he" was married is a moot point for me..... :)

I didn't know the LDS believed him to be married though.

[PennySycamore]

The Catholic Church says no marriage as do most Protestants. I did not know that Mormons believe that Jesus was or I'd forgotten.

What Catholics and Protestants disagree on is whether Mary and Joseph had other kids. The Catholic Church holds with Mary's perpetual virginity and Protestants point to the "brothers" of Jesus. The Catholic position is that brothers mean male relatives like cousins and not necessarily siblings. The Protestant position, of course, is that is absurd.

Now some people did get their knickers in a knot over The DaVinci Code and actual, but very controversial, scholarship that suggested that Jesus was married.

[anjulibai]

There are some Apocrypha that claim Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. It was a prominent belief among ancient Gnostic sects that don't exist anymore. But most extant Christian sects don't consider it part of their dogma.

[SPHASH]

According to the Bible, Jesus hung out with a bunch of men. "nuff said.

He also hung out with prostitutes. Guess Josh Duggar really did think he was emulating Jesus.

[roddma]

I wasnt aware Mormons held the belief Jesus married either. All I know is Mormons promote early marriage. While I do feel there was a real person named Jesus from Nazareth, many myths are almost identical to the Jesus resurrection story-eg Buddha and Osiris.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I don't think there is an official Mormon stance, but many seem to believe he was married. Other christian groups, absolutely not.

[FJismyheadship]

Wait... Perpetual virginity even after marrying Joseph? People believe this?

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Wait... Perpetual virginity even after marrying Joseph? People believe this?

Billions of people believe a child was born to a virgin supernaturally impregnated by God. A child who was later able to perform miracles and rise from the dead...but you think a marriage without sex is where the incredulity should kick in? :think:

[clueliss]

My belief in the possibility that Jesus was married (to Mary Magdalene or someone else) is why I don't necessarily consider myself "Christian" today. This is a belief that predates Dan Brown/Da Vinci code and goes back to a book titled Holy Blood/Holy Grail (note - I think the authors of that book made some monumental leaps but the overall theory isn't necessarily all wet).

I find Jesus more relate-able as a married man. And historically it makes more sense in that culture for him to be married and not stand out. Besides the whole notion (to me) of Jesus as single and celibate feels like it makes sex, even inside of marriage, to be a sin - and last time I checked it was not.

[Season of life...]

One of the reasons I can no longer attend church is because I don't like hearing "Jesus died for our sins". I prefer to believe I'm forgiven because he lived as a man, albeit the son of God, and experienced what being a human is really like. He wasn't perfect as a man; he had a temper. I like to think he laughed, loved and enjoyed most of his time here with us. Maybe God couldn't relate, in his perfection, to our foibles, but Jesus got it. He could vouch for why we do some of the things we do. That's why I prefer to think of him living for us, not just dying. I don't talk about this much, for obvious reasons. I just think it's comforting, when I have a low blood sugar tantrum, to know he also may have experienced that kind of bad mood (poor fig tree).

I don't really care if he was married: if yes, then he experienced fuller insight into that part of humanity. If not, he still spent enough time around people to carry some interesting tales back to his dad.

All of the above is my own odd opinion, of course. :)

[SusanAtTheLastBattle]

There was a hullabaloo recently about a so-called Gospel of Jesus' Wife, a papyrus fragment with Coptic words on it: "Jesus said to them, 'My wife...'"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Jesus%27_Wife

Even if the document had been real, it would have been a translation of a Greek text from the 2nd century C.E. It would have been more evidence for the beliefs of Gnostic sects, like anjulibai said, rather than anything related to the historical Jesus.

But it now seems like it was a faked text written on an actually old piece of papyrus. The ruse was discovered by some fun nerdy sleuthing:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/04/2 ... esus-wife/

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... fe/382227/

[Granwych]

One of the reasons I can no longer attend church is because I don't like hearing "Jesus died for our sins". I prefer to believe I'm forgiven because he lived as a man, albeit the son of God, and experienced what being a human is really like. He wasn't perfect as a man; he had a temper. I like to think he laughed, loved and enjoyed most of his time here with us. Maybe God couldn't relate, in his perfection, to our foibles, but Jesus got it. He could vouch for why we do some of the things we do. That's why I prefer to think of him living for us, not just dying. I don't talk about this much, for obvious reasons. I just think it's comforting, when I have a low blood sugar tantrum, to know he also may have experienced that kind of bad mood (poor fig tree).

I don't really care if he was married: if yes, then he experienced fuller insight into that part of humanity. If not, he still spent enough time around people to carry some interesting tales back to his dad.

All of the above is my own odd opinion, of course. :)

Whenever I hear the "Jesus died for our sins," I remember the line from a Patti Smith song that goes "Jesus died for your sins, not mine--"

[danvillebelle]

Wait... Perpetual virginity even after marrying Joseph? People believe this?

That is what the vast majority of Christians worldwide believe (Catholics and Orthodox). Protestants are in the minority and against most of Christian history and tradition believing otherwise.

[ADoyle90815]

I don't think there is an official Mormon stance, but many seem to believe he was married. Other christian groups, absolutely not.

I've never heard anything official from the LDS church, but many Mormons I do know believe that Jesus was married. This belief held by many Mormons is one of the reasons why some Protestant denominations teach that the LDS church isn't a Christian church. That's because most Christians don't believe that Jesus was married. It could also be said that the perpetual virginity of Mary which is what many Christians believe is why women are considered to be evil if they dare to enjoy sex itself.

[PopRox]

One of the reasons I can no longer attend church is because I don't like hearing "Jesus died for our sins". I prefer to believe I'm forgiven because he lived as a man, albeit the son of God, and experienced what being a human is really like. He wasn't perfect as a man; he had a temper. I like to think he laughed, loved and enjoyed most of his time here with us. Maybe God couldn't relate, in his perfection, to our foibles, but Jesus got it. He could vouch for why we do some of the things we do. That's why I prefer to think of him living for us, not just dying. I don't talk about this much, for obvious reasons. I just think it's comforting, when I have a low blood sugar tantrum, to know he also may have experienced that kind of bad mood (poor fig tree).

I don't really care if he was married: if yes, then he experienced fuller insight into that part of humanity. If not, he still spent enough time around people to carry some interesting tales back to his dad.

All of the above is my own odd opinion, of course. :)

Wow. Thank you for that. I feel the exact same way, and I don't attend church anymore either.

Nice to know I am not alone. :)

[roddma]

I find Jesus more relate-able as a married man. And historically it makes more sense in that culture for him to be married and not stand out. Besides the whole notion (to me) of Jesus as single and celibate feels like it makes sex, even inside of marriage, to be a sin - and last time I checked it was not.

This is another common argument in support Jesus being married considering marriages were arranged. But if he was married, would we all need to marry to consider ourselves Christ- like or we live in sin otherwise? The whole point of the alleged sinless Jesus sent to save us from sin was to make him stand out. Marriage would make him like everyone else. Even though according to teachings,he wouldn't be sinning by being married.Then, there were still plenty of single people in his day.

gotquestions.org/was-Jesus-married.html

Though an older article, number 2 stands out to me.

religionnews.com/2014/11/19/5-reasons-want-believe-jesus-married/

[Deist woman]

I don't mean to offend anyone, but one bible verse has always made me do a double take:

AKJV John 13

21When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you shall betray me. 22Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. 23Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spoke. 25He then lying on Jesus' breast said to him, Lord, who is it? 26Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.

That disciple was singled out in many translations as "the one whom Jesus loved", indicating an especially close relationship. This close relationship was acknowledged by the other disciples when they asked the man leaning on Jesus' bosom to ask a question, signifying that he would have more influence to ask the question.

Make of it what you will.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Back in the 1980s or early 1990s, I read an article in Spin or Rolling Stone magazine about a renegade Catholic priest who believed Jesus may have been a widower. The Bible says nothing about Jesus' life between age 12 and age 30. This priest believed He may have been married at some point during this time period, his wife died, and out of this tragic event Jesus started His ministry.

I'm not saying I believe this. I don't know anything about it one way or the other. It's possible.

Of course, one could argue if Jesus had a wife, why didn't He heal her or stop her from getting sick or whatever in the first place? But maybe He couldn't, or wasn't allowed to. There are other incidents in the Gospels where Jesus could have used His power, but refrained from doing so. Basically, He could use it to help others, but not so much Himself.

[Foudeb]

Back in the 1980s or early 1990s, I read an article in Spin or Rolling Stone magazine about a renegade Catholic priest who believed Jesus may have been a widower. The Bible says nothing about Jesus' life between age 12 and age 30. This priest believed He may have been married at some point during this time period, his wife died, and out of this tragic event Jesus started His ministry.

It would make a lot of sense - being unmarried at 30 at that time would have been very odd - life expectancy was a lot lower than it is now so few people would have waited that long. Losing your wife and maybe kid(s) on the other hand (some infectious disease maybe) would be a good explanation as to why someone would leave their dad's carpentry business and their elderly mum to become homeless and preach about how there is life after death.

[albanuadh_1]

I don't think there is any proof that there was one single historical figure called Jesus, and that all the various texts were referring to the same individual, so whether or not "he" was married is a moot point for me.....

Did you ever read Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart. D. Ehrman. ( agnostic ).

[formergothardite]

Did you ever read Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart. D. Ehrman. ( agnostic ).

That book didn't prove a historical Jesus existed. I'm not going to rule out the possibility that there was a poor carpenter named Jesus who lived in Galilee and was killed, because it was a common name, being a carpenter wasn't that unusual, and neither was being crucified. But clearly the Jesus from the Bible didn't exist because it just isn't possible. There really isn't any evidence that the myth of Jesus was based on one person who lived a life slightly similar to what was in the Bible.

[nolongerIFBx]

In my experience growing up IFBx and even now, Jesus was believed to be unmarried because Christians are the Bride of Christ and He wouldn't be a polygamist and, of course, no wife is ever mentioned.

Just thinking now, a verse that would lead me to think that He was not married is Luke 9:58/Matthew 8:20- "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." If Jesus did not have a home, where did His wife live? It would not have been acceptable for Him not to provide for her as she would not have a way of earning a living for herself.

[Foudeb]

[align=center]she would not have a way of earning a living for herself.