aidan

I watched The Davinci Code again.A piece of rubbish but entertaining.I like Ron Howard's direction and Hanks' acting.Dos it matter if Jesus left a blood line?

Yeshua

As far as the Baha'i understanding is concerned:

"...Reflect, and be not of them that have shut themselves out as by a veil from Him, and were of those that are fast asleep. He that married not (Jesus Christ) could find no place wherein to abide, nor where to lay His head, by reason of what the hands of the treacherous had 50 wrought. His holiness consisted not in the things ye have believed and imagined, but rather in the things which belong unto Us. Ask, that ye may be made aware of His station which hath been exalted above the vain imaginings of all the peoples of the earth. Blessed are they that understand.

(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 48)

I see nothing wrong with Da Vinci Code, so long as one remembers that it is just an entertaining novel.

However I do have a problem with it when people claim it to be real, that Jesus did have a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene and that the Church hid it. This is false, ridiculous and slanderous in my pov.

Theoretically however, if Jesus had decided to marry and have children there would have been no ethical issue. But he didn't! So why do people make up myths?

aidan

[QUOTE=Yeshua;23752]As far as the Baha'i understanding is concerned:

"...Reflect, and be not of them that have shut themselves out as by a veil from Him, and were of those that are fast asleep. He that married not (Jesus Christ) could find no place wherein to abide, nor where to lay His head, by reason of what the hands of the treacherous had 50 wrought. His holiness consisted not in the things ye have believed and imagined, but rather in the things which belong unto Us. Ask, that ye may be made aware of His station which hath been exalted above the vain imaginings of all the peoples of the earth. Blessed are they that understand.

(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 48)

I see nothing wrong with Da Vinci Code, so long as one remembers that it is just an entertaining novel.

However I do have a problem with it when people claim it to be real, that Jesus did have a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene and that the Church hid it. This is false, ridiculous and slanderous in my pov.

Theoretically however, if Jesus had decided to marry and have children there would have been no ethical issue. But he didn't! So why do people make up myths?[/QUOThere is indeed no ethical issue and cospiracy theorists love to speculate.Whether or not Jesus left a blood line is of no relevance and in no way detracts om his message.It is an interesting conversation piece

Eftekhar Be Khoda

I don't think Da Vinci Code is the problem. The guy writes Fiction. Decent fiction, but fiction. It never ceases to amaze me that people take it for real -- his other novels are conspiracies about covering up aliens -- I don't see anyone taking that seriously. I think part of the trouble is that people are more prone in this age to see Jesus as more human than in the past, and DVC appeals to that impulse by giving it a story -- a love story at that.

LordOfGoblins

THe problem is man doesnt recognise love-bonds that are not physical and spiritual. They think a man and woman who are in love must be having sex! hA. minds in the gutter. Higher love is not expressed through the physical love that we are familar with and hollywood is yet to catch on for sure.

cire perdue

It is easier to have sex with a stranger than to be completely honest with a loved one. Real intimacy is more close to the true spiritual nature of being in a relationship. Sex is just a symbol of it, and without love, sex is more of the act of an animal, or the discharge of a bodily function.

aidan

Sex sometims gets a bad press.Agreed,sex with a stranger is unfulfilling and can ofen cause feelings of degradation and self-loathing.However it is a deeply meaningful expression of love between man and woman in a loving caring relationship.It is a very potent way of communicating your dependance to the one whom you love most on this earth

Yeshua

I don't believe that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus or was involved with him in a sexual way, however I am convinced that she is the Beloved Disciple, or rather the annoymous "disciple whom Jesus loved" who was the inspiration behind the book that eventually became universally known as the "Gospel According to John". The identity of this "Beloved Disciple" was for some reason hidden/concealed by the final editors of the Fourth Gospel, which is regrettable and unfortunate since it bolsters conspiracy theories.

Many scholars are now coming to the same conclusion - that Mary Magdalene is the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's why its important to clarify that Jesus and Mary M were not amorous lovers. we need to figure out "how" he loved her and why he had a closer relationship with her than he did with any of his other disciples, even his Twelve Apostles.

They had a spiritual love that is beyond comprehension. Her tears at being unable to find his dead body after the Tomb was opened, demonstrates the profound depth of her love for her Lord. That she was the only disciple who refused to desert him, who stayed by his Tomb till the end, is significant.

In the Gospel of Mary, part of the New Testament apocrypha a certain Mary who is commonly identified as Mary Magdalene, is constantly referred to as being loved by Jesus more than the others. In the Gospel of Philip, a Gnostic Nag Hammadi text, the same is specifically said about Mary Magdalene. For example, compare these passages from the Gospel of John and the apocryphal Gospel of Philip:

Gospel of Philip: There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His aunt and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.

Gospel of John: Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her

It is apparent that the Gospel of Philip passage is based on the Gospel of John passage. The same three women crop up. Now it is known that the Gospel of John was read and distributed widely first among the Gnostics, and that they adored it.

Except the Gospel of Philip obviously had access to another, earlier version of the Gospel of John in which Mary Magdalene was clearly called the Beloved Disciple. In the Gospel of John passage above, the disciple whom Jesus loved can only be one of the three women standing at the foot of the cross. The other Gospels confirm that NONE of the male disciples attended Jesus' crucifixtion. So it cannot be the Apostle John.
It must be a woman, if we are to maintain consistency with the other Gospels and the Gospel of John itself.

It can only be 1 out of 3 people:

- His Mother Mary: Not a disciple and a family connection, so obviously not
- His Aunt Mary the Wife of Clopas and mother of his cousin James: Again not a disciple but a close family connection, so obviously not
- Mary Magdalene: Not a family member but a disciple, so obviously HER.

cire perdue

Yeshua, I agree with you. I think it is interesting that Baha'is believe that it was the Magdalene who went to the disciples who were in despair at the lack of a miracle, and told that that He HAD arisen, what was wrong with them, did they understand anything????? To me it is more significant that Baha'is do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, because that means that Christianity did succeed and go forth, not based on a miracle, but on faith. It seems like cheating to teach miracles.

You have heard my favorite confirmation of faith and early Chrisitianity, but I will repeat it. The important change in the belief of life after death changed the world, and this was demonstrated in Rome in approx 150 and 250 AD when there were plagues (In fact Rome was so unhealthy that it brought in immigrants to work in agriculture) and when the Romans fled, they left anyone sick by the road, and barricaded themselves in their homes and died. However the Christians by virture of their belief and a different understanding of what is truly important nursed the sick and even died doing so. Simple nursing care will reduce the death rate by 1/3 and their interventions seemed miraculous, but the real miracle was the change in people's hearts. Remember Rome was a people who savored watching people die for entertainment. Christ did conquer Rome, but not like the Jewish people expected.