Christians should riot and light stuff on fire and act like complete savages because of this insult to Jesus. After the carnage makes its way to the news, Obama ought to release a statement condemning this hate speech and find out who wrote the article and have them locked up. http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blog...ions-wife-000319173--abc-news-topstories.html Was Jesus Married? Old Papyrus Mentions 'Wife' A small fragment of faded papyrus contains a suggestion that Jesus may have been married. The fragment, with just eight lines of text on the front and six lines on the back, is from a fourth-century dialogue, written in the Coptic language, between Jesus and his disciples. In it, Jesus speaks of "my wife," according to Harvard professor Karen L. King, who discovered the fragment. "The most exciting line in the whole fragmentâ¦is the sentence 'Jesus said to them [his disciples], my wifeâ¦" King said in a video posted to Harvard's YouTube channel. The next line of text reads, "She will be able to be my disciple." "This is the only extant ancient text which explicitly portrays Jesus as referring to a wife," King wrote in her paper on the discovery. The discovery, if it is validated, could have major implications for the Christian faith. The belief that Jesus was not married is one reason priests in the Catholic Church must remain celibate and are not allowed to marry. It could also have implications for women's roles in the church, as it would mean Jesus had a female disciple. For centuries, there has been debate about the possibility that Jesus was married, with many believing he might have had a relationship with Mary Magdalene, who is mentioned prominently in the New Testament. The speculation was even the subject of Dan Brown's best seller, The Da Vinci Code. King stresses that the new discovery "does not provide evidence that the historical Jesus was married." However, King writes, "the fragment does provide direct evidence that claims about Jesus' marital status first arose over a century after the death of Jesus in the context of intra-Christian controversies over sexuality, marriage, and discipleship." In the years after Jesus' death, Christians debated what was the correct way to follow Jesus' example and lifestyle. King says the parchment might simply mean that some Christians believed after Jesus' death that he was married during his life. While working to determine whether the papyrus was a forgery, King said she was particularly interested in also researching the first time anybody stated that Jesus did not have a wife. "I was surprised to find that it is indeed right during the same period when we're dating this fragment," King said. That means it was long after Jesus' death that the question was first raised about whether or not Jesus was married - and this small fragment appears to state that he was. King presented her research at the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies in Rome.
I find this story amusing. Even Fox is reporting it as some startling revelation. The fact is: 1) There was a big debate in the 2nd century about the possibility of Jesus having a wife. We know this from existing documents from this period. But, none of these people were first hand witnesses. It was like us arguing about the life of George Washington today. 2) The document in question is a very small scrap of papyrus just a few inches in size. The text is incomplete and full sentences are absent. The sentence they refer to has only two words showing, "My wife...." Not knowing the rest leads one to realize that this means nothing. 3) This scrap of papyrus supposedly was from the 4th century. This was after the discussions in the 2nd century by 200 more years and probably was someone writing about that period or who knows what else. 4) There are still doubts as to the authenticity of this fragment. 5) There is also some discussion about the word used for "wife" on this fragment which may simply mean a female friend you broke bread with. 6) But, I Agree that we should riot and find this obviously liberal Harvard professor and string her up from the nearest tree for putting this heresy out there.
Of course, this is all over the new testament. The Bride of Christ is the Church. Remember the parables about the wedding ceremony that the invited guests refused to attend?