For those who love to follow the marriages of the rich and famous, this week was a real doozy. In a new book, researchers are claiming evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two sons. In the meantime, a new publication on the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that Church founder Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives including one who was only 14 years old.
The findings in the new book “The Lost Gospel,” by Professor Barrie Wilson and writer Simcha Jacobovici seems like something out of “The Da Vinci Code.” It is based on the transcript of an ancient manuscript which tells the story of Jesus’s two sons and his marriage to Mary. The manuscript dates back to 570 AD and written in Syriac — a Middle Eastern literary language used between the 4th and 8th centuries and related to Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. It was written on animal skin or vellum and has been siting in the archives of the British Library for about 20 years after being held since 1847 at the British Museum (which bought it from a dealer who said he had obtained it from the ancient St Macarius Monastery in Egypt). Jacobovici, an Israeli-Canadian film-maker, and Wilson, a professor of religious studies in Toronto, decided to reexamine the text and believe that it contains a missing fifth gospel and confirms not just the long debate marriage to Mary but progeny of Jesus.
The news on the plural marriages of Joseph Smith is remarkable not only for its disclosure but its source. The LDS Church has always been highly reluctant to discuss the status of Smith as a polygamous. However, it was the Church that released the detailed account this month. It is a refreshing openness from the LDS leadership on a subject that has always been a matter of discomfort. The research suggests that Smith took his first “plural wife,” Fanny Alger, in the mid-1830s. There was a distinction drawn between bonds for this life, which included full matrimonial relations, and partnerships that would exist only in eternity in such marriages.
The essay, “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo,” notes that “[m]any details about the early practice of plural marriage are unknown. Plural marriage was introduced among the early Saints incrementally, and participants were asked to keep their actions confidential. They did not discuss their experiences publicly or in writing until after the Latter-day Saints had moved to Utah and church leaders had publicly acknowledged the practice.”
Researchers believe that most of those sealed for eternity to Smith were between ages 20 and 40. The wives included Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was [14.]” It was lawful to marry girls at the age during that period.
As was raised in our Sister Wives litigation (which is now on appeal), the LDS changed its position on polygamy when Utah became a state. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff, the faith’s fourth prophet-leader, issued the “Manifesto,” which led to the end of the practice. That led to a split and the continued division between the LDS and FLDS, a small group that believes that polygamy is an essential part of the religion. The LDS Church remains opposed to plural marriages.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Michael Haz-
Would you be kind enough to share your religious beliefs if you have any? If you do, would you also elaborate if Absolute Truth is part of your beliefs and what is your understanding about the term? Thanks.
Thank you for asking. I’ll keep my answer short because this topic isn’t about my religious beliefs, but about the two topics Professor Turley posted: Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene, and the admission by LDS leadership that theri religion’s founder engaged in polygamy.
I am an observant Catholic.
Just read the the republicans with their voter id laws disenfranchised at least 24,0000 transgenders.
No. They just didn’t know which voting booth to use.
emocrat MIT economist and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber confirmed it.
Evil triumphs when the stupid vote, i.e., high voter turnout.
Democrat MIT economist and Obamacare architect confirmed it.
Yeah, me too, see ya later.
pogo, really, i have an appt and do not consider many of your points worth debating like praying for a low voter turnout so evil triumphs….
That usually means you cannot defend your position without namecalling or one of the many logical fallacies.
Look, your own people (Gruber) is the one saying Democrats are stupid.
Yell at him.
Annie, I need to run.
SWM, nowadays more than ever. It’s beginning to sound very much like most right leaning blogs comment sections.
I pray that voter turnout remains low.
Stupid people shouldn’t vote. Ever.
Obama carried the stupid vote.
The Obamacare architect said so himself.
““This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO (Congressional Budget Office) did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. … So it’s written to do that,” Gruber said, suggesting “it would not have passed” if the law “made it explicit” that healthy people would “pay in” and the sick would get money.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber continued. “Call it the stupidity of the American voter</b? or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass. I wish … we could make it all transparent. But I’d rather have this law than not.”
But not Republican voters.
Republican voters rejected the ACA.
Gruber is calling Democrat voters stupid.
Catholic democrat voters are, therefore, stupid.
In addition to voting for abortion and for the prosecution of those who don’t agree with gay marriage, they voted for the ACA, which the designer admitted was passed only because those voters are stupid..
I don’t think they recognize the connection between low voter turnout and Republican wins.
“Annie
SWM, all part of their grand plan. Yep, I guess one can always visit here to see what the enemy is up to.
Really, pogo, the turnout was below 35 percent and in Texas it was 28%.
SWM, all part of their grand plan.
That is how you would like to bill us but not buying. Obama carried the catholic vote. Maybe you are a rapture guy that believes that catholics are not christian. i think squeeky believes that but not totally sure.
Paul, that would be unChristian, not unChristianity. If you want to be snarky, you have to get the details right. 🙂
Annie – blame it on auto-correct
The lack of voter ID laws in the US has disenfranchized US citizens.
Why do you hate US citizens, SWM?
” as we are not the anti-gay christian party.”
Swiftly you’re becoming the anti-christian gay party.
Just read the the republicans with their voter id laws disenfranchised at least 24,0000 transgenders.