Will you all take this the completely wrong way? I'm sure you will, but here goes.?

Question

I know I'm gonna get a lot of flack for this, and I accept this. Please bear in mind that this is simply rhetorical and I already know I'm a heretic and I'm going to hell, so bear with me.

Ok, we've got a culture that will stone a woman to death for having a child outside of wedlock. We've got a young woman who's *gasp* pregnant out of wedlock. Her and the soon to be husband (heck, maybe it's not even his kid...) decide "here's the plan, Mary, we tell EVERYONE about this dream you had......"

The apostles were just people who were in on the secret, the wise men were giving a little payoff for the read dad not having a bad mark on his name by being named as the father to some hussy....


Oooo, they're gonna be mad at me... my brain was just wandering earlier today, and I said to myself, I says, "Self, you better not ask this on Y!A, you know they're gonna tear you apart." and I says back to myself, "They can take some fun poking, they're all big kids."... we'll see who's right.

tinigirl... I wash boats for a living... my brain wanders... it's the joy of having a mindless job, the soul is free to do what it wants. (plus I like making the boats shiny...)

Dave P.... Pondered that issue in the past as well... both of them go around doing good deeds (as their cultures see good deeds.) Accomplishing miracles, etc.

Cricket... Never asked it to hold water... it was just my brain entertaining itself again...

But if you tell yourself something long enough.... if you were to grow up being told you're the child of God... true, what about the miracles and this and that and the other... it -is- an old book, and no one's around who remembers any of it anymore.

Oh well... it's a good thing Divinity has a sense of humor...

Elias... been there, done those things... Jesus had some good teachings, but the way I see it, when he said he was the son of God he meant "...and so are you, and so are you and so are you."
I tend to think of Divinity as a bit more all-inclusive and accepting than some Christians care for It to be, but religion is all about forming a personal relationship with Divinity...

Evermom... Yes, His, and Buddha's, and Mohammed's, Lao Tzu's and many others. The teachings of the world's prophets share certain Universal Truths that all would do well to take to heart.

LX V

Still laughing.

Wolfeblayde....
Well, I did say it was just my brain entertaining itself, didn't I? No need to be uptight about it....

Ok. Some good answers, I'm still chuckling over the thought of Jesus saying "you can follow me or just go to hell." and if it was my nature to pick best answers in R&S I think that would be it, but since as far as religion goes there is no best answer, I'll let you guys vote it out.

Oh, and rather than saying I was boats, what I should have said is that I detail boats for one of the largest Ranger dealerships in the world. Thank you, but I'll keep my nicely paying job that I fell into that will start offering me benefits in another month and allow my brain to do what it wants to do while I work for the most part. I get to be outside enjoying beautiful weather and Divinity's creations while washing boats... oh darn, I wish I could work in a cubicle. ;)

Answer 1

What your referring to (good ole boy politics) happens in all realms of society without regard to race creed or color. It isn't
right but it happens and it takes brave people to stand up to it.

Answer 2

1st There would be no dream " There is no God Remember "
2nd The apostles came 40 years after his birth, So how would they have this information?
3rd These men came from afar off so this dad paid men from another country to help in some scandal?
LAST your brain was wandering farther than it should try to keep things simple as possible. I sometimes have this trouble and use the "KISS" method - Keep it simple stupid - my associates agree with that this is an acceptable method. Do have a nice day.

Answer 3

Wrong. Joseph would have had EVERY right to put her away. If the people had found out, Mary would not have been the only one punished.

As for the disciples, if they were really lying about the whole thing, I'm sure they would have admitted it, rather than dying the horrible, violent deaths nearly ALL of them did.

Same with many of the early Christians who actually witnessed Jesus's miracles.

Not mad at you. Your theory just holds no water. Sorry.

Edit: I did my own research into this, thank you. I asked the same kind of questions you did.

Answer 4

Who cares! Why are people so hung up on whether Jesus is God ot if God Exists..why don't you just analyze what is written in the Bible yourself; hear what different faith traditions have to say, and ultimatly ask yourself about the value of what Jesus taught and how that may or may not impact you.

Answer 5

Oh yeah -- a couple of working-class people have enough money to pay off upper class Persian kings/astronomers/wealthy types. Who, incidentally, just happened to know this obscure couple in an even more obscure village half-way around the world.

And the same apostles who ran like scared rabbits at the thought of being crucified with Jesus were suddenly willing to lay down their lives for a religion that they knew as based on a lie.

As a theologian, you have a great future in washing boats.

Answer 6

I don't buy it.

I would see it from the other end of his life. Here's a thirty year old preacher who got on the wrong side of the establishment so they killed him. Sounds too much like a failure so the gospel writers take the story of Zeus's son Hercules who was born of a virgin and change the names.

I think this fits better because the first books of the NT (Paul's letters) don't mention the virgin birth and neither does the first gospel that was written (Mark).

Answer 7

OK, fine.

The only thing you’re overlooking is that the teachings of Christ just happened to be the most profound, the most remarkable teachings ever taught. That does tend to give just a little creditability to the Gospel accounts.

Answer 8

Joseph and Mary were betrothed to one another, and in that day it was acceptable to be pregnant and betrothed. If you were intending to get married, it was okay. Sometimes it was preferable, because it ensured the fertility of the wife-to-be. In the middle ages, in fact, often wedding gowns were padded in the front to make it look as if the bride was expecting!

Answer 9

of course, it all makes sense now...

everything except the manger scenes with snow in them.

the celebration of the birth of a man who was born in the middle of the fall, in a desert, being done in the middle of the winter, by cutting down an evergreen tree.

or it could have just been that Mary had pre marital sex.
could not bear to tell her family so she picked up the first gullable guy that she could find. and then fed him a line about being the mother of a god.

or maybe the whole thing is just a rip off of the Pagan god Mirthas and his Virgin birth story.

Answer 10

Was there a question in there somewhere? It would have been very difficult to fulfill all the prophesies of the OT in order to pull it off as a hoax.

Answer 11

I think the conspiracy would have started falling apart as soon as people started being martyred. (Haha! Just kidding guys!) You'd have to be pretty dedicated to a conspiracy to get brutally killed for it.

And you wouldn't imagine the flak I caught in my Bible class at a Christian college when my mind wandered and I blurted out 'Do you think Jesus ever said "You can follow me or you can just go to hell"?'

Yeeeah, it wasn't pretty.