CNN series FINDING JESUS: Mary Magdalene...

The last of the CNN series FINDING JESUS was on Mary Magdalene.

This topic does not help us “find” Jesus or clues of him on earth but it is a tantalizing tale with many “ifs” that people just love to speculate about and people have been speculating about her from the very beginning.

When I was growing up Catholic, Mary Magdalene was thought of as a prostitute whose sins Jesus forgave. Well that is now considered FALSE and blamed on Pope Gregory the Great (not so great) who claimed that the UNNAMED prostitute in the Bible who washed Jesus’ feet in oil and dried them with her hair was actually Mary Magdalene…he made that up we now know.

Actually Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Gospels twelve (12) times which suggests she was a real factor in the life of Jesus. Many historians feel her role was downplayed by the Gospel writers because she was a woman in a patriarchal world and therefore could not be given important status.

The fact that Mary was the first person Jesus “chose” to appear to after his resurrection, according to the Gospels, gives her a status totally elevated above the apostles. In fact, The Gospel of Mark portrays most of the apostles as dumb as dirt type people who had trouble understanding the message of Jesus.

Non-canonical gospels discovered throughout the world such as the Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Phillip and even The Gospel of Mary suggest a much larger role for Mary in the life of Jesus. Historians believe that there may be a grain of truth in some or all of them. Some of these gospels state that the apostles, especially Peter, were extremely jealous of Mary since Jesus spent so much time with her talking and kissing; imagine that!

In fact, some historians consider Mary as the “Apostle to the Apostles” as they speculate that Jesus confided in Mary more than in the male apostles who were not as bright?

Some have romanticized the role of Mary saying she was the wife of Jesus, maybe his lover and even saying that there may have been children produced by the union; imagine that!

It seems clear that Mary as well as other female camp followers did provide money to the Jesus group; they had to eat you know. If Mary was the financial sponsor of Jesus’ mission, some historians believe she was much older than the common understanding of her as the same age as Jesus since the chance that a young woman was wealthy is less than an older woman who may have inherited her wealth from a dead father, etc.

You may be aware of the fact that MUHAMMAD the inventor of ISLAM was also taken under the wing of a wealthy older woman who he married and loved and who was his mentor for many years.

Anyway, Mary disappeared from history soon after the resurrection. The Gospels say Peter took over as leader of the group but it was JAMES, the brother of Jesus who really did. Mary was marginalized because of her gender as were other women in early Christianity who were actually bishops in the Church at one time; men always won in those days.

Mary Magdalene is a biblical figure which we probably will never know the truth about but she is enough of a factor for historians and historical fiction writers to speculate about. Too bad the Catholic Church chose to marginalize her as well as other females as it may have made the lot of women in the world a little easier.

This CNN series on Jesus has ended but another series has begun on a different channel. This one explores what “may have” happened after Jesus was crucified. I say may have because the gospels do not cover this period in detail so I am anxious to see what the writers have come up.

CNN FINDING JESUS: The True Cross not so True...

The latest episode of CNN’s FINDING JESUS series was titled THE TRUE CROSS and was pretty sad.

Most of the series showed dramatizations of what may have happened when SAINT HELENA, the mother of the Roman emperor CONSTANTINE THE GREAT traveled to Jerusalem and found the three crosses used to crucify Jesus and the two thieves crucified with him.

The story goes that she then had the cross all chopped up and pieces sent all around the world as relics.

CNN had one of the relics tested by carbon dating. This relic was given to an Irish king by the then pope in the year 1100 AD; the test showed that the wood dated to 1100 AD which means the pope just gave the king a piece of wood from a tree growing in his back yard.

The “relics” business was a huge business and churches with a relic were made famous by what relic they possessed. The selling of relics also was a factor in the Protestant Reformation as Catholic clerics enriched themselves by selling relics as well as indulgences; get your mother out of purgatory for $5.

Helena went to Jerusalem in 326 AD which would as if I went to Boston today and tried to find something from 1689 AD; good luck.

What made her finding the “true cross” more specious was the fact that crosses were re-used by the Romans and Jerusalem had physically changed a great deal from the time of Jesus so even locating where the Hill of Golgotha where Jesus was crucified, was practically impossible.

Helena was historically instrumental in making the symbol of the cross a symbol of Christianity.

Her son Constantine was also extremely instrumental in making Christianity a worldwide religion by making it a legal Roman religion. Without Constantine, Christianity would have probably died out as another religious movement.

As for CNN’s efforts at making this episode sound like a “documentary” in finding physical proof of Jesus on earth, I give them an F.

FROM INDIANA TO ARKANSAS...I am impressed!

Well this RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LEGISLATION has taken on a life of its own; this time in Arkansas.

Here again the blow back has been so intense that the governor who said he was definitely going to sign the bill had to back down and ask for added language that would absolutely say that it does not allow discrimination against gays based on a person’s religious views which it does so WTF?

What is making those governors and legislatures take notice is that the blow-back is coming as an ECONOMIC threat to that state, which no one wants. In this case Arkansas is home to WAL-MART and what WAL-MART wants, WAL-MART gets and WAL-MART does not like this bill at all.

All this hubbub has made me take a closer look at this issue.

When taking a look at this issue in a sane, logical and calm manner, one can see some logic on both sides of the issue.

We all agree that we do not like being forced to do something we really don’t want to and using the wedding cake example again, the baker did not mind making them a cake just not a wedding cake so, the reasoning goes, go to a different baker who does not mind making a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Is the baker discriminating against the gay couple? Yes he is but in a free society one should not be compelled to go against one’s conscience when there are other options available to the gay couple.

The problem here is that the state wants to “legalize” the baker’s right to refuse gays and I think here is where the rub is; the state wants to allow discrimination based on religion.

Is there a need for this law? I don’t think so. I feel current laws on the books prevent egregious cases of discrimination on many levels.

This matter should be left to the free market system; if you don’t want to serve gays, they will go somewhere else to spend their money. If a state is perceived as anti-gay, it could really suffer economically as rich and educated gays stay the hell out of states like that.

I am quite amazed at the public’s reaction to these so called RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACTS. It is just uncanny how fast word of this issue spreads throughout the country but I guess it makes sense with our new digital age of instant information and instant chatter among millions of people.

I think this makes democracy a lot more democratic when so many people are engaged in debating public policy.

I think we can all see the “sea-change” that is occurring in this country especially when it comes to social issues. I think some religions will buck the trend (Catholicism) while others will embrace it and run with it.

I think the reaction to this one issue has slapped those conservative Republicans who want to remain living in the dark ages, right smack upside their heads and made them sit up and notice. I also feel that Americans in general have seen what a determined public can do and maybe they will start using this power to stand up for what they believe.

Others will see this as CONSUMER BLACKMAIL which really means people vote with their shopping dollars and it is their right to do so. In the past, religious nuts urged their like thinking brethren not to shop at places that went against their religious beliefs. Now the same thing is happening but from the other side.

PS.          You will hear from the people trying to pass these laws saying that they are only following a “federal” law signed by President Clinton a few years back. Well if a federal law exists protecting religious freedoms why are you writing a new one?

Anyway, that law addressed a specific case where two American Indians were denied unemployment after being fired from their jobs for smoking dope; turns out that they smoked PEYOTE as part of their religious ceremonies which are hundreds if not thousands of years old. I hope you see the difference in what that law tried to achieve.