Papyrus Vaguely Mentions Jesus’ Wife

b2ap3_thumbnail_OldPapyrus.jpgPapyrus Suggests Gospel of Jesus’ Wife

 

According to the Harvard Theological Review, scientists testing an allegedly ancient Egyptian papyrus have reported that no evidence can be found by them to conclude that the document is forged. http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/10/new-tests-show-evidence-forgery-gospel-jesus-wife/IusII8b4eI86HgDTKipLhN/story.html

 

To HFS analysts, that’s a convoluted way to say: Looks real to us. When discovery of the papyrus was first reported, the Vatican promptly opined that is was fake. So today’s Harvard announcement flies in the face of Vatican opinions. http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/04/jesus-wife-fragment-appears-real

 

Why does it matter? The passionate crowd urging Catholic and Mormon priesthood for women want the document to prove that Jesus had a wife and considered her a disciple, meaning in today’s terms, He considered her a worthy holder of the priesthood. http://gospelofjesusswife.hds.harvard.edu

 

Not so fast, say theological academics looking closely at the text. First, the text came from a time at least several hundred years after the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The document offers no insight directly into times contemporaneous with teaching and service of Jesus. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/science/scrap-of-papyrus-referring-to-jesus-wife-is-likely-to-be-ancient-scientists-say.html?hpw&rref=science&_r=0

 

Also, and more significantly, in the time when the document appears to have been written, somewhere between the sixth and ninth centuries of the common era, many arguments about marriage, sex, and the status of women were presented in thousands of records. The translated text of this particular document includes Jesus’ reported use of the phrase, “My wife…” and it also says “…she will be able to be my disciple….” No context for these expressions comes out, leaving open obvious alternative meanings. http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/10/5600450/papyrus-gospel-of-jesus-wife-likely-wasnt-forged-scientists-claim

 

 

Distilling the big news down to street level, HFS analysts conclude that no one knows what the document means even if it really is what it appears to be, a sixth/seventh/eighth/ninth century letter arguing about some of the same things people argue about today. So your guess is as good as ours. What do you think?

Polygamy Not Thriving Anywhere

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Polygamy in Utah Not Remotely Mainstream

 

News on Yahoo today suggests that polygamy thrives in Utah, but I beg to disagree. Having lived there and observed first hand how most “Mormons” live, I find Yahoo’s article title grossly misleading. http://news.yahoo.com/polygamy-thrives-utah-071640727.html It’s not really William Edwards’ article from Agence France-Presse (AFP), published first on YouTube as a vidnews, that bothers me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZkRow2BQAE&feature=c4-overview It’s Yahoo’s inaccurate title!

 

Polygamy has not thrived in Utah since the 1890’s when leaders of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints denounced the practice of plural marriage and began excommunicating anyone who continued it. Once in a rare moment today such excommunications still occur, but to most of Utah’s Mormons it’s a non-issue, even a peculiar and embarrassing factoid of history. Splinter minority groups rebelled against that strong 1890 denunciation by Mormon leaders and formed their own versions of churches designed primarily to perpetuate the polygamous lifestyle. Those churches never became mainstream, let alone thrive in Utah or elsewhere.

 

I suggest that news hounds intent on sniffing out current reports about our world go straight to the AFP site instead of bothering with Yahoo’s exploitative twist on both Reuters and AFP reporting. As a predominant American English speaker, I like http://www.afp.com/en/news/ but most other major languages also appear on that AFP site. And Reuters traditionally offers a great line up, too, at http://www.reuters.com/ so don’t let your news become diluted by less than professional reporting.

 

Of course, if you just want honest news commentary from the heart of America, I invite your review of my blog at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com, where your comments, too, are always welcome.