Some recent books and films have put forward the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter with her. They also claim that the bloodline from this marriage is still preserved in European royalty. I just came across an interesting article about all of this at Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It presents a detailed look at the evidence and concludes that Jesus was probably never married to anyone. But I still like the idea that Jesus and Mary were secretly married, and had a child, even if we can never know for sure.
I’ve just finished reading several articles on the subject of when Jesus was crucified. My main conclusion is that the exact date can’t be determined with absolute certainty. But apparently it is possible to identify the most likely dates.
First, we know that it happened during the rule of Pontius Pilate, which can be reliably dated to the years between 26 AD and 36 AD. Various arguments can eliminate the first few years of this period, thereby narrowing the time window to 29 - 36 AD. Further, the gospel accounts indicate that the crucifixion took place in a year in which the Jewish Passover occurred on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Astronomical calculations of dates of the full moon point to the years 30, 31, 33, and 34 AD as meeting this requirement. Thus the crucifixion most likely took place in one of these four years. But the remaining evidence apparently isn’t sufficient to allow any further narrowing of the date.
I found another good explanation of why Jesus was crucified here. It says that the people of Palestine had been desperately hoping that the long-awaited Messiah would appear and free them from Roman oppression. And even though Jesus didn’t publicly call himself the Messiah, many people believed that he was. This caused the Jewish religious authorities to worry that he might take control of the crowds and usurp their power. But they didn’t want the general public to blame them for his death, so they influenced the Romans to think that he was a political agitator, knowing that he would be crucified as a result.
This same website also contains some related articles, including discussions of why Judas betrayed Jesus, the role of Pontius Pilate, and an odd similarity between Jesus and the released prisoner Barabbas.
Here is an interesting article about Christian relics. These are personal items, or even body parts, of saints or other very holy people, which are sometimes claimed to have magical powers. The best-known relics include the Crown of Thorns, Veronica’s veil, the True Cross of Jesus, the Holy Grail, the Shroud of Turin, the Big Toe of Saint Cosmo, and the skull of Mary Magdalene.
To view this article, go to relics. It points out that many purported relics may be fakes, especially the hundreds of supposed pieces of wood from the true cross which are found in many churches.
Sometimes I have wondered why many people blame the Jews for Jesus’ death, since it was the Roman governor Pontius Pilate who gave the order for the crucifixion, and it was Roman soldiers who actually nailed Jesus to the cross. So today I read a couple of internet articles about this.
One article says that Pilate thought that Jesus was innocent, but that the Jewish religious authorities forced him to give the order for the crucifixion. I believe that this is what the bible essentially says. But another article says that the biblical account is biased to try to hide the real role of the Romans, who actually were the main culprits. I tend to agree with this, because of the basic fact that it was Roman soldiers who carried out the execution.
This website is the online home for Strange Magazine, a periodical about strange and unexplained phenomena. At the time of my visit, the subjects featured on the home page included giant toads, crystal skulls, religious visions, time machines, sightings of strange-looking animals, the Loch Ness monster, and demonic possession.
On reading the article about giant toads, I learned that a a toad recently captured in northern Australia was the size of a small dog. Nicknamed Toadzilla, it belongs to a species that is native to the Hawaiian Islands, but was brought to Australia and has multiplied to a population of about two hundred million.
To visit this site, go to strangemag.com. In addition to the articles, there are also videos, book reviews, a forum, and a blog.
The website examines some of the darker aspects of the history of Christianity. These include various acts of violence committed by Christians against non-believers and even other Christians. It also discusses passages in the bible which describe atrocities perpetrated by God himself, such as sending the flood and killing all the first-born Egyptian children. Another section examines the biblical basis for the church’s traditional negative attitude toward women.
To visit this site, go to Dark Bible
This site contains a series of articles about ancient crucifixions. One of the articles discusses the crucifixion of Jesus and the roles of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate. Other articles discuss several mass crucifixions of thousands of victims. To read these articles, go to Ancient Crucifixions.
