I have a serious question for us Christians

[Sara Beverley]

Jesus was the oldest of how many children of Mary? Does the scripture speak of Jesus' brothers and sisters? Does it speak of any siblings older than Jesus? I have searched the texts and it really isn't clear.

Edit: Thanks for making me ask the question correctly?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CaptainCorc]

2. hi. i have a link for you

and a snip:

Without a doubt, these siblings mentioned in scriptures are exactly that. Now, it remains to yet be determined if these children are Joseph's from a prior marriage, or if they are the offspring of Mary and Joseph. The Protoevangelium of James indicates that Joseph had children, and in paticular, two sons. However, it mentions nothing of any other children that the scriptures speak about. The scriptures in Matthew 13:55, list four sons by name. The four brothers are named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Then the verses also tell of sisters. Not just one sister, but sisters. (Side note: Jude, author of the New Testament epistle ascribed to his name, according to some traditions is also a brother of Jesus.)

end snip

http://www.christiansteps.com/doctrine/jesus_siblings.html

hope it helps.

[Sara Beverley]

3. I still don't get it. The scriptures are confusing if you read them

for yourseld instead of having someone preach to you what they say and mean.

[CaptainCorc]

4. Yeah I should have warned you :)

I didn't take the time to read all the stuff that was on that page. It's not an area of interest for me. I got the impression from what I glossed over that there are varying opinions on the subject.

I don't mean to be critical of you, but once you stop just swallowing what somebody preaches to you and start wondering on your own, there's bound to be a bit of confusion. Don't despair. That is a good thing. Or at least it ought to be.

I'm sorry I wasn't much help. As I said, it's not an area of interest to me and so I will refrain from telling you what little I am familiar with (trust me, you're not missing much).

Good luck in your search. :)

[TheWraith]

5. The opinion of an amateur historian

As I understand it, Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 name James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Didymus) as 'brothers of Jesus.' However, Matthew 27:56 only names James and Joseph as sons of Mary.

The listed Judas, also known as Jude, is a bit of a mystery. Depending on who you ask, he's either a son of Joseph Sr. by a previous, unmentioned marriage, a cousin of Jesus on Joseph Sr.'s side, or Jesus's twin. He may also be listed as part of a translation mistake: in the Greek version, it was common to name someone along with their father, i.e. Judas of James. Apparently, however, a mistake was made in the creation of the Geneva Bible which was in turn passed on to the KJV, in which this was interpreted as 'Judas, brother of James.' Add this same sort of speculation to Simon.

There are also references to two sisters, but I don't know their names.

[aneerkoinos]

6. Judas Didymus

Didymus is Greek for 'twin', and IIRC also Judas is the Arameic/Hebrew(?) for 'twin'.

[Sara Beverley]

8. Uh oh, you just had to go there. Gnostic gospels, eh?

When searching for truth one may find at least information.
When not searching for truth one surely finds propaganda.

[aneerkoinos]

10. Who is searching?

Sure, I've read some of the Nag Hammadi texts, and their commentary is where that bit of trivial info stuck to my head. Is that an area to be avoided, or what is the point of your post?

I have no idea of what relevance that bit of info has on the question at hand, but it might be relevant. On the other hand, I'm much less certain that Jesus was historical person than I'm certain that e.g. Apollonius of Tyana was historical person, I just try to keep open mind about the issue.

[mmonk]

7. James

brother of Jesus, first bishop of Jerusalem, killed on the temple steps. Led to the last sack of Jerusalem by the Romans (to quell the continuing violence and gain control).

[RUDUing2]

9. several different beliefs...

The two main ones are:

1. Mary was a permanent virgin..she and Joseph never had any children together. The brothers and sisters of Christ were either children from an earlier marriage of Joseph (he is believed to be an older widower) and/or cousins of Jesus..in aramic the words for cousin and siblings were very close and easily confused in translations..

2. Mary and Joseph had a normal marriage after the birth and Jesus and had other children.

The main *evidence* that Mary had no other children is that she was with Jesus during his ministry and when he died on the cross he made sure that she was taken care of...and the one who he named has never been considered to be a *brother* of Jesus...if she had other children then there would have been no need to name a *guardian* for her..this seems to point to James being a cousin not a true brother of Jesus...

check out this site for more info
http://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/97ws/fs970116.htm