Most people who read The Da Vinci Code never bothered to actually read the Gnostic Gospels themselves to see what they say about Jesus being married. That was unfortunate, and is a textbook example of why you should always go right to the source material for your information. The video below (and the several that will follow) are my attempt to get people to actually read the Gnostic material from Nag Hammadi in regard to the question of whether Jesus was married according to those texts, not the “filtered” New Testament. Do these Gnostic texts that were allegedly suppressed and expunged from the “original” New Testament (so the bogus claim goes) say anything about Jesus being married? As always, I don’t want readers to take my word–I want them to see for themselves. To that end, I’ve made a video of me doing a database search of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels for all occurrences of any form of the word “marry” (e.g., “marry”; “married”; “marries”; etc.). Don’t be frightened–you just see my computer screen. It ain’t exciting, but it’s as close as English readers will ever get to the kind of research scholars do in these texts. The video is 6:47 and you’ll need a high speed connection (10 MB file). Turn your volume up, too.
Was Jesus Married According to the Gnostic Texts from Nag Hammadi? (Video 1)
Well, I watched it. The whole idea of Jesus being married and having children is just silly to me.
@The Case Against Gay Marriage « Cinie’s World: all Jewish males were married? That’s completely baseless. You cannot have read much ancient Jewish material and say this.
For example, most of the Qumran members (a Jewish sect just prior to and during Jesus’ day) were mostly celibate (the cemeteries are overwhelmingly male – literally a handful of female and child skeletons). Philo, a first century Jewish theologian described the Essenes as those who “repudiate marriage… for no one of the Essenes ever marries a wife.” Interestingly, the Essenes not only escaped condemnation for their celibacy; they were often admired. Philo also wrote, “This now is the enviable system of life of these Essenes, so that not only private individuals but even mighty kings, admiring the men, venerate their sect, and increase… the honors which they confer on them.”
Jesus himself mentions those who were single “for the kingdom of God’s sake” in the New Testament (Matt. 19:10-12; the context is Jesus’ discussion of marriage and divorce — the disciples say, given the hard standard, it’s better not to get married, whereupon Jesus says, some are not married for a variety of reasons – and never condemns it or demands otherwise). The apostle Paul (himself a Jew, former Pharisee, and unmarried, though we do not know why) addresses those who were single and does not command marriage. In fact, he says singleness is to be preferred, but neither choice is a sin (1 Cor. 7:29-40).
This is just a sampling. There is simply ZERO ancient evidence — Jewish, Christian, or Gnostic — that Jesus was married. ZERO.
I am Christian, and heaven forgive me for asking this, but is there any historical or scientific evidence that Jesus existed (I know he went up to heaven) but was there any hard evidence he lived, (aside from the Bible). if there was no evidence that he existed, then what is the point of proving if he was married or not. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to invalidate the existence of Jesus, it’s just that I think people believe him for what he did and who he said he was, and him being married or not the point is beside the point. Would Christianity be as much difference if he were married or not?
I get a lot of these sorts of questions, and this one feels like you are baiting me, so I won’t spend time on it. If you want a quick survey of the extrabiblical evidence for Jesus, I recommend Gary Habermas’ book on it.