motorhead

I would tend to agree with Vinnie's post on this subject. There's not enough evidence to know conclusively Jesus' sexual orientation. Best you can do is speculate based on cultural and religious norms for men at the time.

My personal opinion (based on reading many historical Jesus studies) is that Jesus was probably not gay. He probably was straight but didn't marry because he felt he was called by Yahweh to dedicate his life to his ministry.

I think it was the tradition in his time and place for teachers to have male disciples. It would not have been viewed as unusual for Jesus to be travelling with a group of male disciples. What was unique about Jesus is that some of his closest followers were women. Women were seen as second class citizens then, so this was probably shocking to many.

I'm not interested in the whole debate on how a person develops a homosexual orientation. I will only state that all evidence I've ever read shows no hereditary or genetic basis for it. It seems to me that a person develops this orientation by a number of factors. The only way you might be able to say it's genetic is that a person may be born with certain characteristics that may make them more likely to become homosexual.

Vorkosigan

Well, I wouldn't say "absolutely" no evidence....there is that funny scene from the Gospel of Philip(?) where he kisses Mary Mags on the lips.

keyser_soze

THat would be funny if it weren't the most irrational pile you've spewed in days. Why not look into caeser? How about the dozens of countries that his likeness(statues, etc...) are located in, where he had conquered. Or about the hundreds of external sources describing him, his campaigns, his administration. How about his likeness on coins from different regions that he conquered. I may be misremembering, but I recall that some of his own personal writing is extant. ON the side of jesus, we have--nothing. He wrote nothing, and outside of the gospels, and some dubious external sources(either redacted or some requiring olympic interpretation skills) there is nothing. Even the gospels were not written by people who knew him. And on top of which, the information on caeser does not ascribe him supernatural abilities. So we have dubious, and often contradictory accounts of jesus's life(missing a block of 20 years no less), wherein the earth itself is subject to extreme supernatural events...but wait, these events are only found in your babble, as other historians living in the same region don't mention the events, or jesus for that matter. You get more ridiculous with each passing month.

keyser_soze

Perhaps he was a lesbian?

Calzaer

Once again, Magus, going "DUH! Of course he was real, any idiot knows that!" doesn't make it true. You use it for Christ, you use it for God, you use it for leprechauns, and you wonder why nobody takes your hit-and-run slogan posting seriously.

We have evidence for Ceaser's existence. We have evidence for Columbus' existance. We have... well, we have the Bible, for Jesus... and we all know how accurate the Bible is..

...which reminds me; how's the Dry-Up-the-Nile project coming along?

111111

Does the reality or unreality of Jesus matter? No; only His message, which, in all probability, was written by a dozen or more conflicting authors.

It is a puzzle; solve it, and Enlightenment lies in wait.

Koyaanisqatsi

Or, more likely, a deliberate sham in order to establish a cult.

mark9950

That you can put together your way so you can argue weak arguements to make it mean what you want it to say.

If God is the author inspiration of the bible is from GOD and GOD says the earth is flat and we find out it is a spere God just lied and broke his own commandment,But since GOD plays that do as I say not as I do bs.GOD is incompetent.

I am still waiting for that lightning bolt to strike me from heaven for blasphemy.

Spaz

I'm sorry 63 (is that your hidden meaning? 111111 being binary for 63?), but I've never seen an instance of anything where somebody says there's a "deeper meaning" where they're doing anything but just making shit up. You can make things mean whatever the hell you want, that's why there are thousands of christian denominations, and they take stuff literally.

Magus55

Oh we have evidence for Columbus? What kind of compelling evidence do we have that makes his existence fact? There are more books on Jesus than Ceasar and Columbus combined. And here is news for you - the Bible isn't one source - the Bible is a collection of 66 books, combined into one much later. Jesus is mentioned almost 1000 times in the NT ( Christ probably much more) - so thats 15 separate books that He is discussed in. And then we have references to His coming in the OT testament, written 1000 years before Jesus was ever born. Please show me a book that predicts the rise of Ceasar, or Columbus discovering America 1000 years before they were ever born. Jewish writings, ancient historans, etc. have mentioned Jesus.

Now on to Ceasar/Columbus - how do you know the writings from them, in fact came from them? How do you know it wasn't a big setup to fool people, and they used an imposter to play the role as Ceasar. You all seem to think the Apostles made up the Gospel, or fabricated it based on the OT to make it look real - how do you know Ceasar didn't do the same? Unless you met them in person, you can make up anything you want and you can't prove they really existed - so there is no reason not to accept Jesus being real. The Bible is still historically accurate - you can brush off , or not believe in the supernatural parts all you want - but it is still a book of History, just like any book you find Ceasar or Columbus in - only, is the history revolving around Columbus and Ceasar included in the most famous and read compilation of dozens of books on Earth?

Not to mention, Jesus is the most famous figure in human history - care to show me any example of any other mythical figure that has completely dominated and controlled the world, thousands of years after they supposedly existed? Mythical figures don't gain that kind of fame. Jesus remained a name in billions of homes over the last 2000 years because what He taught and did , as recorded in dozens of books - did in fact happen. If Jesus was just a normal man, spouting some stupid teaching and claiming to be God, in the most powerful empire on Earth ( where its treason to do that), do you actually think people would take him so seriously as to die for him, and follow him even after he died?
If Jesus claimed to be God, and then died - but never arose again - Why on earth would anyone follow Him when he was obviously a fake and liar? Especially follow Him to a brutal, excrutiating death.

If you know anything about ancient culture and other supposed Messiahs - the followers of the supposed Messiah's broke up, and went their separate ways when their leader died - because they had nothing left to hold onto. The promises the messiah made were obviously false, since he didn't come through on them. Yet Jesus was different, even after He died - people followed Him more proudly and boldly, to their death, then they did when He was alive. That is the only account of that happening in Human history.

You can claim it was all fake, and the Apostles wrote the most elaborate, complex, in depth, influential, history altering book since the dawn of time, but you really have to dismiss all intelligence to think they made all that up, spread the story they just made up as though it were truth, and in the face of some of the most violent executions in history - boldly proclaimed their story. Its illogical, irrational, and stupid to even began to think they made up the Bible. Shakespeare couldn't even write the Bible its so complex, yet different people, with different accounts, and most with no education - wrote this incredible book, matching each other almost exactly in their stories as a fairy tale? Give me a freakin break. If you believe that, i have a bridge for sale.