I’ve read the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (fragmentary). I believe it didn’t make the official Canon because it demonstrated that she had a greater understanding than the male disciples did of what Jesus was talking about regarding his philosophy and the events to come. The Catholic Church instead, decided to cast Mary Magdalene as a prostitute. If she was one, it was not mentioned in Mark, which is the closest narrative to the source gospel Q.

All of the common accounts in the four gospels occur in Mark. Narratives that are not common to Mark tend to be peculiar to the gospel in which the account occurs. There are stories of the Nativity in both Matthew and Luke, but they have been merged through the years.

Matthew tells that he is born in Bethlehem, but does not mention a census or shepherds. He does mention the Magi, which Luke does not, and Matthew gives an account of the slaying of the innocents by Herod and subsequent flight to Egypt. Luke tells of the journey to Bethlehem, the birth in a stable, the angels and shepherds, but no Magi, no infanticide and no flight to Egypt.

It is widely held by many theologians, that the Nativity story is fictional, and was fabricated to lend legitimacy to Jesus as the Messiah by incorporating scriptural prophesies into his birth story. That in no way means that Jesus never existed. He was a Pharisaic rabbi, and it was from their philosophy that his teachings originated. Here is a link that explains the different factions that existed in Jesus’ time and how they differed:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sadducees_pharisees_essenes.html

But I will give him this. I would echo his simple question, “Why?” Why is something like this even necessary, and why at this particular time of the year? Although I agree with the sentiment, why is it necessary to kinda go on the attack against “God” at Christmas?

It just all seems so useless. This is one of those where I would see the sign, and just grin and shake my head at how utterly STUPID it is.

But can anyone tell me what is it with Carlson’s eyes? She reminds me of that cross eyed lady that used to be on CNN, I think. I can’t remember her name but she was bad. She could look directly into two different cameras at the same time.

There were many redactions written by women that were never published in the Bible. I don’t know much about it, but know it to be true. I wonder how Christ was depicted by them. I wonder if it was more honest and less divine. I don’t know. I am just wondering of the writings and their accuracy. Researched but could not find what I was searching.

Regardless of this, I also believe that the teachings of Christ in their core are exceptional and ones to be considered in our daily lives.

Wonder, if Christ was so spiritual, how he would feel about the lack of love amongst humans. How would he feel about the lack of respect that is becoming an acceptable behavior? Especially in the web were everyone has a say and many are angry? Yes there is something called freedom of speech, but your rights stop where mine start. Therefore this lack of respect just feeds additional anger and disrespect into what is what we call the “web.” I guess the word is appropriate. Dissemination of information with total lack of regard for the person reading it. Personal attacks constantly flock the wires in blogs. It is sad. And I know that Jesus would be turning in his grave.

And I am not a Christian, but was raised as one.

If anything, I think the ads would be a little offensive to Atheists. They don’t need to be told to be good and they don’t need to be seduced into it by the promise of eternal life or frightened into it by the threat of eternal Hell.

It’s just another example of retailers playing all angles and exploiting any tact they might have to sell stuff. Because God knows, we don’t have enough stuff already.