The story isn’t new. Still, some people react with outrage that something of such is even suggested. But, the question is, if it were true, would it or should it diminish your faith? It seems that too much time is spent debating the particulars of Jesus’ life and not enough living the message. We find it interesting that people of many religious persuasions see too quick to go to war over dogma but ignore the spiritual message of the beliefs they claim. Folks issue death sentences over what they consider heresy, but are they listening to prophets so weak that they need us to seek vengeance for slights born of words? Is GOD so disempowered that HE cannot stand against his critics? Jesus dismissed his critics with simple words of truth that his enemies could not refute and he refused to to let debates over issues such as who would be whose wife in heave get him off point in discussions of spiritual health.
Papyrus Referring to Jesus’ Wife Is More Likely Ancient Than Fake, Scientists Say
By LAURIE GOODSTEINAPRIL 10, 2014
A fragment of papyrus, known as the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” has been analyzed by professors at Columbia University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who reported that it resembled other ancient papyri. Credit Karen L. King/Harvard University, via Reuters
A faded fragment of papyrus known as the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” which caused an uproar when unveiled by a Harvard Divinity School historian in 2012, has been tested by scientists who conclude in a journal published on Thursday that the ink and papyrus are very likely ancient, and not a modern forgery.
Skepticism about the tiny scrap of papyrus has been fierce because it contained a phrase never before seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,” a clause that inflamed the debate in some churches over whether women should be allowed to be priests.
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The papyrus fragment has now been analyzed by professors of electrical engineering, chemistry and biology at Columbia University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who reported that it resembles other ancient papyri from the fourth to the eighth centuries. (Scientists at the University of Arizona, who dated the fragment to centuries before the birth of Jesus, concluded that their results were unreliable.)
The test results do not prove that Jesus had a wife or disciples who were women, only that the fragment is more likely a snippet from an ancient manuscript than a fake, the scholars agree. Karen L. King, the historian at Harvard Divinity School who gave the papyrus its name and fame, has said all along that it should not be regarded as evidence that Jesus married, only that early Christians were actively discussing celibacy, sex, marriage and discipleship.