What is the deal with Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Catholics.

[Kidlicious]

"that means god made us sinners and then punished us for it."
-Berz

When you get too old to work you might look back at it and not think of it as work. Then you might regret not being more appreciative of it.

[The Mad Monk]

Eve is the second Eve.

[MrFun]

Come on; think. I know you can do it! I believe in you.

[The Mad Monk]

[MrFun]

sigh

[Kidlicious]

MrFun, you might need to take some vitamins.

[Alexander's Horse]

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph"..., as catholics like to say when exasperated

[Imran Siddiqui]

Can you name christian elders before 150 AD who thought that Jesus was just a prophet?

JM
(I am not doubting that there were any, I am doubting that you know any; I think that you have no basis for your statement "AFAIK there were lots of people who believed him to be "just" a prophet (before his status got fixed at the first council in the 4th century" other than wish. My experience is that people who say things like this have generally not done any study and have nothing else they are going on then wish and maybe a Dan Brown novel.)

Agreed. It seems that there was a vast majority who believed in the things that become orthodoxy. There were some groups of heretical teachings, but it wasn't nearly as big as some people think, IMO.

[Proteus_MST]

Agreed. It seems that there was a vast majority who believed in the things that become orthodoxy. There were some groups of heretical teachings, but it wasn't nearly as big as some people think, IMO.

Well, I have to admit that I don´t know the history of christianity good enough to name church fathers from before 150 AD that followed nonm trinitarian/Arian beliefs.

The really interesting question IMHO is ... what did the jewish christians in Judaea believe during this time ...
Jesus, according to the bible, wasn´t all too keen to preach to non jews (just remember the passage about pearl to the swine, when he was approached by a non jewish mother to heal her kid) and Paulus, who made Christianity popular in the roman empire, among others by changing the law ... so that non jews were allowed to become christians, without being forced to become jews and have to be circumcised, never met Jesus in person.
Therefore the jewish christian parishes in Judaea (which unfortunately must have been hit hard during the first century, due to conbat operations and roman suppression/persecution against Jews as a result of the 3 jewish rebellions between 0 and 150 AD) must have been the ones closest to a historical Jesus (if he existed), even then if they may not have represented the majority of christians in the roman empire.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Jesus was ok with spreading his message "to the ends of the Earth" by the disciples though. Just his goal was to work through the Jewish people first.

[Proteus_MST]

Jesus was ok with spreading his message "to the ends of the Earth" by the disciples though. Just his goal was to work through the Jewish people first.

Which is why IMHO it would be extremly interesting to find scriptures of the judaean parishes ...
ideally in hebrew or aramaic and before the destruction of the temple and the appearance of the "official" greek speaking gospels ... which, considering their earliest date, may have been strongly influenced by Paulus

[Ben Kenobi]

ideally in hebrew or aramaic and before the destruction of the temple and the appearance of the "official" greek speaking gospels ... which, considering their earliest date, may have been strongly influenced by Paulus

Well, the earliest available fragments are what? 150 AD or so? All in Greek? You find something like that, it would be the holy grail.

[ricketyclik]

The more I hear about christianity from an intellectual POV the more I get the sense that we were somehow duped into adopting a judaic fairy tale.

I'll revert back to the dodecatheon and have scarsily clad heatlhily breasted semi naked women dance for me for zeus.

Ra. (The real one). You know it makes sense.

[ricketyclik]

that means god had a mother

Yes, because God is Jesus and Jesus had a mother. God impregnated Mary. He's a mother ****er.

[ricketyclik]

Not that there's anything wrong with that, obviously, 'cause you know, he's perfect.