Friends, Many members have mailed me about the alternate explanation of Mark 6:3.
Here is an excerpt from the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia "On the orthodox side two views have long been current. The majority of the Greek Fathers and Greek writers, influenced, it seems, by the legendary tales of apocryphal gospels, considered the "brethren" of the Lord as sons of St. Joseph by a first marriage. The Latins, on the contrary, with few exceptions (St. Ambrose, St. Hilary, and St. Gregory of Tours among the Fathers), hold that they were the Lord's cousins. " ( note that the word orthodox in this excerpt means churches which are not Protestant. ie. the Catholic Church and Eastern Churches which are not in union with the See of Rome, but keep the same faith. ) For the complete article see the link http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02767a.htm The majority of exegetes and theologians of the Western Church, are of the opinion that the Lord's bretheren were his cousins. But there is a strong tradition in the Eastern Churches, Catholic as well as Schismatics, that they were His legal brethren. This view, though not currently popular in the west, is nevertheless a tradition held by many eminent and honored Fathers and Doctors of the Church. As far as faith is concerned one is bound by the Church to believe only such doctrines, which are 1. promulgated by an ecumenical council or 2. pronounced by the Supreme Pontiff Ex-Cathedra invoking his infallibility. In other matters the faithful is free to accept any version which does not per se contradict what they are requred to believe. For example, these Marian Dogmas are pronounced by the church as essential articles of faith. 1. That She is the Mother of God ( Theotokos ) 2. She retained her Virginity even after the birth of Jesus 3.She is perpetually a Virgin 4. She was free from Original Sin from the moment of conception 5. She was bodily assumed to heaven at the end of her earthly life. Now, there are two schools of opinion about Our Lady's assumption. While many Western theologians hold that She was assumed to heaven without tasting death, Eastern traditions say that She died, was buried and then was resurrected and assumed to heaven. As long as no dogmatic pronouncement is made a believer is free to accept either version. As the saying goes " In essentials Unity, In accidentals freedom, but above all, In all things Love" must be the guiding principle of Christian debate. Love Alphus Pathrose, Kochi, India Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
