A number of questions regarding faith, the Church and churches, bloodlines, and authenticity of the Bible have come up throughout the many centuries. We as humankind cannot help but ask questions, it is in our nature. The quest for facts and truth can be more overpowering than faith itself. Books, poems, paintings, sculptures, buildings, and now film has been ingrossed in one topic. Was Jesus married and to whom? As of now, this is a question that is unanswered and most likely will never be. The first question that must be asked is who wants to know and why? Is the question of Jesus and his marriage asked by the faithful? No! It cannot be asked, this is not a question asked by those who follow the message. That Jesus was born of the virgin, died for our sins by crucifixion, and resurrected is all one needs. If you are not a follower of the message, then why should you even care? The truth! In the following paragraphs which I'm sure will be blasphemous, boring, and retread I will try to the best of my abilities to present a solid ground for both sides to stand on. I will try not to delve into conspiracy theories, use unproven or other references that may have been written for money or to destroy the throne.

First of all we must come to an agreement that if this argument is to take place we must concur that Jesus existed. If you do not believe that there was a Jesus at all I would not encourage you to continue reading, unless you really want to. Second of all, we must maintain an open mind to all sides of the story. Shutting off completely might keep us from seeing something that might reinforce our beliefs, even if it goes against everything you were taught and believe. Third, I must try myself to not go off track and start down the many roads away from the subject.

We will start off with the assumption that Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and "the sinner" are all one and the same. We shall just call her Mary and refer to the other Mary's by context...i.e. Mary The Virgin. Many refer to Mary as a sinner, which in turn through the course of history has turned to prostitute. At one point in our history brothels in France were at one time coined Magdala's. "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene" even sites she was abducted from a caravan and turned into a sex slave. After careful review of the four gospels and some light research we can determine were the "prostitute" and sinner rumors started. Jeffery Kripal refered to a sermon by Pope Gregory in 591. This sermon the Pope refers to Mary as a sinner and combined her with the other women in the Gospels. Kripal also references that she came from the city of Migdal which was known for medgaddela (hairdressers) and other women of ill repute. This in turn led for many, namely protestants to identify her as a prostitute. In fact the Catholic church along with many others have deemed Mary a saint. Her day of celebration among Catholics and most others is July 22. The gospels only refer to Mary the sinner if you combine her with the unnamed woman is Luke 7:36-50. This is were Jesus drove the 7 devils/demons from the woman, which also can be interpretted if one chooses with a pagan cult. If Mary or the woman, had been involved with say the cult of Astarte (Ishtar) she would have gone through a 7 level initiation. That would explain the disciples considering her a sinner. Other than that, there is no other "sins" mentioned about Mary. The only other mentions of Mary are about her status, her love for Jesus, and after the crucifixion.

Taking a look at Mary as a possible candidate for Jesus, whom as a Rabbi would have certainly needed to be married, we have to look at several factors. First being would Jesus need to be married? If Jesus was involved in the Essene tribe, which he has been referenced, not necessarily. The Essene's mostly adopted orphans or brought in new male members after a long trial period (3 years). Everyone could stay with the Essene's but not allowed to eat with them until they chose the lifestyle and had past the strict standards. They wore white robe's, which Jesus did wear, and white was NOT as prevailant as Hollywood shows. But we do of course have an exception, which was a clan that took in women to marry, but they of course had to pass the trial and prove themselves worthy of the man and society. Looking at a timeline, you could easily see that she could have made it in. Jesus may also have taken her early as a wife, not being fully Essene, trying to fit in, and the fact that he loved her. As stated in the gospel of Philip "And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on the mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said unto him 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Saviour answered and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?' (This is from an unordained gospel so this reference is yours to take as real or not.) So this argument can go either way and providing proof for the marriage is not possible.

Second is that if Jesus had rightful claim to the throne, the queen would need to be of means and status. In Luke 8:2 we find Mary again showing up with Joanna wife of Chuza and Herod's steward, Susanna, and many others who "ministered unto him their substance". A poor prostitue or sinner would not have been involved with such people of wealth, authority, and status. Taking that in one can assume that Mary had some scratch and bloodliniage herself. Mary also appears with Martha in Luke 10:38-42. During this episode Jesus and his disciples retreat to their house, Mary is the sister of Martha. This also places Mary in Bethany, and this is according to John 11:2. Martha becomes overcome with having to serve so many and becomes upset that Mary is sitting at Jesus's feet and taking in his word. Complaining to Jesus and asking him to command her to help he replies "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42. You can translate that as you chose, whether she was fine by sitting and listening, or that she is fine and will be joining me from now on. Mary's status is continued again in John 11:2 in which John identifies Mary as the woman who annointed and wiped Jesus feet with her hair in Matthew 26:7. Now many things may be derived from this event, one only royality were publically annointed. Second, it was very expensive, so much so it was an issue with the disciples. Another was that was something a betrothed, or future marrital partner would do for someone.

Staying in tune with Mary and Martha the subject of Lazarus comes up. Steering away from the initiation of certain zealot or religious groups that put one into a tomb for 3 days to be reborn. It has to be brought up that Lazarus would have to have been Jesus's brother-in-law and besides Mary, he could have been the beloved disciple. When Lazarus was entombed it was Martha that came to Jesus, not Mary. Jewish tradition would have been the wife would have HAD to stayed indoors to mourn.

Two other references that can be taken from the gospel of Philip are very curious in the nature of their relationship. The first being from this section: "There were three who always walked with the Lord; Mary, his mother, and his sister and Magdalene, the one who was his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary." The other one is from this: "The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber." Once again the gospel of Philip is for you to decide if this is a viable reference.

We will lastly visit Mary in the gospels and the end/beginning of Jesus after the crucifixion. Matthew 28, John 20:1 and 21:11-18, Luke 23:49 and 24:18, and Mark 15:40. These all show that it was Mary the first that Jesus revealed himself to, and then it was her that alerted the disciples. Besides the fact that it was Mary that he chose first, what was she doing there in the first place! Besides it being a duty of the family, especially the wife to clean the body, one glaring issue comes to play. She was risking her life by being there! From questions asked to modern Rabbi's, Jewish LAW required those who died a violent death were to be buried uncleaned and with what little articles that they had on them. Even if the were soiled! That meant stoning from the Judiac community if it was discovered she was sneaking in to care for the body! That could explain the reasoning of waiting for three days and being there in darkness before the sun came up. To me that sounds like the commitment of a devoted wife, or another blasphamous statement that shall be rendered in another article.

I will not delve into the Merovician, Dagobert, Templar Knights, Priority of Scion, the old woman and the baby's foreskin, or the crusade of Perceval and the Knights for King Arthur. These stories are too much to put on paper and are readily available for those who choose to read. I will go into each of these in seperate articles as well but not here. Mainly I think that alot of these are falsehoods and rumor. I will note here that the official site for Rennes-Le-Chateau is very informative and quite interesting. The author of this was a devout Roman Catholic and a one-time member of F.C.A. and various other religious organizations before loss of faith and the search for the truth. I do not intend to discourage or belittle one's faith, nor do I intend to dishonour the throne or one's choice in belief. If anything in this article is incorrect, misquoted, or accidently repeated it is the author's mistake alone and no harm was intended whatsoever. Please contact me so I can make the appropriate changes. Thank you.

Resources:

1. "The Open Bible": Authorized King James Version 1975
2. "Holy Bible": King James, Nelson 1972
3. "The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus", Trans by. Marvin Meyer, pub. HarperSanFrancisco 1992
4. "The Nag Hammadi Library; The Gospel of Philip", trans. by Wesley W. Isenberg
5. The Gospel of Philip, The Nag Hammadi online library.
6. "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene" pub. by Penquin 1998 (please check pub, author for missing pages)
7. "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michel Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln pub. by Dell. 1978
8. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. www.wikipedia.com ref. Mary Magdalene.
9. The www.newadvent.com ref. Mary Magdalene
10. The www.catholicencyclopedia.com ref. Mary Magdalene
11. The Holy See www.vatican.ca/phome_en.htm ref. St. Mary Magdalene
12. Personal website of Rennes-Le-Chateau, www.renneslechateau.com/default-uk.htm trans. for english by Veronique Gemar
13. Simcha Bart at www.askMoses.com
14. Rabbi Yerachmiel Fried of DATA assoc. w/ Dallas Jewish Community Center
15. Rabbi Nasanya Zakon assoc. w/ Dallas J.C.C.