Christian theology thread for Christians - Deus homo factus est naturam erante, mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

[BIG SHOT Autos]

It’s hard to put it into words, because most of where I heard those claims from were from black Christians. “Our race is the chosen ones” type of thing.

It's just general human retardation I think. I know several other Christian groups that don't technically belong to a cult, but have a similar mindset.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Question by a non Christian, is there anything special with Mary Magdalene compared to the other apostles? I remember hearing that her importance is put into question.

 

[Squanto Airi]

Question by a non Christian, is there anything special with Mary Magdalene compared to the other apostles? I remember hearing that her importance is put into question.

Well she is the first apostle to see Christ Resurrected.

 

[Neverender]

Question by a non Christian, is there anything special with Mary Magdalene compared to the other apostles? I remember hearing that her importance is put into question.

Hello and welcome!

Mary Magdalene wasn't one of the capital-A Apostles. None of the women that followed Jesus received the formal title (which translates roughly to 'one who is sent out') because they weren't 'sent out' to heal and cast out demons (Luke 9) or to become the first bishops. On a more metaphysical level, Mary and the other ladies of the early church just weren't men and therefore couldn't accurately 'stand in' for the personage of God on Earth, as a priesthood needs to be able to do to honor God correctly.

However, Mary was an honored and beloved disciple, one who learns from a master, and if one wants to quibble about titles versus nouns, she was a lowercase-a apostle, which is often conflated with the formal and specific title of Apostle. She was one of the primary female companions of our Lord, the witness of His Resurrection, and one of the first members of the church. She was an apostle in the same way I or any of the other members of the Church are, someone who tries to spread the Good News and follows the Great Commission.

A lot of the discourse around Mary Magdalene comes from inane bullshit like The Da Vinci Code, where her status as a female companion to Christ and conflation with various other Marys in the New Testament lead people to think she and Jesus were married and sexually intimate. These misinterpretations lead people to think Mary Magdalene was something she wasn't and generally undermines clear understanding of her place in history. There's other stuff too, but I've yapped enough.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

Question by a non Christian, is there anything special with Mary Magdalene compared to the other apostles? I remember hearing that her importance is put into question.

Basically, she was a woman who had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus and so she became a follower of Jesus. She was present during Jesus’ crucifixion, present at his burial, and she was the woman who told people that Jesus came back and the tomb was empty. She was the first person to see the risen Jesus, and that was a pretty big deal overall.
There’s a lot of confusion around her because there’s a few other Marys in the Gospels. She’s mainly confused with the Mary of Bethany who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and her own hair before the crucifixion, and that confusion gets her confused with an unnamed woman who also washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, hair, and perfume. Someone more versed on the history could probably explain how the myth of her being a prostitute got started, but that is totally false and has not a thing to do with scripture.

 

[Dan of Steel]

Basically, she was a woman who had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus and so she became a follower of Jesus. She was present during Jesus’ crucifixion, present at his burial, and she was the woman who told people that Jesus came back and the tomb was empty. She was the first person to see the risen Jesus, and that was a pretty big deal overall.
There’s a lot of confusion around her because there’s a few other Marys in the Gospels. She’s mainly confused with the Mary of Bethany who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and her own hair before the crucifixion, and that confusion gets her confused with an unnamed woman who also washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, hair, and perfume. Someone more versed on the history could probably explain how the myth of her being a prostitute got started, but that is totally false and has not a thing to do with scripture.

The confusion's also compounded by Pope Gregory either misidentifying or intentionally trying to say that she was a prostitute as well. Then that gets into the weird Dan Brown fanfiction where Jesus and Mary Magadelene were married, and this somehow being the beginning of the Carolingian dynasty? (what the fuck was Dan Brown smoking). There's also the Gnostic fanfiction of her being the reincarnation of Sophia in some interpretations to go along with Christ saving humanity from the Demiurge, which, while a fun idea, is still weirdo Gnostic fanfiction.

I've always liked her having the title "apostle to the apostles" I think that's a good way to honor her in helping Christ's mission.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]