Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Ancient Texts Say Jesus Was Married

OF course anything that comes from ancient texts is highly controversial, and the way that religious texts are considered canon makes most any finding seem like it doesn't matter through the eyes of the church. We've all heard of hundreds of ancient "gospels" that aren't considered canon, and therefore not to be trusted. It appears we have another one that insinuates that early Christians believed Jesus to be a husband. Married to someone named "Mary".

Of course hearing he is married to a "Mary" isn't anything new. Many still believe that Mary Magdeline was Jesus' wife. Egged on by fictional stories like the Da Vinci Code (this is fiction and not true BTW. IT's not accurate). It is widely talked about in popular culture and there are many people that claim he was married to her. OTher than hearing that he had some Snowboard Boots and was a pro snowboarder in the desert I wouldn't be surprised at any of this being true,...well I would be surprised if anything associated with the Bible was accurate, or true, but that's another matter.

Karen King, an expert in the history of Christianity, said the text contains a dialogue in which Jesus refers to "my wife," whom he identifies as Mary. Ms King says the fragment of Coptic script is a copy of a gospel, probably written in Greek in the second century.

Ms King helped translate and unveiled the tiny fragment at a conference of Coptic experts in Rome. She said it doesn't prove Jesus was married but speaks to issues of family and marriage that faced Christians.

Four words in the 1.5-by-3-inch fragment provide the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married, Ms King said. Those words, written in a language of ancient Egyptian Christians, translate to "Jesus said to them, my wife," King said in a statement. full story

Oscar Voting Going Digital For First Time

I didn't even realize they were still using mail in voting for the Oscars. Not that I pay that much attention to awards shows, but I was surprised to learn tht the voting was done all through the mail and counted by hand.

This year they plan to offer an e-mail voting option for members. Exactly by the type of thing that can be hacked by people that have the time. *cough*4chan*cough*

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Tuesday that a new online voting system will be used for the first time in its 85-year history for the Oscars that will be handed out in February 2013. So those voters with 50 homes and just Townsend houses for rent as one address can still get some votes in.

In a transition process, the academy's 6,000 members also will be able to use traditional paper ballots to nominate and select the best actors, films, directors, screen writers and other winners of 2012.

In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to Academy members - directors, actors, screenwriters, producers and other leading film industry figures - and the results have been tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm.

It is expected that with the change more younger voters will get some of the "edgier" movies more votes.