"This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" 1st John 4:2
Historical context: The main opponents of the ancient church were people who denied that Jesus was a human being when he was crucified. i.e. they said he was just a ghost. The doctrine of Mary got so big and so important because they were emphasizing Jesus' humanity . because to the outside world .. to prove he wasn't human .. you couldn't affordably do so with reasonable logic without first disproving he had a mother.
because everyone had a mother.
this is the main point of the whole Mary thing in the back of my mind. when people mention it .
Now we get other objections .. in relation to there even being a historical Jesus .. whether he was crucified at all etc etc. different objections .. so the traditional apologetics embedded in the ancient traditions .. doesn't make sense. But it's still important .. if Jesus wasn't born . then Jesus didn't die .. and the type of resurrection Jesus had did not happen, and the metaphors speaking of us dying with Christ and rising with him in new life .. have very little real meaning.
Back in the roman world the resurrection commonly believed was a soul resurrection . the idea of a full bodily resurrection was considered ludicrous.
Historical context: The main opponents of the ancient church were people who denied that Jesus was a human being when he was crucified. i.e. they said he was just a ghost. The doctrine of Mary got so big and so important because they were emphasizing Jesus' humanity . because to the outside world .. to prove he wasn't human .. you couldn't affordably do so with reasonable logic without first disproving he had a mother.
because everyone had a mother.
this is the main point of the whole Mary thing in the back of my mind. when people mention it .
Now we get other objections .. in relation to there even being a historical Jesus .. whether he was crucified at all etc etc. different objections .. so the traditional apologetics embedded in the ancient traditions .. doesn't make sense. But it's still important .. if Jesus wasn't born . then Jesus didn't die .. and the type of resurrection Jesus had did not happen, and the metaphors speaking of us dying with Christ and rising with him in new life .. have very little real meaning.
Back in the roman world the resurrection commonly believed was a soul resurrection . the idea of a full bodily resurrection was considered ludicrous.
