The Conversion of Jesus’ Family
Zoroastrianism is one of the earliest religious beliefs that taught one “god” in some form. Zoroaster lived somewhere in eastern Iran or western Afghanistan during the sixth century, B. C. Around the age of 30, Zoroaster claimed to have seen a revelation, and was led into the presence of Ahura Mazda. As Zoroaster tried to spread his faith, he had very little success. During the first ten years of his life, he only had one convert, his cousin, Maidhyoimah. Later, he converted his wife’s uncle.
Siddhartha Gautama is the man who came to be known as Buddha, or the “Awakened One.” Around the age of 30, Gautama decided to become an itinerant holy man and left his wife sleeping beside their only child, a son. When Buddha began spreading his religious doctrine, his first converts were his own family: his wife, his father, stepmother, son, half-brother, cousin, brother-in-law. But, by the twelfth century, Buddhism had disappeared from its birthplace, India.
Islam arose in 570 A. D. under the guidance of Muhammed of Mecca. Around the age of 40, Muhammed also “saw” a vision – the night journey. He was, supposedly, introduced to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. In trying to propagate his faith, Muhammed had little success for a very long time – outside of his family. His wife was his first convert, followed by their children, his cousins and one of their wives, an aunt and her slave, as well as an old friend.
In contrast to these other religions – man-made religions – Christianity did not start, nor was it propagated, by the family of Jesus, or of Paul, for that matter. Dr. Rodney Stark, professor of comparative religions, discusses all these, and more, world religions in his book, Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief. But, he gets it wrong when it comes to Christianity.
He writes: “In previous chapters we have seen that, without exception, the founders of significant religions have begun by converting members of their immediate circle of relatives and friends. Contrary to the traditional teaching, but fully in keeping with the comments by Paul and many early Church fathers, the same applies to Jesus. …Paul (1 Corinthians 9:5) asked: “Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” The clear implication here is that the Lord’s brothers traveled with Jesus. This is supported by John 7:3… Jesus’s uncle Cleopas also was one of the disciples, although not one of the twelve” (305). “Cleopas” is only mentioned one time, Luke 24:18, on the road to Emmaus so the tradition that he was an uncle of Jesus has a weak base.
No doctors, no prescription, no embarrassment. tadalafil uk price When taking Eriacta, one should not take http://djpaulkom.tv/category/videos/page/11/ buy viagra without prescription more than three cup of coffee in a day. The sad fact is that nearly all supplements out djpaulkom.tv viagra online canada there are of extremely poor quality. But as you can see from the above symptoms are starkly visible, then it cheapest generic cialis is time to approach for medical help.
While it is true that at least some, if not all, of Jesus’ family became believers, it did not happen until after the resurrection. While we are not sure what Mary, His mother, knew or believed before the resurrection, we do know that His brothers did not believe Him until after the resurrection. To interpret John 7:3 as Dr. Stark does – a statement of faith on the part of the brothers – is to make it contradict the plain statement of verse 5: “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.” It seems to me better to understand verse 3 as sarcasm rather than a statement of conviction.
In Mark 3:33, we see Jesus’ family come to speak to Him. It seems as if they are wanting to, in some way, pull Him out of the public spotlight. Back in verse 21, Mark writes: “When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses.’” Many scholars interpret “His own people” as referring to His family.
Stark brushes off verse 33, based on a statement made by Tertullian that Jesus was showing that faith was a spiritual relationship, not a physical relationship. That is true, but it does not prove that Jesus’ family accepted Him and His teachings without the miracle of the resurrection. As to Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 9:5, what he does show is that Jesus’ family were not believers (in agreement with our interpretation of John 7:5), until after the resurrection.
As to Paul, there is no record of Paul even trying to teach/convert his family, much less them being involved in the propagation of the faith.
In contrast to other world religions, the conversion of Jesus’ family is testimony to the resurrection of our Savior and the truthfulness of Christianity!
–Paul Holland
