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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-03 > 0921430583


From: <>
Subject: Re: Medieval Marriage
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 16:56:23 GMT


In article <>,
(John Carmi Parsons) wrote: Deleted
>

In response to John Parsons: It's too bad the Church did not read it's own
scripture. They would have only had to read the first page of the New
Testament to avoid this conundrum. The last sentence of the first chapter of
Matthew reads, "Then Joseph did as the messenger of the Lord had bidden him
and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth her
firstborn son and he called his name Jesus." Many other verses refer to the
Lord's brothers and sisters and it is well accepted by most of the confessing
church that James or rather Yaacov who wrote the book of James was Jesus'
brother and the first bishop of Jerusalem. After his martyrdom in 66 AD, the
church at Jerusalem fled to Pella. According to Jewish law or tradition at
the time, Joseph, being already betrothed to Mary would have had to divorce
her, even though they were not married nor had they consummated their
marriage. Jesus was not and only child and Joseph's role not relegated to
that of caretaker. Also Mary was not ever-virgin. This doctrine, along with
some others came in very late, after 1000 AD, I think. Consummation of a
marriage is important I think mostly to the parties concerned.Proof of
virginity is mentioned in Mosaic Law, to protect the woman primarily. A
woman's father could offer proof of virginity of a bridegroom ravished his
virgin and then claimed she was not a virgin. Proof of virginity is not a
concern in the New Testament. Sexual immorality is upheld of course in the
New Testament, but there is no corporal penalty and there is no letter of the
law. The penalty for any sin in the NT is spiritual death, a death that was
defeated by the work of the Jewish Messiah if one appropriated this by
believing on him. According to the NT, a man or woman can divorce if there
is infidelity.They are not in bondage to an unfaithful spouse or to a
spouse who has abandoned them. God apparently is not as stern as some have
led us to believe. A man who became a Christian and who already had several
wives was not asked to abandon one or more of them, but to continue in the
state he was in. The only mention of one wife in the New Testament is when
Paul admonishes Titus to choose elders of men who are the husband of one
wife. The church and the monarch invariably got locked in battle over
marriage because of the political nature of their relationship. On the one
hand they both upheld the power of the other in relation to the people, but
at various times they would feel the need to let the other know who was on
top. So we have the interesting stuff of many novels and plays. For the
common man it is much more healthy to get your teaching direct from scripture
or just rely on common sense. How many men or women were relegated to
loveless marriages or worse because of man-made teaching? Respectfully, Sue
Scheuer e-mail PS. I am looking for info on Parsons from
Baden-Baden in my genealogy research, any connection or do you have
background on the surname.

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