Q: "The oldest profession has always been the same today as it was yesterday - paying for sex. The rest is foreplay.
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M*W: Excuse me, that may be an old adage, but it's not true. The oldest profession, if you recall, was a harvester of one certain fruit thought to be a pomegranate. The second oldest profession was a midwife. Perhaps prostitution became the third oldest profession. Therefore, the midwife was the busiest of all professionals.
According to the book "Mary: The Unauthorized Biography," by Michael Jordan, The Orion Publishing Company, Longon, UK, 2001, there is a noted difference between "temple priestesses" or "qadesh" and "prostitutes" or "Zonim." The former meaning performers of the ritual marriage rite or "religious prostitution," and the latter simply meaning "whore." In fact, the very name "Mary" is a title meaning "temple priestess." "Miriam" was a job description. On temple priestesses had the power to "anoint" anyone.
"Esoteric meaning may also lie in the reference to anointing Jesus' feet because, in biblical times, 'feet' were employed as a euphemism for the male genitalia."
It was customary in those days for a bridegroom to be "anointed" by his bride on his head.
"Qdesha ia a borrowing from the Mesopotamian qadistu and it describes a temple priestess. One of the central aspects of the Mesopotamian cult was the honouring of the fertility goddess, Ishtar. Her temples were staffed by women devotees or votaries who served her daily needs and some of whom participated in her most sacred rite, the Marriage. The responsibilities undertaken by these women are detailed in the Mesopotamian Law Codes. In brief, they were called upon to represent the fertility diva in order to safeguard the prosperity and fecundity of the natural world."
There are seven Maryams mentioned in the Bible. The number seven carries a mystical significance, both in Christian and Pagan traditions. The Jews were antagonistic toward women named Mary."The Carpocratians were said by critics, including Irenaeus, to be radicals with a penchant for licentious behaviour. They were the first Christians of the second century, for example, known to pray before cultic images of Christ. Irenaeus had conceded, in the context of an attack on the Carpovratians, that certain Christians 'practised unlawful intercourse with mothers and sisters and took part in unhallowed feasts' [Hist 7.10]. We thus find reference among Christian writings of the first and second centuries to a feast enjoyed by members of the movement but which was condemned by critics as an excuse for sexual licence. We also have Paul and Irenaeus conceding that Christians wer being branded as incestuous. The correspondence of Irenaeus links "agape" with incest."
"Sexually driven rites, including Sacred Marriages, feature strongly among complaints made by other early Christian Fathers."
"It would be difficult, however, to find one of the Christian Fathers between the second and fourth centuries who did not level accusations of sexual impropriety against some of his brothers in Christ."
"The fourth century saw Marian ideology take on a more defined shape, including both orthodox and heterodox thinking. During this period, Mary's allegedly permanent virginity remained the most strident message and it encouraged a level of extremism among the Church's misogynists."
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Mary was bodily assumed up into heaven to be with her son. Therefore, the RCC teaches that Mary did not die a physical death.
"The fairy-tale elements that embodied the Dormition (Falling Asleep) and the Carnal Assumption began to take shape in the third century in the eastern wing of Christendom. One of the earliest fragmentary accounts, the "Obsequies of the Holy Virgin, written anonymously in Syriac some time between the beginning of the third and the middle of the fourth century and found in the mid-nineteeth century, records a conversation that allegedly took place in front of Mary's tomb. A group of disciples, including Paul, discussing the policy to be adopted for preaching the Christian message were confronted by an apparition of Jesus who summoned the archangel Michael, ordering him to carry Mary's corpse to heaven. [Syriac narrative fragment, version E.ii, (Wright, 1865, p.42]."
This next paragraph is for VERN.
"The Greek text known as the "Assumption of the Virgin," attributed to John the Evangelist, provides other details and is significant in several respects. It states that the period between Mary's funeral and the discovery of an empty tomb was three days, the same passage of time as recorded for the Resurrection of Christ. The time factor also carries strong echoes of the old pagan traditions of Inana and Ishtar who languished in the underworld for three days before bodily resurrection."
Interestingly, "...the pomegranate is one of the oldest symbols of fertility and has often been seen as a euphemism for a woman's sexual organs."
Jesus was not known as the "Immaculate Conception," Mary was.
Furthermore, the temple prostitutes were BOTH female and male! The ancient Essenic cult of mostly hermit men and a pious few women, were known to use ritual masturbation and various forms of sexual intercourse with each other, because that is what they believed would get them into heaven.
Of course, a religion whose belief is based on a dying demigod savior would require his mother to be chaste also. We don't know for sure who wrote the gospels of M,M,L & J, but we do know they were influenced by Paul and based on the earlier gospels.
Since Mary was initiated as a sacred or temple prostitute, it's only befitting that Jesus was a product of a sacred sexual rite honoring a pagan mother goddess.
The Marian cult has corrupted the founding principles of Christianity, not that I care anymore.
There is NO archaeological evidence whatsoever that Paul influenced the gospel writers whatsoever. You have provided not ONE shred of proof concerning your illogical theory, that ONE man, ON FOOT, could have possibly influenced ALL New Testament writers concerning Christian doctrine. If you have any archaeological evidence whatsoever, please show it or hold your peace.