S
sojo
Guest
Conversion did occur, but not very often. For one, the Jewish faith was never evangelical. It was a tribal faith that leaned heavily on blood ties.
The other reason was that converts had to… uh… you know, do the snip-snip on male adult converts and there was no anesthesia in the old days. For this reason, the rare converts in the old days tended to be women who converted to marry Jewish men and not the other way around.
But yes, some conversion did take place. But they have that DNA testing now and it does appears that most Jews share some genetic markers. And nearly every convert married a Jew so… yeah, we are all related more or less.
To be honest, I am genetically only 1/2 Jewish. But I am considered 100% Jewish by the Jewish faith that follows the maternal line. Along those lines, my son is only 1/4 Jewish genetically, but 100% Jewish by the tenets of that faith, and 100% Catholic by his baptism at infancy. He also has Down syndrome which means he has a genetic make-up unlike most or all the other people on this board.
And some of us may be illegitimate, but that is irrelevant. The question was about having distant relative to Jesus, not whether those relatives were legitimate or illegitimate. Some folks are born out of wedlock, but the Church still recognizes that person has having a mommy and a daddy, no? Your illegitimate brother is still genetically your brother (or half-brother or whatever… its complicated).
But again, go back far enough and we are all related to Adam and Eve. (This is where we all join hands and sing, “We are the world, we are the children.”
The other reason was that converts had to… uh… you know, do the snip-snip on male adult converts and there was no anesthesia in the old days. For this reason, the rare converts in the old days tended to be women who converted to marry Jewish men and not the other way around.
But yes, some conversion did take place. But they have that DNA testing now and it does appears that most Jews share some genetic markers. And nearly every convert married a Jew so… yeah, we are all related more or less.
To be honest, I am genetically only 1/2 Jewish. But I am considered 100% Jewish by the Jewish faith that follows the maternal line. Along those lines, my son is only 1/4 Jewish genetically, but 100% Jewish by the tenets of that faith, and 100% Catholic by his baptism at infancy. He also has Down syndrome which means he has a genetic make-up unlike most or all the other people on this board.
And some of us may be illegitimate, but that is irrelevant. The question was about having distant relative to Jesus, not whether those relatives were legitimate or illegitimate. Some folks are born out of wedlock, but the Church still recognizes that person has having a mommy and a daddy, no? Your illegitimate brother is still genetically your brother (or half-brother or whatever… its complicated).
But again, go back far enough and we are all related to Adam and Eve. (This is where we all join hands and sing, “We are the world, we are the children.”
