The Case for Christ DVD - Lee Strobel

[Annemariels]

I watched The Case for Christ on Netflix and loved it. I only caught one thing that goes against Catholic teaching - Jesus had a half brother. Other than that, the movie was wonderful!

Have you seen this movie? Do you think it would be a good one for Catholic viewers in a classroom situation?

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

Strobel and Cameron seem to be nice enough people (though Strobel could threaten hellfire a tad bit less), but overall, I find the apologetics highly lacking. Then again, that’s just me - and certainly it’s better than nothin!

 

[mini_me640]

I don’t think the idea that Jesus had a half brother is contradictary to Catholic teaching; in fact, I have heard that as a possibility in Catholic explanations of Jesus’ brethren mentioned in the Bible - that they were Joseph’s children from his first (late) wife.

 

[Annemariels]

I don’t think the idea that Jesus had a half brother is contradictary to Catholic teaching; in fact, I have heard that as a possibility in Catholic explanations of Jesus’ brethren mentioned in the Bible - that they were Joseph’s children from his first (late) wife.

Really? Well I’ll be darned…I never knew that. Cool.

 

[dailey]

I don’t think the idea that Jesus had a half brother is contradictary to Catholic teaching; in fact, I have heard that as a possibility in Catholic explanations of Jesus’ brethren mentioned in the Bible - that they were Joseph’s children from his first (late) wife.

I’ve never heard of Joseph having other children? However, they would not be the siblings of Jesus as God is his father, no?

 

[mini_me640]

I’ve never heard of Joseph having other children? However, they would not be the siblings of Jesus as God is his father, no?

It is not official Church teaching, but is a possible explanation of the “brothers of Jesus” in the Bible as we know Mary remained a virgin. Of course they would not technically be Jesus’ brothers since Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father.

 

[Annemariels]

So they would be his half-brothers because Joseph adopted him,right?

I didn’t know Joseph had another wife before Mary. How did I miss that one?

 

[mini_me640]

So they would be his half-brothers because Joseph adopted him,right?

I didn’t know Joseph had another wife before Mary. How did I miss that one?

It’s not an official Church teaching, but historically it has been suggested that Joseph was possibly considerably older than Mary and a widower. I don’t believe the Church has any official teaching on the matter. If you look up apologetics explaining the brothers of Jesus then you will run in to that among the theories.

 

[Redbaron998]

Basically there are two camps on the brothers of Jesus and both have deep routes in Catholic Teaching. One is that Joseph was a widow and was marrying Mary to be her chaste guardian and had children from his previous marriage. (This is drawn from The Protoevangelium of James which is of course not scripture but was believed to be truthful by some) The other theory is that the brothers were cousins as most of us are familiar with.

I do believe both are considered to be ok to hold to, but don’t qoute me on it.

 

[Splagchnizomai]

I don’t think the idea that Jesus had a half brother is contradictary to Catholic teaching; in fact, I have heard that as a possibility in Catholic explanations of Jesus’ brethren mentioned in the Bible - that they were Joseph’s children from his first (late) wife.

Half-brother implies blood relation, right? For Jesus to have a half-brother. Mary would have had to have a child with someone else (namely, Joseph) after she had Jesus (whom she conceived with the Holy Spirit). If she had sexual relations with Joseph, it would violate Catholic teaching on Mary’s perpetual virginity. In other words, this is not Catholic teaching. Jesus did not have half-brothers.

If Joseph had had sons from a previous marriage, Joseph’s sons would have been Jesus’ step-brothers, which means that there is no blood relation. Jesus could have had step-brothers (sons from Joseph’s previous marriage as mentioned by others in the Protoevangelium of James). This would be consistent with Catholic teaching.

 

[mini_me640]

Half-brother implies blood relation, right? For Jesus to have a half-brother. Mary would have had to have a child with someone else (namely, Joseph) after she had Jesus (whom she conceived with the Holy Spirit). If she had sexual relations with Joseph, it would violate Catholic teaching on Mary’s perpetual virginity. In other words, this is not Catholic teaching. Jesus did not have half-brothers.

If Joseph had had sons from a previous marriage, Joseph’s sons would have been Jesus’ step-brothers, which means that there is no blood relation. Jesus could have had step-brothers (sons from Joseph’s previous marriage as mentioned by others in the Protoevangelium of James). This would be consistent with Catholic teaching.

Yes but the world would have viewed them as half brothers since Joseph was seen as Jesus’ father and he was in fact Jesus’ adoptive father. After all, no one but Mary and Joseph really knew the truth at the time.

 

[Annemariels]

Hmmmm… when a child is adopted, they become a full-fledged family member and we don’t distinguish them from their sibs, right? So, although not blood related, they were still brothers.

 

[mini_me640]

Hmmmm… when a child is adopted, they become a full-fledged family member and we don’t distinguish them from their sibs, right? So, although not blood related, they were still brothers.

I look at it that way but I wasn’t trying to cause anyone confusion!