Matthew VS Luke

It's interesting that a person who would accuse Piffka of 'ignorance' doesn't know how to spell genesis (and a few other words of more than one syllable as well). It is interesting that anone who claims to be a biblical scholar (by inference) would refer to 'jewish prophets' when speaking of the so-called three wise men. I think most theologians agree that they were probably Magi from that general area which today is Iran and was then called Persia. And if that last fit of pique of SCoates isn't an example of sputtering, I sure need a new dictionary.

Thanks, Merry. It's not every day that I'm told I'm ignorant, pathetic and not welcome back... all in the same thread.

Well, since the relics of the three Magi are in Cologne, since we own a historic letter of indulgence devoted to them and this was presented at a great exposition - I did some research about those three wise men.

As far as I know and remember, SCoates is one of the first to call them a) Jewish, b) prophetes.

I call them prophets because they had the spirit of prophecy with them, otherwise they would not have known the sign in the skies was a sign of Christ's birth.

I say jewish prophets, because the prophecies which they followed were of jewish importance and record.

Thanks for atacking my spelling again. That's so important.

Well, while I'm still feeling bad I thought it would be best to apologize. Saying I made a flaming idiot of myself falls short of the mark, but for what it's worth, Piffka, I am sorry.

Well, I'll leave it at that. I can't really explain myself, I just tend to be childish and intolerable when I disagree.

What's interesting is not that the Koran mentions Jesus, but that it also claims He was born of a virgin. Since a virgin birth is supernatural, that implies that Jesus is something more than just your average human/prophet/teacher--something you wouldn't expect from the Koran.
Also, as I recall (from a class I took 10 years ago ), the Roman records DO record the crucifixion of a Jewish teacher thought (based on the author's description) to be Jesus. But, I don't remember the details--based on the manuscripts considered in class I'd guess it was in either Josephus' or Tacitus' writings.

lab rat -- you're probably thinking of Josephus who does mention a crucifixion of a Jewish rabbi. However, most historians and even theologians don't think that this could have been Jesus, given the circustances described by Josephus. They don't gibe with the Gsopels at all. On the other hand... Josephus records that the crucified victims sometimes survived their punishment, refusing to die on the cross. Crucifixion was a common method of capital punishment in ancient Rome.