WAS JESUS’ FATHER ALSO JOSEPH’S FATHER?

What matters about my study of the genealogies in the Bible is not that it demonstrates that Saint Matthew says Mary had Jesus from her father-in-law – only ADN tests can prove so, and we neither have the bodies of Jesus nor of Joseph nor of Jacob –, but that it demonstrates that when the Gospel of Saint Matthew appeared (second century?), an enigma in its first chapter made Christian authorities assume that it says that Jesus was born of a virgin, when in reality it says that Mary had Jesus from her father-in-law.

What matters about my study is that it demonstrates that originally a book was regarded ‘sacred’ because one recognized it held ‘secrets’. Both ‘sacred’ and ‘secret’ are derived from the latin verb ‘segregare’ (to separate). What matters about my study is that it demonstrates that the word ‘religion’ comes from the latin word ‘re-legere’, which means ‘to re-read’. People have to read a sacred book many times to discover its secrets.

What matters about my study is that it demonstrates that we have ignored something important about the origins of Christianity and its sacred books: that according to an old Jewish tradition it is possible to create a mystery that reveals its secrets many generations later.

What matters about my study is is that it shows how easily the church leaders were misled. When the Gospel of Saint Matthew appeared, the church leaders were no longer descendants of Jews who were familiar with books that hold secrets, but of pagans who were familiar with pagan ideas such as the belief in a God who is born of a virgin (Egypt) or the belief in a Messiah who is born of a virgin (Persia). These church leaders may have known so little about the Old Testament that they ignored that Isaiah does not prophesize about a ‘virgin’ giving birth but about a ‘young lady’ giving birth. They may not have realized that the four women mentionned in Saint Matthew’s genealogy for Christ all had extramarital relations

What matters about my study is that it shows that Albert Einstein is right when he points out that blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. Once the leaders of Christianity accepted the dogma of the virgin birth, it later became very difficult for church leaders to question it. People who wanted to dedicate themselves to religion were assumed to to understand this mystery and Hans Christian Anderson’s story of the Emperor’s Suit explains very well how difficult it is for intellectuals to admit their ignorance.

What matters about my study is that it demonstrates that not only the believers, but also the skeptics and cynics among the Bible scholars have ignored the secrets regarding the genealogies in the Old and New Testament. It shows that also they have ignored the very simple fact that due to extramarital relations some lineages are real and others are supposed. Also they have ignored that when we investigates the history of someone’s ancestors, there is a big difference between the female lineage of the person’s mother (always from mother to daughter) and the male lineage of the person’s father (always from father to son). Whereas one can be sure of the mother, one can not be sure of the father. Official documents do not prove anything, only DNA tests do. This means that with each new generation, one risks to follow the wrong lineage in case the child was born from an extramarital relation.

What matters about my study is that it demonstrates that we must question our religions. My ‘revelation’ not only embarrasses the authorities of Christianity, but also the authorities of Judaism and of Islam. Those of Judaism because also they have ignored that the genealogies in the Bible recognize the fact that because of extramarital relations some lineages are real and others are supposed and, therefore, have ignored the secrets regarding the genealogies that appear in Genesis. And those of Islam because according to Mohamed Jesus was a prophet (not the son of God) born of a virgin and we therefore have to question the nature of his revelations.

What matters about my study is that when one wonders who created the enigma in Saint Matthew, it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that this was Jesus. One has to be enlightened to be able to create a mystery that reveals itself two thousand years later.