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December 2003

Caveat Lector! Let the Reader Beware!

How appropriately does St. Paul’s Epistle to St. Timothy apply to us today when he warned that “there will come a time in which men will not endure sound doctrine, but with itching ears will heap to themselves doctrines according to their own lusts and desires” (2 Timothy 4:3).

If there was ever an age when this has been more verified, it is certainly in our times. The news media and entertainment industries exhibit such a bias and prejudice against God and often openly attack the Catholic Church and Her teachings and practices.

Among the latest attacks on our Faith, this past summer news reports were published about an alleged archeological discovery — “the ossuary of St. James.” The particular issue in this “discovery” was the Hebrew inscription on this alleged ossuary: “James, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus.”

As could be expected, the Protestants were quick to hail this “discovery” as proof of their heretical position that Mary. the Mother of Jesus, did not always remain a virgin, but that she, after the birth of Christ, had other children. To support their heresy, they misinterpret particular passages of Sacred Scripture. To summarize briefly their arguments, they use the Gospel of St. Matthew, where is read: “He (St. Joseph) knew her not till she brought forth her first-born Son” (Matthew 1:25).

From this they falsely argue on two points — “knew her not till” and “her first-born.” It is interesting to note that many Catholic theologians (especially Fr. Franciscus Suarez, S.J., in 1592) have amply refuted these erroneous claims. In Scriptural usage, the word until expresses what has occurred up to a certain point and leaves the future aside. Thus for example, God says in the book of Isaias, “I am till you grow old” (Is. 46:4). From this are we to infer that God would then cease to be? Of course not! Again in the Book of Psalms, God the Father said to His Divine Son, “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 109). Will the Messias, once His enemies are subdued, relinquish His place of honor? Of course not! So when St. Matthew records “he knew her not till she brought forth her first-born Son,” his principal aim was to tell his readers that Christ’s birth was miraculous and that St. Joseph had no part in the conception of Mary’s Child. As for the term, “first-born,” this was a legal term and does not imply that Mary had other children. The child is called first-born from the fact of its opening the womb and not to distinguish it from subsequent issue. Thus if a Hebrew couple had only one child and the child was boy, he would be given the title “first-born.”

Protestants also make reference to various passages in the Gospels which refer to “the brethren of the Lord,” and from this, they infer Mary had other children. Once again they falsely interpret the Scriptures. The Hebrew word “ahh,” which is the word for “the brethren,” is applicable not only to a brother in the strictest sense, hut also to a nephew (see Genesis 14:16); a cousin (see Numbers 16:10); a husband (see Canticles 4:3 and Esther 16:12); members of the same race (see Number 20:14); an ally (see Amon 1:9); and a friend (see Job 6:15). There are no Scriptural references which refer to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as having other children. Why did Jesus, when dying on the Cross, give the care of his Mother to his Apostle St. John? This would not have been necessary if there were brothers in the strict sense.

Nevertheless, the news of the alleged “ossuary” of St. James may have created doubts in the minds of weak and uninformed Catholics; however, it is most interesting to note that on July 21st the Israeli police in Tel Aviv arrested the “discoverer” of this “ossuary” (an antiquities dealer named Oded Golan) on suspicion of forgery. Police were able to exhibit forgery equipment (stencils, stones, and partially completed forgeries) which they claimed to have found in Golan’s house.

For all the media attention that this “discovery” has generated, it is not surprising that the arrest of this antiquities dealer on suspicion of forgery has received little or no publicity at all!

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