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Christ And The Harlot

Recently, I was talking with a friend and we were discussing Jesus and the Harlot, we all know the story. The Priests brought harlot to Christ and asked him what should be done with her for she was caught in the very act of adultry, they continued saying that the law of Moses says she most be stoned. Well we know how it ends everyone who accused her of adultry left. My friend purposed that the Harlot was none other then "Mary Magdelene".

When Christ and his disciples went to Canaan for a wedding, some say that it was the wedding of Jesus and Mary, if this is so then Jesus's wife was the one who was caught in the act of committing adultery. Christ frankly forgave his wife of being unfaithful to him. Does this sound at all possible?

What are you're opinions and comments?

Harlot The Christ

I tend to agree that it was Jesus' wife that was brought to Him.

Another interesting take on the story is to ask what Jesus was writing in the dirt. Perhaps it was the names of the men who brought her to Him, along with the names of the women with whom THEY had been unfaithful.

Just a thought.

Christ And The Harlot Studies Doctrine Mormon

In one of the Apocryphal writings it says wrote the sins of the priests who where behind him Murderer, adulterer, thief.. there were some more but I don't remember them off hand.

Harlot The Christ

Mary Magdalene being a prostitute is a myth developed through a past Catholic Pope (cannot remember the name). There are in fact five Marys: see the Bible Dictionary and Jesus the Christ.

Harlot The Christ

I was trying to see if I could find online a wonderful quote by James Talmage in the book "Jesus The Christ", have you ever read it Weisenberger? It is a GREAT book and in one of the pages deal exactly with what you was talking about. Here a little piece:

"Mary Magdalene became one of the closest friends Christ had among women; her devotion to Him as her Healer and as the One whom she adored as the Christ was unswerving; she stood close by the cross while other women tarried afar off in the time of His mortal agony; she was among the first at the sepulchre on the resurrection morning, and was the first mortal to look upon and recognize a resurrected Being-the Lord whom she had loved with all the fervor of spiritual adoration. To say that this woman, chosen from among women as deserving of such distinctive honors, was once a fallen creature, her soul seared by the heat of unhallowed lust, is to contribute to the perpetuating of an error for which there is no excuse. Nevertheless the false tradition, arising from early and unjustifiable assumption, that this noble woman, distinctively a friend of the Lord, is the same who, admittedly a sinner, washed and anointed the Savior's feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee and gained the boon of forgiveness through contrition, has so tenaciously held its place in the popular mind through the centuries, that the name, Magdalene, has come to be a generic designation for women who fall from virtue and afterward repent. We are not considering whether the mercy of Christ could have been extended to such a sinner as Mary of Magdala is wrongly reputed to have been; man cannot measure the bounds nor fathom the depths of divine forgiveness; and if it were so that this Mary and the repentant sinner who ministered to Jesus as He sat at the Pharisee's table were one and the same, the question would stand affirmatively answered, for that woman who had been a sinner was forgiven. We are dealing with the scriptural record as a history, and nothing said therein warrants the really repellent though common imputation of unchastity to the devoted soul of Mary Magdalene." (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, pp. 264-65.)

Christ And The Harlot

I have long had a question in regards to the adulteress and Jesus Christ. In The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball, he tells us that Christ did NOT forgive the woman--rather sent her to sin no more.

Up until I read this I always thought she was forgiven. He stated that she did not have sufficient time to repent at that time (accusing). Did anyone else ever wonder or think that ?

Christ The Harlot

I have to disagree with Pres. Kimball. I feel that she was forgiven. The Greek text is pretty clear on this. But that is my opinion. I feel that here is a story of pharisees, men of God by Jewish tradition, bringing to Jesus (Jehovah's) a guilty adulterous woman and telling Jehovah himself what Jehovah wants done with this woman. It is kind of ironic to have these men tell or demanding to God what God wants done to this woman.
Then we have Jesus (God) really showing us what he wants done which is to simply forgive her. How many times in our lives to we find ourselves dictating to others what we feel is God's will because it fits our since of self righteous justice?
I often wonder why do we have such a problem as LDS with this lady being forgiven by Christ so easily? What does that say about us and our own since of justice? Are we offended that God's demand of justice is not as demanding as our own, because we feel that she needs some form of punishment? Do we feel better when we see others suffer our required demands for punishment? Why does it comfort us or make us feel better to say that she is not really forgiven?

Christ The Harlot Mormon Doctrine Studies

Just to note, I was not aware that the LDS view had issues with this story. I just had come across it when I was reading that book (Miracle of Forgiveness) and it struck me odd. I had never thought that she wasn't forgiven until then. Are you saying that in general the LDS people have a problem thinking Christ could forgive her on the spot? I don't have the book with me but I remember that he talked about the reasoning was there was no true deathbed repentance--meaning I thought, instant repentance and that was what the situation would of been. Again, I only thought that-I would love to hear more thoughts.

I have often held that example close to heart because it was one of the worst sins and He did so freely forgive her and as you asked, What about us? I think He would gladly do so for each of us--after a repentance process.