I'm not so sure that Joey wed a Virgin Mary

I like watching the History Channel around Easter, because they always have Biblically themed specials. I remember watching one on apocryphal books last year; and this year, they had shows on different concepts of Hell, Biblical archaeology, and Joseph (Jesus' Earthly father, that is, not the guy from Genesis). I didn't see all of the first one, but I did find it interesting that several religions, including Islam, apparently don't think of Hell as permanent, except for the very worst sinners. Some Christians seem to have the idea that pretty much everybody except a select few is going to Hell forever. The special indicated that Islam doesn't really have a Satan figure, but I've only read the very beginning of the Koran (in English translation, of course), and I seem to recall Satan (sometimes called "Iblis," a name I've also seen in mythology books as that of the former ruler of the Jinn; I suppose it's not at all unlikely that Muhammad appropriated the name) having a fairly prominent role. Perhaps the History Channel narrator was just saying that he isn't anywhere near as important a part of Islam as he is of Christianity, though. There was also a segment on Satanism, which was interesting. I can't say that I hold with their emphasis on vengeance, but they had some other ideas that weren't so bad. What I gather is that modern-day Satanism is basically humanistic, with some (often parodistic) trappings of religion.

I don't really have much to say on the Biblical archaeology special, but the Joseph one did spark some thoughts with me. One odd thing about the program was that it started out basically assuming everything it said about Joseph in the Bible was true, but then, later on, it mentioned historians' objections to some parts of the story, with one woman even suggesting that he never existed. The idea that Jesus was not Joseph's biological child was taken pretty much at face value, but I think this was done so it could be seen as a "what if" kind of thing for non-Christians, while not angering those who take the Bible at face value. The program did question the historicity of Luke's census story and Matthew's account of Herod's slaughter of the innocents. It was interesting to learn that there were actually TWO Bethlehems in the area at the time when Jesus was born, one in Judea and one in Galilee. There was also a mention that the slaughter of the innocents, if it really HAD occurred, would have resulted in a maximum of about twenty babies being killed. Still a lot, certainly, but hardly the vast massacre that the Bible suggests. I still prefer to think that this event never really happened, since it would have been difficult for a Roman-appointed official to get away with something like that without getting in trouble with his superiors, and also because it's only mentioned in one Gospel. There was a reference to the different names for Joseph's father mentioned in different Gospels, but not to the fact that the two lists of Joseph's ancestors only have (I think) two names in common between David and Joseph. Oh, and the program also explained what Coptic Christians were. If you recall, Coptic Christianity was mentioned in the most recent Simpsons episode.

I feel like I should finish with some kind of conclusion, but I can't think of one. Happy Good Friday, I suppose.