First of all, angels don't appear to just anyone, so Joseph was no doubt a righteous man as the scriptures attest. God wouldn't have given Jesus the perfect Mom and a lousy Dad. Both figures are vital to Jewish family life. Through Joseph, the lineage of Jesus goes back through David to Adam, the Son of God, just as it does through Mary.

If Joseph wisely invested the wise men's (not kings, and most likely Zorastrians from Persia) gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the family would have had a tidy nest egg for the future.

Of course Mary and Joseph together had the siblings of Jesus, both brothers and sisters. Only evil old men would suggest that marital sex is sinful. "The wedding bed is undefiled." But, then, Catholicism is a truly bizarre pagan religion, especially because it claims to be Christian.

Another puzzling aspect of the nativity scene is why are the wise men displayed there? They didn't show up until Jesus was about two years old, back living in Galilee. Also, why do the paintings of Jesus and his family all look like goys instead of Jews?

Dennis St. John:

First of all, angels don't appear to just anyone, so Joseph was no doubt a righteous man as the scriptures attest. God wouldn't have given Jesus the perfect Mom and a lousy Dad. Both figures are vital to Jewish family life. Through Joseph, the lineage of Jesus goes back through David to Adam, the Son of God, just as it does through Mary.

If Joseph wisely invested the wise men's (not kings, and most likely Zorastrians from Persia) gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the family would have had a tidy nest egg for the future.

Of course Mary and Joseph together had the siblings of Jesus, both brothers and sisters. Only evil old men would suggest that marital sex is sinful. "The wedding bed is undefiled." But, then, Catholicism is a truly bizarre pagan religion, especially because it claims to be Christian.

Another puzzling aspect of the nativity scene is why are the wise men displayed there? They didn't show up until Jesus was about two years old, back living in Galilee. Also, why do the paintings of Jesus and his family all look like goys instead of Jews?

Bull shit. Had such a Hebrew man lived at the time he would be ashamed to have recieved damaged goods and insulted by the breech of contract and raising a bastard child. He could have insisted that the damaged goods be stoned to death. He barely broke even if the myth is accurate.

Hmmm...I think I disagree. There are plenty of men out there, regardless of their cultural traditions, who raise other men's children without any problem at all. They aren't ashamed, they aren't insulted, they aren't anything but good fathers to their wives' children (or their adopted children). Nor are they bothered by having a "used" woman.

If there actually was a historical figure, Jesus, he was, by all reckonings a very unconventional sort of fellow. It's highly unlikely that that sort of confident unconventionality would spring up unassisted. Perhaps Jesus got his start at individualism, bucking the system and fearless confrontationalism from his "dad"? ;)

(If Joseph was a bit of a social misfit, all the more reason to not mention him in scripture.)

i heard from sources that a roman centurion impregnated Mary and produced that blessed child. surprised nobody here mentions this historical "legend" or truth?? certainly more likely than some god-like figure swooping down like Swan & Leda creating an offspring. after all, as is well known, in times of war/occupation, foreign troops are quite likely to impregnate local women, either by force or persuasion, i.e. money. think of the french women who had children by german troops during WWII, same thing happened in occupied Norway. so let's up the bets for the handsome strong Roman soldier-boy sowing his wild wild oats. think Occam's Razor....