[Johny Joe Hold]

I thought it might be helpful to all men if we had a talk about Joseph. How did he feel when he learned his virgin wife was pregnant?

I think his first reaction was like any man's would be, anger. He was angry, not only because she was pregnant with someone other than himself, but also because he was not in complete control of her. He assumed she was his to order about and manage. It would anger any man when his wife was controlled by someone or something else.

Reading the Bible carefully, however, one can see Joseph how got over his anger. Expensive gifts began arriving. While they were for Baby Jesus, Joseph, the man of the house, would have been in charge of caring for them and rewarded accordingly. My study of Christmas leads me to conclude Joseph came out OK in the birth of Baby Jesus.

[Dennis Lukes]

Jesus must have liked him well enough, considering that he saw fit to include Joseph's complete genealogy in the Bible despite the fact that the two had no blood relation.

Really though, Joseph was the original beta cuck soyboy, and a virgin too.

"Don't ever talk to me or my wife's son again." - Joseph of Nazareth to Pontius Pilate

[Dr. Anthony J. Toole]

I'm not sure if I read this in the Bible, but wasn't "Jo" one of those limp-wristed artisans that couldn't fix his own truck and wore a multi-colored cloak? No wonder he and Mary never, uh, consummated the deal. He was probably busy fussing over his hair and reading to kids at the library, young boys I imagine. The Bible tells us men kept arriving "unannounced" "to see Baby Jesus" and Jo would accommodate them in return for gift$.

[Dennis Lukes]

Originally Posted by Dr. Anthony J. Toole

The Bible tells us men kept arriving "unannounced" "to see Baby Jesus" and Jo would accommodate them in return for gift$.

Typical J€W$.

[Johny Joe Hold]

Originally Posted by Dennis Lukes

Typical J€W$.

The Bible leaves out some details of what happened in and around the manger. A practical observation is the manger was too small to accommodate all at one time the big group of men who showed up. You have the wise men. Add to that a bunch of shepherds.

My guess is Joseph set up what we today would call a pay wall. Only a few at a time were allowed to enter and each had to pay. Really, I hope Joseph did well.

[Dr. Anthony J. Toole]

Originally Posted by Johny Joe Hold

The Bible leaves out some details of what happened in and around the mangina. A practical observation is the mangina was too small to accommodate all at one time the big group of men who showed up. You have the wise men. Add to that a bunch of shepherds. My guess is Joseph set up what we today would call a glory hole. Only a few at a time were allowed to enter and each had to pay. Really, I hope Joseph did well.

Brother Mayor, I took a liberty and changed some words in the quoted text. Some old words (such as olde/old) are hard to translate from the original Elizabethan English that the Bible was written in in its current form. Scholars have differing opinions of which I lay out but one interpretation. Getting on one's knees at the glory hole is still common today.

[Johny Joe Hold]

Originally Posted by Dr. Anthony J. Toole

Brother Mayor, I took a liberty and changed some words in the quoted text. Some old words (such as olde/old) are hard to translate from the original Elizabethan English that the Bible was written in in its current form. Scholars have differing opinions of which I lay out but one interpretation. Getting on one's knees at the glory hole is still common today.

Well done, Dr. Toole.

[WWJDnow]

I don't have much to say about Joseph, except he doesn't seem to be around in the Gospel accounts after Jesus was twelve years old. It's a bit of a mystery, that.

This discussion reminds me of the time several other boys in youth group and I found a hollow tree in the John the Baptist Woods behind the church and fashioned it into our own private Glory! hole. It was a stroke of genius. We spent many a pleasant afternoon there performing worship, I can tell you. Many of us truly discovered God for the first time then, judging by all the boys who got down on their knees and the others who kept yelling "Oh God! Oh Jesus!" Some even fell to the ground, prostrating themselves before the Lord.

Pastor Ezekiel (he was head youth pastor back then) was so proud of us that he came out to our Glory! hole to perform services and anoint us personally on several occasions.

Those were wonderful days, back before the Democrat party ruined America, but all good things (except God and our immortal souls) must come to an end. Now the spot is part of the parking lot for the Platinum Plus Tithers' exclusive golf club, which admittedly is a better use of the land. Those old growth woodlands blocked everyone's view, and there were wild animals everywhere. And, in truth, we can plumb the depths of our love of Jesus anywhere, especially in the comfort of our personal prayer closets or in the loving embrace of the church's men-only prayer circle.