Jesus has brothers and sisters.

Lots of people don't know that Jesus had siblings. He's the oldest child, and his younger brother, James, headed up the Jerusalem church for awhile after Jesus's death.

At least, that's what I'm learning from reading The brother of Jesus and the lost teachings of Christianity by Jeffrey J. Bütz.

The author says that many religions say that Jesus did NOT have brothers and sisters. Like Catholicism. They say he only had "cousins". Other religions say that his brothers and sisters were actually step-brothers and sisters (from his father's other wife).

Traditional Christian doctrine shows Paul as the next leader of the Christian church after Jesus's death.

But this book argues it may actually have been James, and that James's story is more interesting because it's not well known and may even be repressed by the Church.

I just started the book so that's all I know so far.

I drew a picture of Jesus and scared my wife.

Yesterday some religious people came by and wiggled a flyer through our door so that it landed inside our house. I felt annoyed, but that's beside the point. (Couldn't they just leave it on our porch with all the other junk mail?)

The flyer had an illustration of Jesus with his wrists bound in rope. It said something like, "Jesus died for your sins, what are you going to do for him?" He was also wearing a crown of thorns.

So I did what any good Christian would do and drew a picture of Jesus in my sketch book. It took about 35 minutes. Then I showed my wife who said it was scary. She said that my Jesus made it look like he wanted to kill her.

So I basically drew an evil Jesus.

Jesus wasn't born on Christmas.

It's pretty common knowlege that Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. The Bible never says what time of year he was born, and old Christian writings don't mention celebrations around his birth.

The two theories are:

1) December 25th was chosen by church leaders because that's when traditional pagan feasts and celebrations took place, and they adapted many pagan customs.

2) December 25th was chosen by church leaders because of links between passover (his death) and his conception.

Either way, it doesn't matter much in our society. Santa is much more popular than Jesus. Parents actively tell their kids that Santa rides around on a sleigh and gives them presents. And that's what kids care about.