Feb 9, 2012 -- 7:12PM, koolpoi wrote:

Were any of the Apostles married?Did they have children?If so how did this fit in with spreading the Good News?If not,why?Was sex seen as not suitable for religious leaders?Did their divine connection displace carnal urges?Has this played a role in the different ideas of different sects (or branches) on the question of religious leaders marrying?

Jesus did tell his disciples to leave their families and to come and follow him.  I gather by what he says in Matthew that some become eunuchs for the kingdom of God, he suggests that it is not for everyone.  But I rather think this is a voluntary thing as Paul speaks of married couples abstaning temporarily while seeking the kingdom of God but also taking care of each others need as important.

The way I see it in the practice of faith, anything worldly distracts us from our spiritual communion with God--even eating and drinking.  Jesus refers to this in the story of the Samaritan woman when his disciples ask him if he needs to eat.  As the unknown author of the Cloud of Unknowing says of the Cloud of Forgetting, we forget all that is created, this world and everything that is in it. 

Feb 9, 2012 -- 9:33PM, Heretic_for_Christ wrote:

I think it is absurd to sniff dismissively at "worldly" things as distractions from "spiritual things." Newsflash: Everything around us in this world is a worldly thing, so there is no dichotomous classification of things (physical objects and physical activities). How we approach things is where we see the difference between the worldly and the spiritual.

A person who cloaks the light of God within under thick layers of guilt, fear, anger, envy, etc is operating on a worldly level in every activity. A person lets the light of God shine forth by letting go of whatever has been cloaking it is operating on a spiritual level, because the light of God's presence is manifest in every activity; every activity becomes an expression of the spiritual characteristics we gain from God's presence. (And by the way, God's presence does not require belief in God; I know many atheists whose lives express the spiritual characteristics of God though they do not call it God and do not believe in God.)

So to take the most domestic of domestic activities--sex--the person who keeps the light of God hidden under layers of anger and fear and guilt may achieve climax, but there may be little joy in it because there is little joy in that person's life. The person who lets the light of God shine forth has a joyful experience. There is nothing more spiritual than shared joy.

Does it never occur to anyone that when Jesus said that one must be as a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven, he was NOT saying "Go back in time to when you were three years old, all ignorance and innocence." He was saying that we should learn to take the simple joy of being engaged and involved in whatever we are doing, as a child is; to be free of chronic worry and resentment, as a child is; to be open to new experiences and delights, as a child is.

"Worldly" and "spiritual" are not categories of things but contrasting descriptions of how we engage with the things in our lives. 

Fine.  You can say it is absurd if you want to.  You can believe whatever you want to. 

The Gospels do have a few things to say about it and it might be good for you to consider what they say.

In the gnostic gospel of Peter, he also has a daughter who lies paralyzed in bed.  When he is questioned how a believer like him cannot cure her, he does.  She stands up does a couple of things and then he lets her be paralyzed again so she can remain pure.

Feb 9, 2012 -- 7:12PM, koolpoi wrote:

Were any of the Apostles married?Did they have children?If so how did this fit in with spreading the Good News?If not,why?Was sex seen as not suitable for religious leaders?Did their divine connection displace carnal urges?Has this played a role in the different ideas of different sects (or branches) on the question of religious leaders marrying?

I don't have the time or the energy tonight to answer all of your questions, but here are a few quotes from the Early Church that you might find interesting:

First of all, from 1 Corinthians 9.5: "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and as Cephas?"

Acts of the Apostles 21.8-9 tells us: "[...] and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophecy."

The Gospel of Luke 4.38-39 tells the story of how Jesus heals Peter's mother in law. 

According to Clement of Alexandria, "Peter and Philip had children, and Philip gave his daughters in marriage" (Stromata 3.6.52). 

Clement of Alexandria tells us that Peter's wife was martyred before Peter was: "They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, 'Remember thou the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them" (Stromata 7.1).

Again, according to Clement of Alexandria, Paul also had a wife. In the course of explaining this, Clement explains why it would have beneficial for an apostle to leave his wife at home, as well as why it would have been beneficial for an apostle to bring his wife along with on his missionary journeys: "Even Paul did not hesitate in one letter to address his consort. The only reason why he did not take her about with him was that it would have been an inconvenience for his ministry. Accordingly he says in a letter: 'Have we not a right to take about with us a wife that is a sister like the other apostles?' But the latter, in accordance with their particular ministry, devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction, and took their wives with them not as women with whom they had marriage relations, but as sisters, that they might be their fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord's teaching penetrated also the women's quarters without any scandal being aroused" (Stromata 3.6.53).

Finally, in his Ecclesiastical History 3.31.2-4, Eusebius, after quoting from Clement's passages above concerning the wives of Peter, Philip, and Paul, states the following concerning Philip and his daughters: "For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep [....] Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who sleeps in Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests in Ephesus." Eusebius says that this information is found in an epistle of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus. Eusebius continues: "And in the Dialogue of Caius which we mentioned a little above, Proclus, against whom he directed his disputation, in agreement with what has been quoted, speaks thus concerning the death of Philip and his daughters: 'After him there were four prophetesses, the daughters of Philip, at Hierapolis in Asia. Their tomb is there and the tomb of their father."

Eusebius also records that Papias mentions Philip's daughters and miraculous stories that he apparently heard from them: "The residence of the Apostle Philip with his daughters in Hierapolis has been mentioned above. We must now point out how Papias, who lived at the same time, relates that he had received a wonderful narrative from the daughters of Philip. For he relates that a dead man was raised to life in his day. He also mentions another miracle relating to Justus, surnamed Barsabas, how he swallowed a deadly poison, and received no harm, on account of the grace of the Lord." (Ecclesiastical History 3.39.9).