Was Mary Magdalene a prositute?

Question:

Is there truth to the theory that Mary Magdalene had a shady past? If so, where does the bible support this? If, not where did this idea come from?

Answer:

Mary Magdalene was a woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons (Luke 8:2). The name Magdalene likely indicates that she came from Magdala, a city on the southwest coast of the Sea of Galilee. After Jesus cast seven demons from her, she became one of His followers.
Mary Magdalene has been associated with the "woman in the city who was a sinner" (Luke 7:37) who washed Jesus' feet, but there is no scriptural basis for this. The city of Magdala did have a reputation for prostitution. This information, coupled with the fact that Luke first mentions Mary Magdalene immediately following his account of the sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50), has led some to equate the two women. John 11:2, however, identifies the women in Luke 7:36-50 as Mary of Bethany, not Mary Magdalene. NOW, A BIT OF HISTORY!!!

In 591, Pope Gregory the Great stated that all three Mary's described in the gospels, they were in fact one woman, Mary Magdalene, and this is how she became labeled as a prostitute, or the unnamed sinner. However the Second Vatican Council removed the prostitute label in 1969 after much debate and Biblical evidence that there was more than one Mary and that Mary of Magdalene and the unnamed sinner were two different figures.

Are there incompatible callings of the Disciples?

Question:

The book of John describes Jesus meeting Simon after his brother Andrew found him and told him about Jesus. Jesus then calls him Peter. Matthew, Mark and Luke describe Jesus seeing Andrew and Simon fishing and calls them to follow Him. Does this mean that Andrew and Simon did not follow Jesus after the encounter described in John and went back to fishing until Jesus called them later in the encounter described in the other Gospels or is there another answer?

Answer:

No need to reinvent the wheel on this one. I came across an excellent answer on Apologetics Press' website. The key assertion is that the synoptic (Matthew, Mark, Luke) gospels and John's gospel describe different events with calls with a different purpose. Click on the following link for a fuller explanation:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/3344