[Scared to post] Serious misunderstanding about the Virgin Mary...

That doesn't make her mother a virgin . . .

The immaculate conception, where Mary was conceived, was not asexual, but rather, that Mary's conception was without sin, i.e., she was conceived without "Original Sin", but her parents still had sex to conceive her.

 

I didn't know you were Catholic?! Welcome to the club! GEt ready to defend yourself.

 

Hehe, well, I so rarely even visit the D+D, it shouldn't get me into too much trouble . . .

 

That is the conclusion now. I was speaking to a time a good 400 years ago. Just wanted to see if people were paying attention.

 

There are some schools of thought that she was considered a "virgin" because she gave birth prior to menses. Doesn't necessarily mean she didn't have sex. A lot depends on some translation issues.

Here is one link: http://www.betemunah.org/virgin.html

Edit to add relevant paragraphs:

"An attempt was made by the early Christians to justify the virgin birth story by referring to Isaiah 7:14. The word employed in the Septuagint of the Tanach was parthenos. But a reference to the original Hebrew yields the word almah. Both parthenos and almah did not necessarily mean a virgin as we understand it, a woman who had never had intercourse. In Greek it could mean youth, the state of unmarriage, or even a person who is first married. In Hebrew it could mean beside the usual meaning, an immature girl who could not conceive because she had not yet started to menstruate (Now that’s an interesting thought).

The idea of a virgin as a premenstrual girl allows her to have children and still be a virgin. If she were to conceive from her very first ovulation, she would not have menstruated but would be a mother and still a virgin. If she conceived at the first ovulation after the birth, she could be a virgin mother of two children of different ages. Since Jewish girls often married before menstruation - in Joel 1:8 an almah's husband is mentioned - virgin mothers were not unusual. Now Mary was described as "betrothed" to Joseph implying that she was a minor under the age of twelve and a half. After that age she could become his wife. Thus the "virgin" Mary could have given birth. If she did, the truth was misunderstood in the gentile world of the Roman Empire.

When the translators of the Septuagint were translating the Hebrew writings into the Greek Septuagint, they converted the Hebrew word "almah" as the Greek equivalent of our English word for virgin. "Almah" appears 9 other times in the Tanach; in each case it means "young woman". When the scriptures referred to a virgin (and they do over 50 times) they always used the Hebrew word "betulah". So, Isaiah appears to have referred to a young woman becoming pregnant."

I can't vouch for the scholarly merit, but there are other writings out there.

Most biblical scholars do agree that Jesus had siblings.

 

Jesus has at least one blood-brother, James. Unless Joseph got a second wife, I'm pretty sure Mary didn't stay a virgin.

 

Where in the Bible does it say this? Mary was human, just like her mom. All humans are born into sin.

 

macbeth is not a b*stard!

 

There are some schools of thought that she was considered a "virgin" because she gave birth prior to menses.

BTW, Jews thought to menses was to sin. When Christian theology developed, Mary posed a problem. if she had committed sin, how could she be chosen by God to be the mother of his child? The early church fathers solved this problem by making Mary sinless too, which lead to her to conceiving pre-menses (or was it her first and only ovulation) and heading straight into menopause after birth Jesus. Following this logic, Mary's parents (and all of her ancestor for that mater) also would have to be sinless.

Sex outside of marriage is without a doubt a sin. The traditional definition of b*stard applies. Thus, Jesus is God's b*stard son. Since Mary was pre-menses, she was jail bait. Thus, this makes God a pedophile. Of course, God did not actually marry Mary, so he commited sin by having sex with her.

Jesus hung around with 12 guys and refused intimate relations with women. Thus, Jesus was likely gay (or asexual making Him God's son/daughter).

etc.

The early church fathers would have been way ahead of the game, by not inventing theology to explain the 'rough edges' of Christian beliefs.

 

Thank you for adding a touch of class to this thread No Worries.

 

You are very welcome.

 

You're kidding right? Is this just another goading? Don't become a goader.

 

He also had a foot fetish.

 

I was showing the foolishness of putting such fine points on the official Christian Theology.

 

But is this really a sin? Let's make like the Nicean Council, take a vote, and settle this prickly theological issue once and for all!!!

 

Stop Goading me! It hurts. You're so intolerant.

 

But am I as intolerant as say the Spanish Inquisition? You know, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

 

Yeah I'd say your maybe more intolerant than the inquisition. Intolerant as the Athens senators who condemned Socrates.

 

intolerant, adjective
1 illiberal, intolerant, narrow-minded about cherished opinions
2 unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion

by definition, you are the intolerant one.

 

yeah..it's awesome to come in and disparage some one else's faith. by definition, that's awesome.