The Perpetual Virginity of Mary (Jesus, crucifixion, blood, disciple)

[nutshell]

Mark 6:3 is pretty conclusive for me.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."

Looks like he had four brothers and at least two sisters and I see no evidence that suggests these are Joseph's children from a previous marriage.

[ChrisBianchi]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

There are non-canonical scriptures which say James was his brother, but if you don't want to talk about siblings then that's the last i'll say on it.

The virgin birth idea stemmed from a mistranslation of an old testament prophecy where they translated young woman as virgin. Since the whole virgin birth idea is thus probably untrue, i find it likely Mary was not a virgin her whole life.

You are correct in that the virgin birth concept stemmed from prophecy. However, one must note the differences in language and translation between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is in the New Testament where we find Mary, a young, unmarried woman, pregnant and questioning the pregnancy since she had not been with a man.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Aqualung

I said no, just because it's very highly unlikely that she was a virgin for that long, and it really doens't make her any less to think that (Gasp! ) she had sex.

There are nuns today that feel they are 'married to God' that go their entire life without sex. Their are Priests that go their entire life without sex.

[ChrisBianchi]

Originally Posted by nutshell

Mark 6:3 is pretty conclusive for me.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."

Looks like he had four brothers and at least two sisters and I see no evidence that suggests these are Joseph's children from a previous marriage.

You are correct n saying that there is "...no evidence that suggests these are Joseph's children from a previous marriage." However, there is no evidence to suggest that they aren't half-brothers, either. This is an ambiguous and inconclusive passage that does not constitute either proof or evidence.

[ChrisBianchi]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

There are nuns today that feel they are 'married to God' that go their entire life without sex. Their are Priests that go their entire life without sex.

This is another interesting question. Since so many nuns claim to be married to God concurrently, is God a bigamist?

[jeffrey]

Even the apostle paul spoke about it being better to go without sex, if your life is devoted to God. I really don't see why, especially Mary, could not go without sex? If God is really 1st in your life, as with nuns, this does not seem to be a hard choice,

[ChrisBianchi]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

Even the apostle paul spoke about it being better to go without sex, if your life is devoted to God. I really don't see why, especially Mary, could not go without sex? If God is really 1st in your life, as with nuns, this does not seem to be a hard choice,

Actually, Apostle Paul spoke about it being better to go without marriage. However, if a man and woman are married, Paul teaches that they should give of their bodies freely to one another.

[nutshell]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

There are nuns today that feel they are 'married to God' that go their entire life without sex. Their are Priests that go their entire life without sex.

Nuns and priests are married to a member of the opposite sex. Mary was.

[Victor]

Aside from the mass amount of historical writings that records how most Christians understood Mary's perpetual virginity and the various verses we use it will not deviate others from holding to their interpretations. Since catholics are not bound to the Bible Alone, it does not matter if it's in the Bible or not to us. We believe things that are not in the Bible.

~Victor

[nutshell]

Originally Posted by nutshell

Mark 6:3 is pretty conclusive for me.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."

So if you think Mary was a perpetual virgin then who are the brothers and sisters mentioned in the above verse?