Teenage Mary

Ah, the 'virgin birth'... One reader of Billy's is asking questions, but stops short of asking the right ones.

Q: Why did the Bible writers say that Jesus was born of a virgin? I know they lived thousands of years ago, but didn't they know that things like this just don't happen? --S.S.

SS is correct about one thing, things like that just don't happen (in most species anyway). The whole idea of Jesus being born of a virgin has two likely explanations. Both of which Billy simply decides to plug his ears from and ignore.

A: I can assure you they were just as aware of the facts of life as we are; they knew both a mother and a father were necessary to bring a child into the world. And Mary knew it also, which is why she was deeply troubled and asked the angel who told her she'd give birth to the Savior, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" (Luke 1:34, NKJV).

And yet the Bible assures us that Jesus had no human father --because His true Father was God. By a miracle that only God could bring about, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.

But did the Bible originally claim Mary to be a virgin mother? The original text actually uses a word that usually means 'young girl' rather that 'virgin'. So Mary being a virgin could be no more than a mistranslation.

Why did God do this? The reason was to stress the uniqueness of Jesus, for He alone --out of every person who had ever been born, or ever would be born --was the sinless Son of God.

As I've written before, Jesus wasn't sinless in the Bible. But he also wasn't unique. Jesus is but one (and not the oldest) in a long list of gods and saviors that is said to have been born of a virgin. So if the bible did intend to have Jesus born or a virgin, it looks more like the common practice of Christianity plagiarizing other religions.

What difference should Jesus' virgin birth make to us? It should point us to Jesus --who was both fully God and fully man.

Actually, it should be a shinning example of the Bible defeating itself. The prophesied savior was supposed to be of a certain bloodline. A bloodline that he supposedly fulfilled through his 'father'. Joseph. But the problem is that Joseph wasn't Jesus' genetic father if Mary was indeed a virgin.

This means that either the savior prophesy was wrong, that Jesus wasn't the prophesied savior, or that Mary was not a virgin. At best you can reconcile two of these, but not all three.


-Brain Hulk

Please share, subscribe, comment and follow us on your favorite social networking sites!
facebook | google+ | twitter