Why do Christians believe that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived?

Question

There is a mistranslation of Isaiah's Hebrew for young woman (almah) It got translated into the Greek for virgin(parthenos).

Now 'almah' means young woman in hebrew, ha'almah means the young woman. 'Almah' does not mean virgin or does 'ha'almah' mean the virgin, neither mean virgin.

So why do Christians keep on believing Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived, when that's clearly not the case here?

Mary was a young woman when Jesus was conceived.

This does mess up the whole Mary was a virgin when she had Jesus story. Most Christians do know that there is a error in the translation.. So why do they keep insisting that Mary was a virgin when she had Jesus, even when they know that is not the case..

Answer 1

Because they are stupid. It probably went like this - "Joseph, I think I am with child and we are not yet married." " They will stone me to death, what can we do?" "Don't worry Mary, I'll come up with some story they will buy."

Answer 2

Mary became a virgin whilst Jesus became conceived and whilst Jesus became born. The orginal Hebrew observe you're talking approximately, from Isaiah, became translated by making use of Jewish Rabbis into Greek approximately 250 BC, and that they used the Greek observe for Virgin, parthanos. That Hebrew observe does mean youthful female and it means Virgin, it means the two. that comparable Greek observe, parthanos became utilized in Matthew a million:23 and is marvelous translated, Virgin. After Jesus became born, Mary and Joseph had a classic marriage and that marriage produced a minimum of 6 extra babies the previous-formed way. The 4 boys are named in Matt 13:fifty 5-fifty six and Mark 6:3

Answer 3

In Luke 1, after the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, she asked him how this could happen.

A young woman soon to be married (which Mary was) would not have to ask such a question -- unless she had been a virgin at that time AND had intended to remain one for life.

If you were engaged, and an angel told you that you would soon be pregnant with a son, you would probably assume that you'd get pregnant "the normal way" by having sex with your soon-to-be husband.

But that's not what Mary assumed. She asked how it would happen. Think about that.

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Answer 4

I am afraid you have no idea what you are talking about. This is nonsense. Why is it all of the sudden so many questions like this come up as if there have not been so many men in the past that have spent their whole lives studying these things. You are completely wrong. I am tired of all this so called intellectual nonsense.

Can you read Greek. Probably not. Nor Hebrew for that matter. Mary was a virgin. This is quite a plain fact in Scripture. In the prophesy of Isaiah this is given also hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.

You need to sit down and close your mouth. This foolishness needs to be silenced. If you are too wicked to believe the Christmas story don't stand in the way of someone else.

Answer 5

Your claim of mistranslation is ridiculous. In the Old Testament, it is prophecied that the sign by which we could recognize the Messiah would be that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. That is a very noteworthy sign, something impossible in human terms, which therefore must be a direct work of God. The text could not possibly say that the sign by which we could recognize the Messiah is that a "young women" would conceive and bear a son! That would be no sign at all! Completely useless! So why prophecy about it??
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Answer 6

Friend I, like many of today's Christians, use the King James translated version of the the bible for my bases of study. Through the years many scholars have tried many different ways of disproving the texts without success.
You have found the way!! forget that the king demanded the finest most accurate translation or heads would roll & forget that 68 of the brightest, smartest, motivated scholars worked on the translations accuracy You have found the error - congradulations know all christians throughout the world need find another religion.
Do you have any ideas what would be best for the billions of us????

Answer 7

Matthew 1

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d]—which means, "God with us."




If what you are saying were true....then the bible would not have lasted thousands of years and still be changing lives today! The reason people believe it is because they read it, know it, and live it. That is the only way to find out whether it is true.

Psalm 33:4
For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

Answer 8

Great point! II think you give the average person WAY too much credit, though, for knowing about translation. Most Christians don't even know Jesus spoke Aramaic!

Growing up, though raised Christian, I always found it improbable that Mary was really a virgin. I figured she was just covering for herself (she'd have been stoned!) and getting Joseph to marry her!

Now, it's so ingrained, people can't believe it's not true!

Answer 9

The "virgin birth" story was made up long after jesus was dead, in order to have a more convincing case to present to jews that jesus was the messiah. Since there was a prophecy stating that the messiah would be born from a virgin, they made up the story to fit the prophecy after the fact. This is pretty well accepted by the vast majority of serious religious scholars.

The catholic church's idea of "ever virgin" for mary -- the idea that she remained a virgin all of her life -- is even more ridiculous. The bible itself mentions her other children (the brother of jesus, for example) several times...she was married to joseph, *of course* they had sex, and had other children.

Similarly, *of course* mary had sex in order to conceive jesus. Whether joseph was the father, or she got knocked up and then joseph just took pity on her, is purely speculation...

Answer 10

Well, there is no way to make you believe this unless you belive in God, because only then, you will belive that God is capable of such a miracle.
Besides, if you believe that God created earth and all the sorrounding, why would it be hard for him to let Mary get pregnant withought the touch of a man.

Answer 11

people will ALWAYS insist that the major assumptions concerning the basis for there faith are facts. Christianity is not the only religion that is based on assumptions....ALL of the major religions are.

To show them evidence of false information in their religious texts is simply an excercise in futility. Undebatable proof that any religion is false would not necessarily be the end of said religion. You are talking about groups of people that are willing to organize their lives and time on belief structures that are IMPOSSIBLY based on a reality that does not exist, and has never existed.
You are completely ignoring the ability of people to dismiss whatever it is you are telling them so that they can continue to live their lives inside a bubble of lies that make them safe. Hence the responses you get such as "She was a virgin BECAUSE the Bible says so".
Of course there is no evidence that Mary was a virgin, and people who believe the Bible do not care one bit that no one else in the history of time has ever become pregnant "miraculously"....yet there have been literally THOUSANDS of women throughout history that have become pregnant yet deny ever having sex.