What would you do if you were Joseph...?

Question

and your young bride-to-be came to you and told you she was pregnant but still a virgin? Do you think that he made up the story that an angel came down to him and told him to marry Mary even though she was pregnant just because he wanted to marry her?

or

What would you do if you were Mary?

Answer 1

This is a little controversial. If I had an angel popping in front of me and telling me that I will have god's child, what am I supposed to do, have a morning after pill? You don't want to get on God's bad side. Now if I had to tell Joseph, well... i'd just tell him. He'd probably have me commited, but if the story tells right, an angel appeared to him also. I seriously don't think he'd force me to go to the nearest abortion clinic, either. Basically, I'd have the baby... especially when I know I HAVE TO, or God will see to me. Seriously, would you want to fight a god that supposedly created the Universe and claims to be bigger and mightier than all the other gods in the planet? I wouldn't.

Answer 2

New shoes or broken into old shoes?

If you love your shoes, it does not matter that someone wore them and helped you break into them.

Pregnant or virgin, Mary is Joseph's beloved and in those days, women cannot live without a bread winner in the family. I think that story was put into the Bible to teach the lay people that we can't all get a brand new bride. Some will be pregnant. Of those who are pregnant, some may even still be virgins. (Only the ignorant will believe that)...

Maybe way back then, God had already learned of artificial insemination. God knows all... She could be a virgin.

If I were Mary, I would marry Joseph, because the kid may not be his, but if he is willing to help raise the baby, why refuse free room and board? In the old days where I need to depend on a man to get you drinking water, and am bare foot and pregnant, who in their right mind would refuse free help? Pride is not going to fee me nor the baby.

Answer 3

I guess if I was Mary and this was happening to me I would freak a bit if God told me I was going to have his son when I knew I was had never had sex with a man, Back then i would have been scared I would have been stoned to death or murdered .If I had been promised to some one .
The Greek word for maiden is young women that's why they said about Mary she was not only a virgin (((but had knowing no man. ))))

Because a virgin was a young maiden in the KJV of the bible didn't have any thing to do with being pure and chased.
I guess I would just have to have the faith in God that he would protect me .I would hope that Joesph would Marry me.

I guess when Joseph had and angel come to him it probably scared the heck out of him I would have had a hard time buying Mary story at first with out the angel. Would have scared the heck out of me too.

Answer 4

Well the Bible says Joseph wanted to put her away privately. Who knows what conversation transpired or if Mary revealed it was the Messiah she carried. But the Bible does say an angel revealed to Joseph what really happened and so Joseph married her. He probably felt very blessed after he found out his adopted Son was the Messiah. He would get to meet the long fortold Savior of the world. I wonder what conversations Joseph had with Jesus as Jesus grew up. Kind of blows the mind. If I was Mary, I would do just as I was told by God, and that is what Mary did. Trusted God.

Answer 5

According to tradition, Mary was a young girl when her parents died, and she was raised by the temple priests until she she reached the age of twelve. She was too young to get married, and rather than throwing her out they sent her to Bethlehem where her much older half-brother Joseph lived. There, they were permanently betrothed with no intention of marrying. Joseph sent her to Nazareth, a suburb of the Greek city of Sephoris, where she lived with her nephews Jacob and Joses, while Joseph remained at home in Bethlehem. A few years later she was found with child, so Joseph took her back to Bethlehem, but she went into labor before they reached the town, and gave birth in a way-station filled with pilgrims (attending the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem). When Herod slaughtered the innocents, Joseph fled to Gaza, and remained there for about two months before returning to Bethlehem. But he found out that Herod's son was ruling over Judea, he decided to settle in Nazareth.

Nazareth, by the way, meant "branch" (or "suburb") and was only three miles from the center of Sephoris. That is why Matthew said that Jesus would be called a Nazarene - not because he was from Nazareth per se, but because he was a "branch" from the root of Jesse. That is only one of Matthew's many plays-on-words.

Answer 6

If I was Joseph and the angel had NOT come to me and told me, I would be mad at Mary. But the angel did tell Joseph.

If I was Mary, I would be scared because I all of a sudden had a baby and I didn't plan it. And I would be scared to tell Joseph that I had a baby but God put it there. I would be scared that Joseph wouldn't believe me and get mad at me. But Jospeh knew that God put it there, so I bet Mary was relieved! :-)

Answer 7

A virgin can become pregnant. The hymen does not have to be ruptured. It would be a bit of an oddity, and she would have had to do some very fast thinking to explain how it happened. "He didn't put it all the way in" wouldn't cut it, she'd have been killed.

Or maybe she wasn't a virgin, which makes the angel story even more creative.

Where was Maury when we needed him? "OK, Joseph, the results of the paternity test are in. I have them right here, and Joseph...you...?"

Lisa
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secularhumanism/

Answer 8

if he maid up a story like that, then surely God wouldn't leave it out of the bible. Mary had a dream of the same kind anyway. Joseph was going to leave her quitely, but that was soon before the angel in the dream.

Answer 9

I think Joseph did what he felt - planned to divorce her. No need to plan that if he was going to marry her anyway.
Mary? Women didn't have as many rights. She could have been stoned if the situation was not handled delicately. Her response was truly one of faith. I imagine having the angel there helped in the immediate moment. Having to tell Joseph or starting show - that is when her faith really shines.

Answer 10

Well if i was joseph and mary was a virgin,
that would mean i did not have sex with mary.

Which meant the baby is NOT mine and mary is sleeping around.
I would then leave her right then and there.

But maybe, he was so ugly, and mary was so stupid, (since they both have schitophrenia) he said an angel made him get married because he was afraid of being alone, and mary (being stupid and schitzophrenic) beleived it.

If i was Mary, i would have shot myself.