2007-01-19 22:57:35 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It was a motif that was very popular in older mythologies, so it had to stay.
2007-01-19 23:01:12 · answer #1 · answered by eldad9 6 · 4⤊ 4⤋
"Virgin birth" was a literary short-hand in that time, in much the same way that 'Stepford Wife" is now.
No one who calls a woman a "Stepford Wife" is saying that she's actually a manufactured automaton.
No one attributing a "virgin birth" to the story of Jesus at the time was saying that he was actually born of a virgin. It was literary shorthand to indicate that he was destined for greatness.
There were a LOT of virgin births, of heroes, of god-kings, of demi-gods, etc. What "virgin birth" meant, at the time, was that the person was special, was marked for greatness, etc. And people of the time knew that, just like we know what "Stepford Wife" means. The Gods of various Pagan religions often had offspring with virgin human women, and the offspring were half-god, half-men. Does that sound familiar?
The interesting thing about this is that in Christianity, the sex has been removed. Yes, a Deity and a virgin human woman have a child, and yes, that child is special, marked for greatness, a half-man, half-god.
But in Christian mythology, there's no sex involved in getting the virgin human woman pregnant with the Deity.
Here's a few examples of other "virgin births":
http://englishatheist.org/indexd.shtml
2007-01-20 02:22:44 · answer #2 · answered by Praise Singer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, first, Christians didn't manufacture the Virgin Birth. It was God. And secondly, from what my Religion Professor said, virginity wasn't based on the physical aspect. Virginity was based on whether a woman has been married before. That is why on Christian marriage, a veil symbolizes virginity. A woman who was not married before should wear one. And God chose Blessed Mary to be the Mother of God not because she's physically virgin but because she was clean from any mortal sin.
2007-01-19 23:11:52 · answer #3 · answered by marist 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
We didn't manufacture the Virgin Birth. If you don't want to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, fine. But get your history straight. Virgin Births were a feature of many Eastern Religions of that time, most prominently the cult of Mithras.
2007-01-19 23:08:37 · answer #4 · answered by Holly R 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It's a common trait of mythological heroes. Mithras did it first, a few Mayan and Aztec deities have done it, and Cuchulainn actually did it twice.
Most of the powers attributed to Christ were borrowed from other religious figures. Horus and Orion also walked on water. Rising from the dead and healing the sick have been done too many times to count.
2007-01-19 23:06:55 · answer #5 · answered by Lee Harvey Wallbanger 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
*sucks air in through his teeth*
Yes, very peculiar ideas about the importance of virginity and its relationship to ritual purity, these Christians.
The earliest Christian text about "virgin birth" is Matthew's gospel, which draws heavily on the prophesies in Isaiah in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible). The Greek word is "virgin" but the original Hebrew word is "young woman" - the Hebrew word for virgin is different, but the author of Matthew possibly didn't know this.
Virgin birth stories were very popular in the Greek influenced culture of the Eastern Mediterranean at the time Matthew's text was written. It is unsurprising that they entered Christianity at this time. Paul and Mark, the two earlier New Testament authors, seem to be totally unaware of this tradition.
2007-01-19 23:02:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
It was prophesy that the Christ would be born of a virgin. Also, part of the punishment for disobedience to God was the passing along of sin to anyone born of the man(Adam), so anyone born of the union of a man and woman would have the curse of sin passed on to them, hence, the need for the virgin birth.
2007-01-19 23:22:05 · answer #7 · answered by TNT 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No one "manufactured" it. It is true! Would anyone make up such a fantastic story, so unbelievable? Mary herself pointed out to the angel the fact she was a virgin. They knew where babies come from in those days!
2007-01-19 23:06:26 · answer #8 · answered by edward_lmb 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It doesn't matter where he was born from. Is god who decided which womb would portray himself as a flesh and blood being.
He decided to take a virgin so his human form wouldn't be influenced with negative feelings.
According to science and the effects of mother feelings to the forming embryo, it totally makes sense.
2007-01-19 23:10:43 · answer #9 · answered by M'lady 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
US Christians don't have to manufacture anything, The vigin birth was even mention in the OT, hundreds of yrs. before there was any Christians. Christian means to be Christ like.
2007-01-19 23:02:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 4⤋
Yes
2007-01-19 23:06:36 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋