Is it possible that Joseph and Mary claimed immaculate conception because they were not married?

Answer 1

Interestingly enough, the immaculate conception was never mentioned by Paul (the earliest writer of the NT and responsible for 1/3 of it's content), nor was it mentioned in the first Gospel (the second one came 10 years later).

You would have thought it would be important to mention these facts while recording God's life.

Answer 2

The virgin birth of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception of Mary are two different religious concepts. The Immaculate Conception is the Roman Catholic doctrine which states that the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin.

I don't know whether Joseph or some other man was the biological father of Jesus, and it's extremely likely that we will never know who the real father was. I personally do not believe Mary was impregnated by a supernatural being or aliens from Alpha Centauri. I believe she became pregnant in the same way females get pregnant today.

Answer 3

They were betrothed, which is a pretty serious commitment back in their time.
Joseph could have had Mary stoned, so no I don't think they claim immaculate conception.
And why would a young girl of 13 -16 years even come up with a story like that?

I believe just what the Word says....

blessings ~vicki

Answer 4

there are alot of theories on this. Its not just a Christian debate, like most on here will claim. Some claim she was raped by soldiers, some claim she had pre marital sex, some claim immaculate conception, some say he wasn't the son of God because it was a hoax. The son of God is yet to come, etc....
There are many possibilities. The only thing that remains the same, regardless of how Jesus got here, was the message delivered that he was to arrive. So while we will never know for certain, how he came about some things never change. Joseph believed her thats enough for me. Actually..... not to sound like some voodoo priestess, lol, but there have been documented cases even within recent years, that women have convinced themselves they were pregnant and actually gone through pregnancy and labor. The only difference was there was no baby born. Atleast not that we know of......

Answer 5

Jewish tradition is that once you are betrothed, sex no longer matters.... in that sense. Being betrothed becomes marriage once they have sex. So her being pregnant wouldn't matter - if it was Josephs. If it wasn't, then, obviously, it becomes an issue. Which is probably why it claims in the Talmud that Mary gave birth to a child by means of a Roman Soldier named Pantera.

Answer 6

And then what? Jesus just happened to claim he was the son of God, and just happened to live his entire life for the "cause", and then he just happened to get thousands of people to follow him and believe him...

Oh yeah, and then he just happened to be willing to die a horrible crucifiction death as well?

No, people would have laughed straight to their faces if they tried to pull that off. Can you imagine? Would you really try to use immaculate conception as a lie to cover up your sin?

Answer 7

I've thought of that one before, or Mary told Joesph that so he wouldn't know she was sleeping around. I mean if you raised a boy and told him he was the son of God the whole time, he might just believe it. I mean in a time that a king would kill babies, I think moral standards were low enough that it was okay to fool a kid into thinking he's the saviour.

Answer 8

See, this is why you are much more clever than me. When I was wondering about this, I started asking questions like "Who was Mary's gynecologist?" and so forth. That of course led to deletion.

Answer 9

Or Mary just stuck to her story. For a loooooonnng time.

Answer 10

Of course it is! Watch the Christians say no it's not even though they can't disprove it.