If Jesus had brothers and sisters.. how do you answer these questions?

Question

Mary questions the angel by saying how could she give birth to a child if shes a virgin, but at the same time she was bethrothed to Joseph... why would she ask this question if she was about to marry Joseph... If she was expecting to have sex with her future husband then wouldn't she know that they would conceive a child like that.
Luke 1:31,34
Where were they when Jesus was lost as a child? Luke 2:41-51
Where were they when Jesus gave his mother to John?
John 19:26-27
It's clear that the "brothers and sisters" of Jesus were all disciples/ or even apostles of Jesus since they're mentioned in the upper room with the other apostles. So there was no excuse for Jesus not handing over Mary to his other brothers Acts Of Apostles 1:14. Mary the mother of Jesus had a sister named mary of Cleopas John 19:25. James and Joseph are listed as the "brothers of Jesus". James and Joseph are also the sons of Mary of cleopas (the sister of the mother of Jesus) Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:47.

Is it so hard to believe that these brothers of Jesus were actually his cousins? I always see non- catholic/orthodox christians trying to proove that mary had children, but the only reason you do this is to try to contradict catholics why do you care? The reason catholics care is, because it has been revealed to us as a tradition through the church fathers and Mary believing mary is a virgin is a way we venerate her.

the last part didn't make sense sorry*

Answer 1

Pastor Billy says: here go to this forum website which is currently discussing Is the perpetual virginity of Mary Biblical? between Catholics and Protestants.

http://www.speroforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4172&whichpage=1

Fact is there is nothing in the bible which supports or denies Mary having other children.

Please examine my blog posts you'll discover that all early Protestants also believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and even John Wesley latter on wrote in support of Mary being perpetually virgin. This is not a Catholic mythical creation. It has always been believed and proclaimed in Christianity from Holy Tradition. The Eastern Orthodox, all Oriental Churches, the Armenians, Coptic, Anglicans, some Lutherans all believe Mary stayed a virgin and did not lose her virginity with the miraculous birth of Jesus.

Any biblical verse used to claim Mary had other children are always taken out of context and you are never given the full story. For example Mark 6:3 talks on relationships to Jesus not Mary with the exception of Mary to Jesus. all other relations have no connection to Mary as direct mother figure.
Take a look at the last verses of all four gospels you'll discover multiple Mary figures, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the aunt of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Mary the aunt of Jesus is also known as wife of Clopas and mother of James and Jose, the same two brothers mentioned in Mark6:3. Many times Protestants don't know their bible as well as they would like you to think Kait for example and they confuse biblical persons.

Answer 2

Quite, specifically, Mary was scared, w/ the angel there speaking to her. The angel greets her, calms her fears. Then proceeds to tell her; 'Don't b afraid, Mary. Jehovah is very pleased w u. That is why he is going to do a wonderful thing for u.You will soon have a baby. And u r to call him Jesus.' Gabriel goes on to explain; 'This child will b great, and he will be called Son of the Most High God. Jehovah will make him king, as David was. But Jesus will b a king forever, and his kingdom will never end!'
'How can this b?' Mary asks. 'I am not even married. I have not lived w/ a man, so how can I have a baby?'
God's power will come upon u,' Gabriel ansrs. 'So the child will b called God's Son.' Then he tells Mary: 'Remember ur relative Elizabeth. Ppl said that she is to old to have children. But soon now she will have a son. So u see, there is nothing that God can't do.'

The Answer to ur Q: The angel told her about the baby, then she said how, she had not been w/ a man; then he told her by God's power. She didn't think of it as an angel coming to tell her God was blessing her in having a child through her marriage to her hsbnd, as u r. The angel had to tell her, twice. Remember, Men & Women think differently.
I do see/ understand what ur seeing.

Wow! that's alot of Q's all @ once, Brother!!
I was just reading 'this' material this a.m.,
the q u just asked about, I said, lemme go ansr this 1.
Man, O man, u asked for alot of 411...right now!! 1 or 2 Q's @ a time will suffice. K?
I mean I know the ansr to ur original Q, right off the top of my head, well the 1st 3 Q's actually, as I said, I was reading this a.m.
But, then u go n shoot out what 5/6 more Q's. I'd have to go read, then ansr.
And r u asking if he calls his cousins his brothers? (by Jesus)
U know some things don't translate so well, on-line.
And which "they" r u referring to in ur q concerning Jo19:26,27 ? Do u mean everyone that was present?

Joseph held off from having relations w/ Mary until AFTER, Jesus was born. We r not given exactly how many siblings he had. But, we do know of 4 brothers and 2 sisters, through his earthly family. See what TG wrote. 4 bros, and the word sister is plural...@ least 2.
Since, Jehovah God, did not have this 411 recorded...then its not a needed piece of 411. We know that Joseph died b-4 Jesus did, but, we aren't given the details.Mary was a widow @ the time of his death.

Answer 3

Of course he had blood brothers and sisters. Why do you struggle with this perfectly normal and evolutionary fact?

Immediate family of Jesus
=====================
Joseph- His Divine Highness, (Ha-Rama-Theo) High King of in Exile. Written as Arimethea in the Bible

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Jesus (eldest and first born, also referenced by the anagram Lazarus in John)

Mary Magdalene- wife of Jesus

Martha (Salome)

James (the Just)

Joses (Joseph)

Jude (Judas also known as Thomas the twin)

Mary (Miriam)

Cousins:
========
Cleopas, younger brother to Joseph the Ha-Rama-Theo.

Simeon Cleopas

Mary Cleopas

See The Supreme Bible of God for more accurate information
http://one-faith-of-god.org/final_testament/bible_of_god.htm

Answer 4

Jerusalem Bible (A Catholic Translation)
Matt. 13:53-56, “When Jesus had finished these parables he left the district; and, coming to his home town, he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers [Greek, a·del·phoi′] James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters [Greek, a·del·phai′], too, are they not all here with us?’” (On the basis of this text, would you conclude that Jesus was Mary’s only child or that she had other sons as well as daughters?)

The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. IX, p. 337) admits regarding the Greek words a·del·phoi′ and a·del·phai′, used at Matthew 13:55, 56, that these “have the meaning of full blood brother and sister in the Greek-speaking world of the Evangelist’s time and would naturally be taken by his Greek reader in this sense. Toward the end of the 4th century (c. 380) Helvidius in a work now lost pressed this fact in order to attribute to Mary other children besides Jesus so as to make her a model for mothers of larger families. St. Jerome, motivated by the Church’s traditional faith in Mary’s perpetual virginity, wrote a tract against Helvidius (A.D. 383) in which he developed an explanation . . . that is still in vogue among Catholic scholars.”

Mark 3:31-35, “His mother and brothers now arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you’. He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Here a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus’ natural brothers and his spiritual brothers, his disciples. No one claims that the reference to Jesus’ mother means anything different from what it says. Is it consistent, then, to reason that his natural brothers were not that but were perhaps cousins? When what is meant is not brothers but relatives, a different Greek word [syg·ge·non′] is used, as at Luke 21:16.)

Was Mary the Mother of God?

The angel who informed her of the coming miraculous birth did not say that her son would be God. He said: “You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. . . . The child will be holy and will be called Son of God.”—Luke 1:31-35,

Heb. 2:14, 17, “Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he [Jesus] too shared equally in it . . . It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers.” (But would he have been “completely like his brothers” if he had been a God-man?)

The New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “Mary is truly the mother of God if two conditions are fulfilled: that she is really the mother of Jesus and that Jesus is really God.” (1967, Vol. X, p. 21) The Bible says that Mary was the mother of Jesus, but was Jesus God? In the fourth century, long after the writing of the Bible was completed, the Church formulated its statement of the Trinity. (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 295; .”) At that time in the Nicene Creed the Church spoke of Jesus Christ as “very God.” After that, at the Council of Ephesus in 431 C.E., Mary was proclaimed by the Church to be The·o·to′kos, meaning “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” However, neither that expression nor the idea is found in the text of any translation of the Bible.

Answer 5

Using the New American Bible, which is a Catholic translation of the Bible, we can see that the perpetual virginity of Mary is not taught in the Bible. Matthew 1:25 NAB tells us, "He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus." He, Joseph, did not have sexual relations with her, Mary, UNTIL after she bore a son, Jesus." The meaning of this Scripture is abundantly clear. Joseph and Mary did not have sexual relations until after Jesus was born. Matthew 13:55-56 NAB declares, "Is He not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not His sisters all with us?" Catholics claim, correctly, that the Greek terms from "brothers" and "sisters" in these verses could also refer to male and female relatives, not necessarily literal brothers and sisters. However, the intended meaning is clear, they thought Jesus to be Joseph's son, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and the brother of the unnamed and unnumbered sisters. Father, mother, brother, sister. It is straining the meaning of the text to interpret brothers and sisters as "cousins" or "relatives" with the mentioning of Jesus' mother and father.

Matthew 12:46 NAB tells us, "While He was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with Him." See also Mark 3:31-34; Luke 8:19-21; John 2:12; and Acts 1:14. All mention Jesus' mother with His brothers. If they were His cousins, or the sons of Joseph from a previous marriage, why were they mentioned with Mary so often? The perpetual virginity of Mary cannot be drawn from Scripture. It must be forced on Scripture, in contradiction to what the Scriptures clearly state.

Answer 6

the Greek comes with connotations. "be with child" tends to speak of an urgency, and marriages, like mots traditional marriages, would be arranged for a long time, often about a year, and a baby takes 9 months.

Jesus' siblings, or His family? you mean at the temple? we don't know how old Jesus' siblings were, as that doesn't matter. I believe James is the only one who actually paid attention to His ministry on earth.

and the fact that Jesus said that "only in his home town is a prophet without honour, among his friends and fmily" suggests that some of his brothers and sisters didn't believe Him. you'll notice Judas (not Iscariot), Joses etc except for James didn't write a book.

"son", referring to John was a term of indearment/term of responsibility, as the eldest son was entrusted with the duty of looking after his mother in her old age. John was the son of Zebedee, not Jesus' aunt.

Answer 7

Does this in any way shape or form affect anyones life? Who cares if Jesus had brothers and sisters, do you really think a married couple could live the rest of their lives without having sex? Why is it that Christians are willing to believe anything and everything? You have to question things every now and then so you won't be taken for a ride, but then again I think Christians have been taken for the longest ride ever.

Answer 8

These verses do not say "cousins", they are very specific and state that Jesus had physical brothers.

"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?" Matthew 13:55

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him." Mark 6:3

Answer 9

AMEN!!! I am a devote Roman Catholic and I still am amazed on how after all these years people still can't fathom that Mary was a virgin before having Jesus and after having Him. Joseph was much older and was specially selected (his staff blossomed to shwo that God wanted him to care for Mary) to be the caretaker of Mary. He did marry her but wasn't to be a husband as we think of husbands today. They weren't to have sexual relationships. Mary was young when her parents died and a young female was not to live on their own, they were to be cared for by a man and IF she wasn't given to the temple, they would have been more of a husband-wife couple. But Mary's parents gave her to the temple when she was 3 or 4 and she took a vow of celibacy, perpetual celibacy. Joseph was to take care of her and to care for Jesus. God selected him like He selected Mary to be Jesus' mother.

Mary and Joseph were selected to raise Jesus and teach Him scripture and see Him through childhood and prepare Him with human life. It's possible for a married couple not to have sex. In other countries, cultures, especially back in those years, many religious people were dedicated to a temple and were to remain celibate. A man was choosen to take care, to protect, to shelter a woman but that's all. They were friends that were married.

I have a friend that's married and she has no sex drive so her and her husband has not had sex since their honeymoon and they've been married for 7 years. He respects her and they have found how to show their love without any sex. It's possible for people not to have sex. Get over it people! Plus, Mary and Joseph were picked by God Himself to raise His Son, Jesus Christ.

Answer 10

maybe she was not planning on kids. maybe they agreed not to have children

they were comming back from celebrating the passover with family. exacly where I dont know.

THey were on the hill called Golgatha in Jeruselem while jesus was on the cross.

The brothers and sisters means cousins BECAUSE they have no word for cousins in the old hebrew language. And that is the only reason why I think. The brothers of Jesus as you put might mean that they were as close as brothers to Him.