Explain this (from the "Christmas Storey")?

Question

How is it that Mary and Joseph were married yet she was a virgin?? Back in those days I am sure you got married and 'consumated' your marriage immediately - yet how does the bible explain her to be a "virgin'?

Answer 1

It's all just a faerie tale I'm afraid to say...
I just really can't believe how it managed to get this far...
People will believe in anything, especially when you are basically forced into it, join us or die....
Blessed Be... )O(

Answer 2

Even in todays society, when a couple is married, they are expected to consume that the marriage (thus the honeymoon). Failure to do so can be ground for having the marriage annulled.

However, in the case of Mary and Joseph, it states that she was his "espoused wife". Meaning that they were engaged, but not yet married. According to Luke 2:5, she was still only "espoused" to Joseph at the time the left for Bethlehem with her nine months pregnant. So gave birth there just a few days later.

Matthew 1:24,25 gives further details. It says that Joseph took her has his wife, but did not "know her" (meaning have sex with her) until after Jesus was born. While he took her to be his wife, they did not consume the marriage until after the birth. Before that, they were "espoused" or engaged.

Answer 3

When the angel announced to Mary that she would have a son, her response was "How can this be since I do not know man?"

Mary's response shows that she was not only a virgin at the time of teh Annunciation, but that she intended to remain a virgin. If she was intending to have sex with her husband, she would have questioned having a son.

There is a historical document called the Protoevangelism of James (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_James), written about AD 150, that describes how Mary was consecrated to the service of God at her birth and she was to remain a virgin. Joseph was an older man who already had a family (Jesus' brothers and sisters) and his marriage to Mary was so Mary would be taken care of. This also explains why Joseph is not mentioned later in Jesus' life, but Mary is.

Answer 4

HI,

In The Book of Isaiah there's a verse that says,
Behold a Virgin shall conceive and a bare a child.
Well what most people don't realize is that originally the
verse said, Behold a "Young Women" shall conceive and
bare a child! Meaning that she was,nt a Virgin after all!
This is hard for most religious people to take due to the
immence amount of years of telling this story over and over
again and again. The Immaculate Conception is a Dogma
and invention of the Catholic Church which was passed on
to other Christian Faiths. As POPE LEO THE X Stated:
What Profit This "JESUS BUSINESS Has Gained The
Church"! I sure he was speaking Financially!

Answer 5

Culturally, there was a one year waiting period between the marriage vow and the groom coming to the parents home and claiming his bride.

Now , the groom was more than welcome to come take his bride early, but most waited, to make sure that her parents were not marrying her off with a baby already growing inside her.

Joseph was a very good man and when he found out Mary was pregnant, and he knew he had not been with her, he was not willing to expose her publically, she would have been stoned to death.
He wanted, instead , to divorce her privately, so that she and her child would live.

After the dream and the visit from the angel, Joseph willingly went and claimed his bride from her parents house.

Answer 6

Besides the literal translation that Mary was indeed a virgin, (and I believe she was, since she told Gabriel that she hadn't yet known a man--and it's not a good idea to lie to angels), the Greek translation also means that she was a young girl..many scholars speculate that means she was in her early teens, and in ancient days, betrothal was equal to marriage, that's why Joseph was thinking of "putting her away" quietly, instead of making a public row about it, or stoning her for infidelity; it gives you an idea about the caliber of the man he was.

Answer 7

Mathew and Luke both differ as to whether Mary was a virgin. It probably all has to do with a loose translation of the Hebrew word "Alma". Which means young woman but was translated as virgin. Sort of like the English words, Maid and Maiden.

Oh yea, this was also probably used as a ploy by early Christians to convert the gentiles. Most of their other gods were born of virgins as well. The early church loved to "accommodate" pagan beliefs into their own dogma.

Answer 8

She was engaged to be married. She got pregnant before the act of marriage. Then she did marry when she was pregnant.

She had to be a virgin to give birth to the promised Savior who would have victory over the serpent & death. Genesis3:15. The Womans Seed would defeat the serpents seed. Jesus didn't come from mans seed. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus was tempted like the first Adam & overcame the serpents deceptions. So, He died for our sins on the cross, & He raised up for our justification.

Answer 9

The Bible says betrothed........engaged but with a vow that meant breaking it difficult.

By the time Jesus was born, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin did not allow betrothed couples to consummate their relationship. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah.

The Bible also says that Mary said to the angel, "How can this be since I have not been with a man?"

Answer 10

They were the (equal) term of now, as being engaged. "He did not know her" and "She said how could this be since I never knew a man.."

After the marriage ceremony did they "know" each other, except for Joseph and Mary because they did not "know" each other until after Jesus was born and the right amount of time went by after His birth.

Answer 11

If you read the story, you will notice that Joseph was visited by an angel who told him not to have sex with Mary until after she gave birth.