Was Mary born of a virgin ?

Question

the ancient world abounded with traditions, prophecies, fables and myths of miraculous conceptions and births, long before the Christian era, and the virgin-mother motif is common enough in pre-Christian cultures to demonstrate its unoriginality and non-historicity within Christianity. In early Christian times, Mary herself was believed to have been born of a virgin, which, if taken literally, would represent a virgin birth prior to Christ, rendering his own nativity unoriginal and mundane, rather than miraculous and divine. One source of Mary's immaculate conception was Christian writer and saint John of Damascus (c. 676-c. 754-787), who asserted that Mary's parents were "filled and purified by the Holy Ghost, and freed from sexual concupiscence." Concerning this matter, the Catholic Encyclopedia ("Immaculate Conception") states that "even the human element" of Mary's origin, "the material of which she was formed, was pure and holy." In other words, Roman Catholic doctrine dictates that, like Jesus, "the Blessed Virgin Mary" was "conceived without sin." (Hackwood, 17) In order to maintain the "uniqueness" of Christ's virgin birth, however, this contention regarding Mary is not taken seriously. What it proves, nonetheless, is that fabulous Christian claims are based on pious speculation, not historical fact, speculation by the faithful that changes from era to era, depending on the need.

Answer 1

Mary was not born of a virgin. Mary was a sinner that needed to believe in Jesus to be saved, like the rest of us.

Jesus was born of a miracle virgin birth. After His birth, Mary had relations with Joseph and many children with him.

Mary has no role in anyone's salvation. Mary also can't hear anyone "praying" to her.

Answer 2

You are wrong. The gospels are recorded testimony of events that happened at the time of Christ. Many people read and investigated these writings. The integrity of the people who wrote them was exceptional. They have survived scrutiny throughout the ages and will survive yours. That is miraculous and should tell you something. It is not pious speculation. It is historical fact. Mary was told the power of the Most High would come upon her and she would conceive. She was miraculously spared from being stoned for conceiving before marriage. satan was aware of this birth and tried to deceive people into believing it happened before. It didn't.

Answer 3

It is all Catholic doctrine, not Christian. The Immaculate conception of Mary's Mother was never taught to be a virgin birth, but simply she was born without sin.

Answer 4

While I agree with your analysis of the malleability of doctrine, I don't think your evidence points to a virgin birth. "Concupisence" is not intercourse. The literature merely indicates that Mary's parents did not conceive her in sinful lust, and therefore her conception was not tainted with the effects of "Original Sin", but her "genetic" source material was human. Jesus, on the other hand, "incarnated" rather than being conceived. (Remember, the ancients had no idea that there was a female genetic contribution to reproduction.)

These are rather fine distinctions to make, but theologians will make them when they have to.

Answer 5

The true answer is just truthfully "NO". She was not born of
a virgin, but rather she herself was a virgin when she became
impregnated by the Holy Spirit and subsequently carried
Jesus, the Christ. After his birth, she then had sexual relations
with her husband Joseph and they then conceived and had
other children (who were just ordinary, unlike Jesus their
firstborn).

Answer 6

catholics believe that, not protestants. we believe that mary was a virgin when she gave birth to jesus. she was not without sin - she even calls Him her savior, which says she needed a savior, just like every other man born since the fall in the garden of eden. she was a godly woman and I believe she was very special, but she sinned. she did not remain a virgin because the bible clearly states that jesus had brothers. catholic beliefs are not biblical

Answer 7

This is an old post, since it is still one of the first results from Google I'll comment.

Chris, you're right, she was not born of a virgin but if you believe in the Immaculate Conception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception) then she was not born a sinner but protected in the womb

Answer 8

You knowledge of history leaves much to be desired.

All you have shown is that Roman Catholic teaching is messed up. This says nothing about Christian teaching.

To answer your first question, no she was not.

The only One ever born of a virgin was Jesus.

Pastor Art

Answer 9

Mary was conceived without sin, yes, according to Catholic teaching.

Sex between two married people is not a sin, in Christendom.

So the joining of her parents would have been pure and holy.

Thank you for playing, next time do better research.

Answer 10

Remember, in Hebrew the word for virgin means young woman. Interject this concept into the 'virgin birth' treatise and see what you get. The Bible was translated from Hebrew several times before the English version.