| 4/29/2008 7:09:08 PM | The Virgin Mary | | justme86
Waco, TX
age: 22
| This must be a Catholic thing I guess. Anyone with common sense knows that she had relations with her husband. So why do they still call her the virgin Mary?
| | 4/29/2008 11:11:17 PM | The Virgin Mary | | 
curiousone2
Springfield, IL
age: 42
| yeah, I agree completely.
The founding fathers didn't believe in it either. I think they were trying to say she was Pure of spirit. That there was NO negative energy within her. at least while she got pregnant.
Parts of your personality, are genetic, and part of it is environmental right? so you are a mix of your parents, and grandparents, their energy, combined with your life experiences make up your disposition.
Your disposition in part influences your spirit because your spirit is the Intention in which you Live. and experience life. It is the state of being, that you are in at any Given moment. That is either heaven if it is aligned with Right ness, or God, or the Great Integrity, whatever you want to call the creator. Life is the creator, so therefore God is Life in spiritual form, manifesting in physical form.
| | 4/30/2008 3:04:44 AM | The Virgin Mary | | dbsuma
Lakewood, OH
age: 40
| from my understanding the term "virgin" was one given to all young girls not a definition.
I guess the idea being that all unmarried girls were virgins regardless if they actually were, so it was more of a title than a definition.
Probably a problem with language and translation rather than immaculate conception.
| | 4/30/2008 3:07:09 AM | The Virgin Mary | | jrbogie
Red Bluff, CA
age: 59
| Same reason for the noah's ark story and creating the universe in under a week. Delusional thought process.
| | 4/30/2008 3:21:21 AM | The Virgin Mary | | 
jewelz5
Monteagle, TN
age: 54 online now!
| The Virgin Queen' and 'Born of a Virgin'. Immaculate conception, means without sexuality. The First Born was 'immaculately concieved', which is some form of DNA or genetic conception.
| | 4/30/2008 9:28:54 AM | The Virgin Mary | | skunkbreath
Saint James, MO
age: 89
|  ..jewelz,"Immaculate conception, means without sexuality.
Are you sure??!!!..I always tried to conform to that by washing up and hosing down the area
after sex!...
| | 5/2/2008 3:57:56 PM | The Virgin Mary | | quantum777
Beaverton, OR
age: 41
| Just cut and pasted this from CatholicAnswers.com
Most Protestants claim that Mary bore children other than Jesus. To support their claim, these Protestants refer to the biblical passages which mention the "brethren of the Lord." As explained in the Catholic Answers tract Brethren of the Lord, neither the Gospel accounts nor the early Christians attest to the notion that Mary bore other children besides Jesus. The faithful knew, through the witness of Scripture and Tradition, that Jesus was Mary’s only child and that she remained a lifelong virgin.
An important historical document which supports the teaching of Mary’s perpetual virginity is the Protoevangelium of James, which was written probably less than sixty years after the conclusion of Mary’s earthly life (around A.D. 120), when memories of her life were still vivid in the minds of many.
According to the world-renowned patristics scholar, Johannes Quasten: "The principal aim of the whole writing [Protoevangelium of James] is to prove the perpetual and inviolate virginity of Mary before, in, and after the birth of Christ" (Patrology, 1:120–1).
To begin with, the Protoevangelium records that when Mary’s birth was prophesied, her mother, St. Anne, vowed that she would devote the child to the service of the Lord, as Samuel had been by his mother (1 Sam. 1:11). Mary would thus serve the Lord at the Temple, as women had for centuries (1 Sam. 2:22), and as Anna the prophetess did at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:36–37). A life of continual, devoted service to the Lord at the Temple meant that Mary would not be able to live the ordinary life of a child-rearing mother. Rather, she was vowed to a life of perpetual virginity.
However, due to considerations of ceremonial cleanliness, it was eventually necessary for Mary, a consecrated "virgin of the Lord," to have a guardian or protector who would respect her vow of virginity. Thus, according to the Protoevangelium, Joseph, an elderly widower who already had children, was chosen to be her spouse. (This would also explain why Joseph was apparently dead by the time of Jesus’ adult ministry, since he does not appear during it in the gospels, and since Mary is entrusted to John, rather than to her husband Joseph, at the crucifixion).
According to the Protoevangelium, Joseph was required to regard Mary’s vow of virginity with the utmost respect. The gravity of his responsibility as the guardian of a virgin was indicated by the fact that, when she was discovered to be with child, he had to answer to the Temple authorities, who thought him guilty of defiling a virgin of the Lord. Mary was also accused of having forsaken the Lord by breaking her vow. Keeping this in mind, it is an incredible insult to the Blessed Virgin to say that she broke her vow by bearing children other than her Lord and God, who was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The perpetual virginity of Mary has always been reconciled with the biblical references to Christ’s brethren through a proper understanding of the meaning of the term "brethren." The understanding that the brethren of the Lord were Jesus’ stepbrothers (children of Joseph) rather than half-brothers (children of Mary) was the most common one until the time of Jerome (fourth century). It was Jerome who introduced the possibility that Christ’s brethren were actually his cousins, since in Jewish idiom cousins were also referred to as "brethren." The Catholic Church allows the faithful to hold either view, since both are compatible with the reality of Mary’s perpetual virginity.
Today most Protestants are unaware of these early beliefs regarding Mary’s virginity and the proper interpretation of "the brethren of the Lord." And yet, the Protestant Reformers themselves—Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli—honored the perpetual virginity of Mary and recognized it as the teaching of the Bible, as have other, more modern Protestants.
| | 5/2/2008 4:11:04 PM | The Virgin Mary | | justme86
Waco, TX
age: 22
| Its funny how Catholics dismiss the Protoevangelium of James.
| | 5/2/2008 4:34:04 PM | The Virgin Mary | | quantum777
Beaverton, OR
age: 41
| http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0512sbs.asp
This may help
| | 5/2/2008 5:25:21 PM | The Virgin Mary | | justme86
Waco, TX
age: 22
| I still see some flaws here.
OBJECTOR: This is very interesting, but there were many things written early in the history of Christianity that did not express what Christians actually believed, such as the Gnostic gospels. Like these, the Protoevangelium of James expresses a belief that is contrary to what has been revealed in Scripture.
Catholics don't accept the Protevangelium of James based on contradictions to scripture.
CATHOLIC: Although the Bible says that Jesus had brothers, this doesn’t mean that they were necessarily sons of Mary. If we accept the theory put forth in the Protoevangelium of James and accepted by many in the early Church, Jesus’ brothers would be stepbrothers, sons of Joseph but not of Mary. This would explain why Jesus’ "brothers" felt that they could admonish him, as they do in John 7:3–4. In Near Eastern society of that time, it was normally unacceptable for younger siblings to give advice to older ones.
Its clear that in this case we're still theorizing this account because of the inconsistencies.
OBJECTOR: There’s a problem with your reasoning here. Although cousins may have been referred to as brothers, it’s clear that in this case, the word brothers means blood brothers of Jesus—sons of Mary. We read in Matthew’s Gospel that Joseph "had no marital relations with her until she had borne her firstborn son" (Matt. 1:25). This implies that Joseph did have relations with her after she had given birth.
CATHOLIC: The word until here just says what happened up to the time of Christ’s birth. It doesn’t imply anything about what happened after that, although our modern use of the word until seems to imply that. For an example of this, look at 2 Samuel 6:23, which says, "Michal the daughter of Saul had no children till the day of her death." We’re obviously not supposed to assume that she had children after she died.
The argument shifts on points based on old testament examples getting out of the new testament context. On principle, it is based on uncertainties.
OBJECTOR: I still don’t see why the Church requires Catholics to believe that Mary remained a virgin instead of allowing them to have their own opinions. Does it really matter if Mary had other children?
CATHOLIC: Actually, it does matter. Every doctrine about Mary tells us something about Christ or something about ourselves or the Church. Mary’s perpetual virginity demonstrates her purity of heart and total love for God. In 388, St. Ambrose of Milan wrote that Mary’s virginity was "so great an example of material virtue" because it demonstrated her total devotion to Jesus. In Mary, we see an example of the purity our own hearts must have in total dedication to God. Her virginity also tells us something about the Church, which, like Mary, is both mother to the faithful and "pure bride to her one husband" (2 Cor. 11:2).
It doesn't matter, her "virginity" isn't called into question out of spite to discredit her purity and to question her love. It seems to me Catholics cling to the idea of perpetual virginity to acknowledge Mary as pure to be the mother of God, but as we all know...
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 (New International Version)
[Edited 5/2/2008 5:28:19 PM]
| | 5/2/2008 10:40:09 PM | The Virgin Mary | | elizabeth_fl
Tampa, FL
age: 36
| it is not a Catholic thing, Mary is called a Virgin, in that she did not have any relations with any man to bear our Lord Jesus. She conceived Our Lord by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, not by any human man to include Joseph. Any christian who truly reads and studies their scripture knows this. Unfotunatly many never TRULY read scripture. If they did, these types of questions would not arise.
Mary as a virgin is clearly presented in Luke 1, Matt 1
Luke 1
[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
[27] to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"
[29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
[30] And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
[32] He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
[33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
and of his kingdom there will be no end."
[34] And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
[35] And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God.
[36] And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
[37] For with God nothing will be impossible."
[38] And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
MATT 1
[18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit;
[19] and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
[20] But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;
[21] she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
[22] All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
[23] "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and his name shall be called Emmanuel"
(which means, God with us).
[24] When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
[25] but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
| | 5/2/2008 10:54:17 PM | The Virgin Mary | | smoke9
Leesburg, FL
age: 55
| Thank you Elizabeth. You are right on the money there!
| | 5/2/2008 11:21:48 PM | The Virgin Mary | | justme86
Waco, TX
age: 22
| The question is why do they (Catholics) still call her the virgin? This has nothing to do with immaculate conception. This one went way over your head. Unfortunately many never TRULY read the thread.
[Edited 5/2/2008 11:38:04 PM]
| | 5/2/2008 11:39:56 PM | The Virgin Mary | | elizabeth_fl
Tampa, FL
age: 36
| because of what i explained. As to the remainder of her life, every christian scholar, catholic and non-catholic alike, knows Mary never had any other children. Therefore she remains virgin in the human sense. And it did not go over my head. You asked a question. I replied. I do not need to give a 5 page disertation to answer a simple question.
[Edited 5/2/2008 11:46:23 PM]
| | 5/3/2008 12:07:48 AM | The Virgin Mary | | justme86
Waco, TX
age: 22
| Being a virgin has nothing to do with not having children. In this day and age, we know that intercourse does not always result in conception. So not having children isn't a valid explanation in my book.
"But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son" Matt 1:25 NIV
[Edited 5/3/2008 12:14:33 AM]
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