quote:
Obviously, mary was not a perpetual virgin
Do you really want to have this discussion?
The Catholic Church ((and Orthodox Churches) teaches that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and that Mary remained a virgin thereafter.
This dogma has been held in the Christian Church since the 1st century. Even Protestant Reformers like John Calvin, Martin Luther and Charles Wesley believed that Mary always remained a virgin. However, when the Protestant reformation started splintering from itself and forming new Protestant groups more and more Protestant Christians abandoned the doctrine. Therefore, the average Protestant Christian today believes that Mary had other children after Christ. They site bible passages (ex. Matthew 13:55, Mark 3:31) that speak of Jesus' "brothers." They also site the fact that there is nothing wrong with sexual union in marriage and that Mary and Joseph deserved to have a full marriage which would include sexual union.
Scripturally speaking the English translation of the bible does call certain individuals "brothers" of Jesus. But the bible was not written in English.
In the Gospels there are named four "brothers" (James, Joses, Simon and Jude), and there are also mentioned the "sisters" of Jesus (Matt. 13:56). The names of "brother" and "sister" have several distinct meanings. It signifies a certain kinship between people or their spiritual closeness, these words are used sometimes in a broader, and sometimes in a narrower sense. The New Testament elsewhere uses the word "brother" to denote a relationship which we know does not mean literal blood brothers. For example in Acts 1:12-15 where we read about the gathering of Jesus' "brothers" which, if blood brothers, would number about 120!
Furthermore we can look at Jesus' named "brothers" up close and clearly see that they are not the virgin Mary's children. The Virgin Mary is not the only Mary in the gospel narrative. There is also Mary who was the wife of Cleophas and “sister” of the Virgin Mary (Jn 19:25). She is described as the mother of James and Joseph (Mt 27:56) who are called the “brothers of Jesus” (Mk 6:3).
Read the following four verses which concern Mary, wife of Cleophas and the "brothers" of Jesus.
John 19:25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.(Here we see that the virgin Mary had a "sister" named Mary who was the wife of Cleophas.)
Matt 27:56 Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. (Here we see that with the Virgin Mary stood Mary Magdalene and Mary who was the mother of James and Joseph.)
Mark 6:3 "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him. (Here we Jews talking about Jesus and saying that he is the brother of the men listed. We already know that James and Joseph are the sons of Mary of Cleophas. Who is Joses?)
Mark 15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid. (Here Mary Cleophas is also described as the mother of Joses.)
These passages tell us that the named "brothers" were kinsmen of Jesus. They were men close to him in relation and friendship. But the scriptures do not indicate that they were the children of the virgin Mary.
There are several other objections to this dogma. One is Matthew 1:25 which states, "But he (Joseph) had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." First of all we must again remember that the Bible was not written in English. The word translated "UNTIL" in this verse is the same word translated "UNTIL" in Matthew 28:20 which says, "...And behold I am with you always, even UNTIL the end of the age." Obviously, we would not assume that this teaches that after the end of the age Christ will no longer be with us!
Why does this matter? That is a good question. Isn't it strange that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have held to the belief that Mary was ever-Virgin for over 2000 years? One would think that it would just make sense to give in and say, "OK, she maybe had other kids."
The reason that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches still proclaim Mary as ever-virgin is that it is....well....true. And why would the truth be obscured because of public opinion?
The Catholic and Orthodox Churches aren’t going to look at the deposit of Holy Tradition and say, "You know what, all the Fathers and early Martyrs were wrong about Mary. I bet she did have other kids because our modern English translations of the bible call Jesus' kin 'brothers.' So we are just going to change that which was passed down so it fits better with the 21st century."
There is a lot more to this dogma than some conspiracy because the Catholics don't like marriage or something. The Catholic Church, by golly, raises marriage higher than most by constantly teaching that marriage is a sacrament. The Catholic Church stands alone in teaching that birth control is sin. Obviously there is nothing wrong with having a sexual marriage.
In our culture, Mary-Ever-Virgin just doesn't make sense. But we did not live in Jesus' time and we were not members of the Jewish community. The common belief is that Mary consecrated herself to virginity before her betrothal to Joseph and that Joseph was a much older man who was a widow. These were different social arrangements that we simply do not understand in our modern context. But these arrangements were commonplace in Jesus' day. The arrangement, in particular Mary and Joseph's, is described in detail in the 1st century book the "Protoevangelion of James." We know that the Protoevangelion is not some middle age hoax because it is referred to and quoted by Church Fathers such as Origen (AD 185-254). I encourage all to read it. If anything it is an interesting look into what life was like when Mary was a young woman.
To understand the reason of Mary's perpetual virginity you must understand the culture and traditions of Mary's time. Church Fathers like Origen understood the Jewish culture lot better than 19th century Americans who read the word "brothers" and assume that this means that Mary had other children.
"Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut." (Ezekiel 44:2)
This has always been interpreted by the Fathers of the Church to be a typological reference to the Virgin Mary and the Incarnation. When we consider that God took flesh from the Virgin's womb, it is not difficult to imagine that this womb would remain virgin.
