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To: Salvation

I’m asking for an explanation. I’m an evangelical Christian who cares to know what others think.

Colonel, USAFR


13 posted on 10/16/2009 9:20:13 AM PDT by jagusafr (Kill the red lizard, Lord! - nod to C.S. Lewis)
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To: jagusafr
There are two possible explanations for "siblings" that have nothing to do with Mary -- (1) they were cousins, Aramaic and Koine Greek are both very fuzzy about the use of the term "brother" (2) Joseph was by tradition a much older man, most likely married before, and they were his children by a previous marriage.

Since the tradition of the Church (including virtually all the early Protestant reformers, by the way) included the perpetual virginity of Mary, there is no reason to prefer an explanation that contradicts that belief, which was universally held until VERY recently (I think the religious wars in England is the first place the rejection of Mary's virginity crops up, among the Levellers and Fifth Monarchy men).

But, seriously, would YOU touch the Ark of the Covenant in that way? Remember what happened to Uzzah . . . .

14 posted on 10/16/2009 9:26:58 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: jagusafr
This is a good start if you want to understand

Love Begins With a Dream
by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/dream.htm

“But God not only thought of her in eternity; He also had her in mind at the beginning of time. In the beginning of history, when the human race fell through the solicitation of a woman, God spoke to the Devil and said, “I will establish a feud between thee and the woman, between thy offspring and hers; she is to crush thy head, while thou dost lie in wait at her heels” (Gen. 3:15). God was saying that, if it was by a woman that man fell, it would be through a woman that God would be revenged. Whoever His Mother would be, she would certainly be blessed among women, and because God Himself chose her, He would see to it that all generations would call her blessed.

When God willed to become Man, He had to decide on the time of His coming, the country in which He would be born, the city in which He would be raised, the people, the race, the political and economic systems that would surround Him, the language He would speak, and the psychological attitudes with which He would come in contact as the Lord of History and the Savior of the World.

All these details would depend entirely on one factor: the woman who would be His Mother. To choose a mother is to choose a social position, a language, a city, an environment, a crisis, and a destiny.

His Mother was not like ours, whom we accepted as something historically fixed, which we could not change; He was born of a Mother whom He chose before He was born. It is the only instance in history where both the Son willed the Mother and the Mother willed the Son. And this is what the Creed means when it says “born of the Virgin Mary.” She was called by God as Aaron was, and Our Lord was born not just of her flesh but also by her consent.

Before taking unto Himself a human nature, He consulted with the Woman, to ask her if she would give Him a man. The Manhood of Jesus was not stolen from humanity, as Prometheus stole fire from heaven; it was given as a gift.

The first man, Adam, was made from the slime of the earth. The first woman was made from a man in an ecstasy. The new Adam, Christ, comes from the new Eve, Mary, in an ecstasy of prayer and love of God and the fullness of freedom.”

16 posted on 10/16/2009 9:36:02 AM PDT by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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