Posted on 12/17/2014 11:31:24 AM PST by millegan
**But there is also a very strong possibility that Mary and Joseph consummated their marriage and other children followed. I don’t why there is such strong resistance to this possibility.**
It didn’t happen. Do more research.
A lot of children freak out at the thought of their parents having sexual relations. Catholics seem to have taken this to a whole new level.
Exactly. They seem to equate physical intimacy between a husband and a wife as something which is somehow dirty or defiling, when in fact it is a precious gift from God.
Well, how can you be so sure? Evidence from the Bible indicates that Mary and Joseph, a happily married couple, produced other children as Jesus’s brothers and sisters are specifically mentioned including James. Where is your proof that the marriage was never consummated?
To me, it does not matter that much. If Mary and Joseph had a celibate marriage or if they consummated their marriage and produced other children, it changes nothing the way I view Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Joseph would not be compromising or defiling Mary in any way, shape, or measure, if he and his wife shared physical intimacy.
**To me, it does not matter that much. If Mary and Joseph had a celibate marriage**
Catholic believe that Joseph and Mary had no other children.
Not ALL Catholics.
Some of us believe what is written in the Bible.
The Bible specifically mentions Jesus had brothers and sisters. I first learned this in a Bible study class taught at a Catholic church by a Catholic priest.
The Bible also mentions that Mary was a virgin at the time of her conception of Jesus. But there is absolutely no mention whatsoever that she remained a life long virgin or that her marriage with Joseph was not consummated.
The Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply. Physical intimacy between a husband and a wife is a precious gift from God, not an act of defilement. There is no reason to believe that this gift was denied to Joseph and Mary. The idea that Mary was always a virgin and there was never the gift of physical intimacy between her and Joseph is strictly conjecture on your part.
The Bible specifically mentions Jesus had brothers and sisters. >>>
Those were his cousins.
“Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? they asked. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things.”
Matthew 13:54-56
“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said. “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother”
Mark 3:31-35
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph (Joses), Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him.
Mark 6:3
The Bible uses the terms brothers and sisters. YOU refer to cousins. I will stick to what it says in the Bible if that’s OK. I don’t change word meanings or make assumptions especially to fit some sort of doctrine or dogma. We could then make up all sorts of things. Abel was not really the brother of Cain, he was a cousin. Aaron was not really the brother of Moses, he was cousin. Etc. I don’t read into the Bible that way. I read it as it is written and I don’t make things up.
Yes I know about this. A whole cottage industry developed around the 4th and 5th centuries which tried to develop the theory or the notion that Mary and Joseph never consummated their marriage. There is mention of Jesus’s brothers and sisters in at least three of the four Gospels, Matthew, John, and Mark. The Gospel of Luke mentions that Jesus was Mary’s first born son and that Mary was a virgin at the time of her conception of Jesus. There is no mention that she always remained a virgin or that she and Joseph were denied the gift of marital intimacy-—which some seem to regard as something dirty or some sort of defilement.
I first learned that Jesus had brothers and sisters in a bible study class which-—btw-—was taught by a Catholic priest in a Catholic Church. Fortunately the priest taught the Bible precisely as it is written. He did not try to same something like, oh those brothers and sisters you are reading about in the Gospels are really Jesus’s cousins-—or another whopper-—oh they are Joseph’s children from an earlier marriage. It is wrong to twist words and meanings in the Bible. It is wrong to make things up or to speculate or hypothesize something just to make it fit into some sort of doctrine, dogma, or ideology. It is better to read the Bible as it is written and not try to read things into it which aren’t there.
God Bless. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.