[katana]

... therefore Joseph's son by Mary. I think most of us understood what you meant and let he who has never posted a typo cast the first flame.

I don't have a Bible in front of me, but doesn't one of the Gospels specifically state that Joseph knew his wife Mary after the birth of Jesus ? I never got this "perpetual virgin" business, but I suppose it goes hand in hand with the Roman Catholic Church's requirement for a celibate priesthood.

[Tao Yin]

The RCC has a celibate priesthood because of property laws. Long time ago, property needed to be owned by a person. So if a priest was married and died, the church would belong to his wife. Not acceptable to the RCC, so priest needed to be single; therefore celibate.

[HeadOn]

At the risk of giving away one of my best secret advantages, I'll tell you that you DO have a bible right in front of you.

If you are on the internet, you can get a Bible. I use www.olivetree.com. It has several different translations (NIV is copyrighted and not available) and a good search feature, if you know some of the words of the verse/passage you are looking for. You can also download to a Palm or other PDA. God Bless.