[kosta50]

The fact of the matter is that Greek speaking Christians from the beginning have always held that the "brothers" of Christ you refer to were cousins or, more likely, step brothers

Many cultures (Serbian, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew etc.) to this date use the term "brothers" and "sisters" for first or even second cousins. In many cultures, children address adults unrelated to the family as "uncle" or "aunt" in place of "Mr" or "Mrs". Thus, for example in Serbian culture a qualification is made only when questioned as to which type of "brothers" they are and the answer is "borther of aunt" (brat od tetke).

It is only in the Western cultural settings that this custom is alien, which is then erroneously interprted leading to grave misunderstanding of the Bible.

[UsnDadof8]

In order that I might properly frame a reply, is your main argument from tradition or from the Greek text ?