Posted on 12/26/2005 4:14:15 PM PST by hiho hiho
Can Jesus be the son of God and Joseph?
At Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of God's only son. Some believers, however, wonder if Jesus Christ is God's son only. The ancient "illegitimacy tradition" and its modern proponents propose that Jesus may have had a human father. That idea upsets one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith—the virgin conception. But it's entirely in keeping with more essential tenets: Jesus' role as the Messiah, and God's love for the poor and downtrodden. What's more, the illegitimacy tradition responds to many strange utterances about Jesus' birth in the Scriptures themselves.
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Can a loyal Christian believe that Christ was not born of a biological virgin? Perhaps it's worth posing a different question: Why is church authority so intent upon Mary's virginity as a historical fact? Would Jesus be any less God's son if he had an earthly father? The central message of the Gospel is that God raised up and redeemed his servant from death by crucifixion—the Roman style of execution reserved for the lowest of the low. Why couldn't God have sent the same message of divine solidarity with the world's outcasts by making a Messiah out of a man whose conception was also taboo?
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Chloe Breyer is the daughter of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
She probably believes she's just too, too original, but Arius beat her to it by about 1800 years. Snoooooze ...
Chosen people??? Whose word do we have on that?
Nothing new about this particular heresy.
Funny how she graduated from seminary and never studied history. My daughter did Church History in the 8th grade, and regaled us with colorful heresies at dinner for a whole semester. (Much nicer than when our son studied food safety, I have to say ... )
Perhaps it is because it is the truth, and it because Jewish prophecy required the virgin birth as a sign of the true Messiah?
Would Jesus be any less God's son if he had an earthly father?
Yes, he would not have been God's son as only the Word could be (please see John 1:1-8). He would not have had the ability to offer the Perfect Sacrifice as the Perfect Priest for the salvation of mankind. He would have been a liar. But incompetent teaching authority might suggest otherwise as this "priest" has done and as her church might do.
"An Episcopal priest" is a sign of the error of the ECUSA in particular and the EC in general. Add to that the ordination of public, active homosexual(s) as bishop(s), and one can see heresy in action.
Because,Jesus is the Son of God and MAry-the Catholic Church and countless Popes have declared by the Bible an theology,also by the very words of the Virgin Mary,on the Feast day of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION--it is understood without questioning ,THAT GOD granted MAry the singular GRACE and favor that she was to remain forever a VIRGIN and still bring forth Jesus---this was NOT impossible for GOD-it was HIS will and it was so>
Because,Jesus is the Son of God and MAry-the Catholic Church and countless Popes have declared by the Bible an theology,also by the very words of the Virgin Mary,on the Feast day of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION--it is understood without questioning ,THAT GOD granted MAry the singular GRACE and favor that she was to remain forever a VIRGIN and still bring forth Jesus---this was NOT impossible for GOD-it was HIS will and it was so>
This woman is totally lost.
She is unfamiliar with the Holy Word of G-d.
She is on the wide way to destruction.
I pray that one day soon the L-rd will invite her
to learn of and accept Y'shua as L-rd and Savior
b'shem Y'shua
If Mary was "forever a virgin," how does one explain the other children she and Joseph had? Like, say, the Apostle James?
She is also revisiting Nestorianism and re-opening the Council of Ephesus which, made its decision in 431. Not exactly proposing an original question and certainly no need to look very hard for an answer... she need simply go back to the days of the very early church.
Man eventually figured out how to create virgin births through IVF. So of what difficulty is it for YHVH if Joseph had a son before the marriage was consummated. The elderly Sarah could have potentially saved herself a hassle if she had believed the Word straight away (like Mary), instead of laughing.
I saw the name and recognized it at once. I couldn't bring myself to read the whole article. How far into the piece did she tell us how much God(dess) loves the holy sacrament of abortion?
The Catholic Church teaches that those described in the Bible as "brothers of the Lord" and so forth were not children of Mary. There is nothing, in fact, that mentions their being children of Mary, so it's a question of interpretation of "brothers/sisters."
One line of analysis posits James, Joses, etc., as more distant relatives through His mother, because of the lack of nouns in Hebrew to designate "first-cousin-once-removed" and so forth. Another theory is that they may have been children of Joseph's from a previous marriage, and therefore Jesus' step-brothers.
It is, of course, a matter of one's accepting the interpretive authority of the Church on the question. On the other hand, the issue of Jesus' being conceived "of the Holy Spirit," rather than the natural son of Joseph, is clearly settled in the Gospels.
If the perpetual virginity of Mary were just a pious fiction, it would seem that many early churchmen would have rejected these somewhat convoluted explanations. But they did not.
I'd always understood (mind you, I'm of that heretical sect known as Episcopalian) that Mary was a virgin when she married (but not necessarily after Jesus' birth). Was unaware of the nuance - thanks for the explication!
Scripture teaches the Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to only one child, Jesus Christ. A belief shared by Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, et al.
Like, say, the Apostle James?
Scripture teaches that there were two Apostles named James. Scripture also teaches that the parents of James the Greater were Zebedee and Salome. The parents of James the Lessor were Cleophas(Alphaeus) and the other Mary(Matthew 27:56,61, 28:1, John 19:25)
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