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To: gscc
Your entire dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary is based on the "possible meaning of the words" (till or until) and the possible meaning of brothers and sisters not actually meaning brothers and sisters, and the possible existence of a third man named James and on and on.

Actually, no. The dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary is based upon the truth, not upon the meaning of a few words in Scripture. What I am arguing is that these passages, cited by critics, do not definitively disprove what is claimed about Mary. Like I said above, you may not agree with the interpretation, only agree that there are possible alternatives.

"Eos" in Greek does not have to mean "until, and then it changes after." It can mean "before." This is not a ridiculous stretch, this is what happens when you study the text, rather than just read it.

Ditto on the question of how Scripture deals with "brother." At the very basic level, none of us believe adelphos means what it says in its strictest sense. Because Jesus is not the brother of anyone. At best he is a half-brother. So arguments about holding to the purity of words at their most basic level ring hollow.

Lastly, you seem to misunderstand my entire oeuvre on James. I am not the one suggesting there is a third James. I am quite happy with the two listed in Scripture in Acts 1. It is my esteemed opponents who must believe James the Lesser is written out and a new James appears, without comment.

If He had meant that His "brothers and sisters" were cousins He would have stated they were cousins.

Just like He did with Lot and Abram, right?

Contrary to your statement that in the middle east brother often means cousin the Bible does mention cousins clearly defined as cousins.

Yep. And it also calls nephews "brothers" and half-brothers "brothers" and cousins "sisters." There is no consistency cause there were different human authors. God did not dictate Scripture.

SD

2,330 posted on 03/02/2006 7:25:57 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave; gscc
Yep. And it also calls nephews "brothers" and half-brothers "brothers" and cousins "sisters." There is no consistency cause there were different human authors. God did not dictate Scripture.

No matter how much you belabor the point, it doesn't seem to get through, does it?
2,348 posted on 09/03/2006 6:23:04 AM PDT by Cronos ("Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant" - Omar Ahmed, CAIR)
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