“It’s always best to take scripture exactly as it is and not add or take away from it.”
It is always better to apply our God-given reason, wisdom, and scholarship to understanding scripture, as God intended we would. Of course, not everyone is capable of doing so. Most people don’t use their reason very effectively, have at best a nodding relationship with wisdom, and are not scholars. And no, I’m not making any claims for myself in those areas, either. Like almost everyone, I do better when I turn for understanding to those superior to me in these virtues.
“The Holy Spirit within us helps us to discern His word”
And yet, there is much difference of opinion among those who sincerely believe themselves guided by the Holy Spirit. That can only mean that we are guided by the Holy Spirit, but not in the way you think. It is my experience that sometimes the Holy Spirit guides me to the work of someone else who is faithful, smart, wise, and learned enough to arrive at a correct and profound understanding of the matter at hand. When we contemplate those of differing opinions, each of which they believe to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, we must conclude that the whole “guided by the Holy Spirit” thing didn’t work out the way they expected it to.
I would go so far as to suppose that the holier the man, the more help he gets from the Holy Spirit.
“and we don’t really need to rely on ancient scholars for His meaning”
Actually, the vast majority of us do.
When I am confronted by the work of a once-in-a-millennium intellect illuminated by a beautiful faith, profound wisdom, and supreme scholarship, I must laugh aloud at the conceit that I could approach those heights of understanding, even if I had a thousand years to work on it.
What an insult to God to discard gifts like Augustine and Aquinas. The 20th century certainly did not see their equal, by several orders of magnitude.
“It makes no difference to me if Mary continued to be a virgin until her death, but scripture clearly points to her and Joseph having had children between them.”
Well, you see, scripture clearly points to the opposite. That was the point of my post. Apparently you gave no thought to the arguments it contained.
“However, those that believe she remained a virgin also believe additional “traditions” that are not found in scripture.”
So do you. That is what my post showed.
However, that’s irrelevant. Even if a person holds many false beliefs, it does not follow that his every belief is false.