Replies

It seems to me that the honest response from the Sola Scriptura crowd should be that scripture is either silent on the issue or supportive of the Catholic position.

To cling to the position that Mary was not ever-virgin, without solid scriputral basis, reveals the real agenda -- not to uphold scripture, but rather to challenge all things considered Catholic.

I agree. And as I pointed out in an earlier post on the "Fr. Ron Tacelli Article" thread, Scripture is silent on this issue, in terms of an explicit statement saying either that Mary had other children besides Christ or that she did not have other children besides Christ.

The fact is, as even Protestant leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin (no friends of Catholicism) readily recognized and admitted, the historic Christian teaching on this issue was that Mary remained a perpetual virgin.

Since the sola scriptura mindset cannot possibly resolve this issue, it is eminently reasonable to consider what the early Christians in the first several centuries of Christianity believed and taught about Mary's virginity. You will find -- and I'd be happy to post examples to corroborate this, if anyone wants to see them -- that orthodox Christian belief in Mary's perpetual virginity was both ubiquitous and continuous during those first fifteen centuries. I respectfully suggest that that is a fact our Protestant friends should ponder carefully and prayerfully.