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knew her not till she had brought forth a son: and he called his name JESUS.

My democrat Catholic grandmother never voted Republican till the day she died.

It woluld be news to her indeed that by your logic she must have voted Republican after that point.

Likewise my beloved great uncle never voted Democrat till the day he died.

Of course, he lived in Chicago, so he has been voting Democrat ever since the day he died ;-)

I think even you might get my point here...

I don't know the greek for "till" or the tense, but I know that one of the standard tests for new testament greek is to develop alternative translations, so that the students understand the degree of ambiguity that can be in a short text. I have heard entire sermons based on the presence of a single comma. Alas, the point may be interesting but commas were not invented until much later, so the comma would represent the desires of the translator, not the ever living G-d.

My democrat Catholic grandmother never voted Republican till the day she died.

That's amazing!! Did she die in an accident on the way home from the polls?

I studied Greek intensly for four years in college, seminary, and on my own. I am well aware that the Koine Greek of the New Testament is rich with nuances and, like English, often more than one possible meaning for words. But the primary meanings of words, and the context almost always clearly indicate which meaning is in view. Luke calls Christ her first-born son [Matt.1:25; Luke 2:7; Rm.8:29 not only son. What Luther or Zwingli or anyone else said in favor of the doctrine of Mary's supposed perpetual virginity is of no interest to me if it is not what Scripture teaches. Luther continued to "baptize" by sprinkling, even though the Greek word baptidzo [an English transliteration] means to immerse. This is why John was "baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there." This is also why those baptized "went down into the water" and "came up out of the water." [Matt.3:16; Mark 1:10; Acts 8:38-39] Even the Catholic Encyclopedia admits that "Immersion was oldest method employed." In Scripture, the only baptism considered New Testament baptism was immersion of those who were professed believers [which of course excludes infants].

I repeat again for those who have trouble with English, the Scripture does not teach the perpetual virginity of Mary, or her sinlessness, or her ascension into heaven, or the blasphemous attempt by the RCC to make her a virtual equal with Christ by proclaiming her as co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix. If you want to continue in your Mariolitry, go ahead and continue to pray to her as Roman Catholics and their fallible Popes do:

...Come then, to my help, dearest Mother, for I recommend myself to thee. In thy hands I place my eternal salvation and to thee do I entrust my soul...

Salvation Only Through Mary The foundation of all our confidence is found in the Virgin Mary. God has committed to her the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will: that we obtain everything through Mary. Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation! Pope Pius IX For, since it is the will of Divine Providence that we should have the God-Man through Mary, there is no other way for us to receive Christ except from her hands. Pope Pius X He will not taste death forever who, in his dying moments, has recourse to the Blessed Virgin Mary. What will it cost you to save us? Has not Jesus placed in your hands all the treasures of His grace and mercy? You sit crowned as Queen at the right hand of your Son: your dominion reaches as far as the heavens, and to you are subject the earth and all creatures dwelling thereon. Your dominion reaches even down into the abyss of Hell, and you alone O Mary, save us from the hands of Satan. Pope Pius XI Nothing comes to us except through the mediation of Mary, for such is the will of God. O Virgin Most Holy, no one abounds in the knowledge of God except through thee; no one O Mother of God, attains salvation except through thee! Every one of the multitudes, therefore, whom the evil of calamitous circumstances has stolen away from Catholic unity, must be born again to Christ by that same Mother whom God has endowed with a never-failing fertility to bring forth a holy people.Pope Leo XIII

A clear example of Scripture's teaching the opposite of Mary's perpetual virginity and Mariolatry may be found in Matthew 12:46-50, and in Mark 3:31-35, and in Luke 8:19-21, where it is recorded that Mary and His brethren came and sent Him word, `Thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands towards his disciples and said, Behold my Mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.' Or as Luke expresses it, `my mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it.' Jesus further resisted the beginning of Mariolatry in Luke 11:27-28 “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’”

Holy Mary, Mother of God—What a statement! Is it true? Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Bible clearly teaches that the only HOLY one is God. Mary in what is known as her Magnificat, rejoices in God HER SAVIOR (Lk.1: 47). Holiness does not need saving. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, offers a sacrifice for HER SINS. Holiness need not offer a sacrifice for sins. Mary, as any believer, received her righteousness as a gift from the Father. There was nothing inherently holy about Mary. Even Thomas Aquinas denies the "immaculate conception" of Mary. Regarding the "Mother of God" statement much not need be said. God was not born nor was He created. Mary gave birth to the "humanity" of Jesus. Jesus was God, because He is God! The statement "Mother of God" developed out of a reaction to the denial of the Deity of Jesus by some. That overreaction has resulted in the tail wagging the dog so to speak. Mary was the vessel by which the incarnation took place but she was not the supplier of Divine chromosomes.

Mary was a wonderful vessel that the Father used. Mary was chosen for these reasons:

1. She was a fine, virtuous, faithful to the law Jewish maiden.

2. She was of the "seed" of King David.

3. She was a virgin.

These qualifications were the biblical reasons to choose her. Not having just one of these prerequisites would have caused God’s prophecies to fail. Did Mary play an important role in the Bible? Yes, but so did Noah and Joseph, etc. Remember, Jesus never called Mary Mother. Not even once! No Apostle ever asks her opinion on anything. No one in the Bible ever asks Mary to pray for them. After the first chapter of the fifth book of the New Testament she is never mentioned again, and then only in a list of other believers.

She is emphatically not the queen of heaven, let’s be clear about this, because the Bible never gives her this title. There is no queen ruling in heaven. The throne belongs to God and to the Lamb, but not to Mary (see Revelation 7:15,17; 22:1). In John 14:1 the Lord called heaven, "my Father’s house," but never said it was His mother’s house. Those who know the Holy Scriptures know that "queen of heaven" is an idolatrous title from the pagan mythology of Babylon (Semiramis), repeated in Egypt (Isis) and elsewhere by other names (see Jeremiah 44:15-19, 25). According to verse 15 of this text, many of the devotees of the pagan "queen of heaven" were women. This pagan practice of devotion to female deities invaded the professing church after the Roman Emperor legalized Christianity and professed to believe, making it popular. Instead of being persecuted, Christians were to be allowed to build temples to worship in, and some pagans erased the names of their gods and goddesses and substituted Biblical names. Instead of the Babylonian mother-god Semiramis and her son Tammuz, or the Egyptian mother-god Isis, and her son Horus, they put the names Mary and Jesus. This practice of devotion to the mother and her son is neither Christian, nor apostolic, nor Biblical.

We are not told to believe in Mary, trust her, nor pray to her. The Lord Jesus said, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1) but He never said, "believe also in my mother." If it were necessary, why didn’t He say so? He taught the disciples to pray in that wonderful way, saying, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name" but have you noticed that He never taught them to pray to Mary? Christ said that whatever we ask the Father in His name, will be given us (John 15:16; 16:23). We can go directly to the Father through the Son, and Mary is never presented as a mediatrix or intercessor. No one in the New Testament ever prayed to her. The true Mary cannot hear our prayers nor answer them. She would have to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent to do that, and she is not, for she is not God. Anyone who prays to her is guilty of false religion and idolatry.

Peter wrote: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

I'm not concerned with what Popes or demonic apparitions preaching heresy [such as at Fatima - see Gal.1:8 and 1 Tim.4:1] We are to try the spirits - not all are of God [1John 4:1]. Spiritual deception will be more seductive as the time of Christ's coming draws near [Matt.24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.]

Put your complete trust in the Christ of the Bible - not a church, not Christ's mother, not the Pope, not me, not yourself or anyone but the sovereign God through Christ.