See Jo's 5689. That was the normal arrangement for a temple virgin. The evidence of her intention to remain virgin through her life is evident from the way she responds to the annunciation in Luke 1, "how is it possible since I know not man?". A girl about to enter a conventional marriage would not respond like that, she would say "Thank you for foretelling my child's future". She would not be wondering how is she supposed to become a mother.
half-brother" is no problem to me because that is exactly the relationship I claim between Jesus and his "siblings". There is still common blood.
Cousins is also common blood.
How would you define "prevail" without scripture? Today, and if scripture never existed, do you think that global Church membership would be somewhat less, or drastically less?
Prevail means that the Church will lead all faithful souls to Christ as He comes in glory. Scripture is but a tool of the Church in that process. How do you define "prevail" with the scripture?
I think that's a huge stretch. The angel says "You will be with child and give birth to a son ..." Now, think of the setting. An angel of God appears to her out of no where and says she is going to be with child. Why should Mary assume that this angel has come to tell her distant future? This was all brand new to Mary and the scripture even says she was afraid. She thought the angel meant right away, and the angel did mean that. That's why she asked her question.
Prevail means that the Church will lead all faithful souls to Christ as He comes in glory. Scripture is but a tool of the Church in that process. How do you define "prevail" with the scripture?
Well, it wasn't my idea to use the word "prevail" with or without scripture, so that's a hard question to answer. God's Church will prevail with the scripture when Christ returns. I believe that God's Church will be immeasurably larger than it would have been without the scripture. But of course, God could have done it any way He wanted to. The elect are always going to be the elect. I just know that I am much closer to God than I would have been without scripture.