annalex wrote:
“Very good post. But why does our desire to maintain the record given us though the fathers of the Church albeit not from the scripture, an ‘obsession’ that is ‘suspect’?”
“Very good post?” From you? I think you need to go back and read the post carefully. It is not supportive of Roman Catholic dogma in regard to Mary. It is merely illustrative of historical reality, both in terms of the early church fathers and the reformers, both of whom were more than willing to call Mary, “blessed,” and more the willing to accept the possibility of her perpetual virginity, but were completely unwilling to teach such as doctrine/dogma for the reason that Scripture did not conclusively prove it. So, unless you are either harboring urges to become Lutheran and/or have seen the light and come to understand rightly what is meant by “solo scriptura,” I think you need to re-evaluate your accolades.
Obsession is always suspect. Obsession and faith have little in common.
I realize that, but it is reasonable, so I congratulated you on it.
[The Fathers of the Church] were completely unwilling to teach such as doctrine/dogma
How were they "unwilling"? No one called her anything but "the virgin". That was simply a fact to them.