My thought has always been that Middle Eastern cultures put a great emphasis on virginity (look at how nowadays they actually have operations to “recreate” it, as if a physical hymen actually is that important).
To the Biblical Christian this is not important in the least. The important point for us is that Jesus was born of God, who is Spirit. A spirit does not take a woman’s virginity, but He was born of the Holy Spirit who “overshadowed” Mary. Thus Jesus is divine. Other than that, Mary remaining “perpetually” virgin has always smacked of the thought that sex is unclean and unholy, whether in or out of marriage.
I know our Catholic brethren disagree with this. It seems very obvious to me, and is one of the reasons I am not Catholic.
Mormons believe God impregnated Mary as a physical being. I obviously have great issues with this.
I hate to “hit and run” but I won’t be around for the flames for awhile, I’ll check in later for the fires!
I’ve always believed small philosophical ideas have great impact on cultures. IMHO, this is one of those “small, huge, ideas”.
You're talking about the virgin birth and you're wrong, to the Biblical Christian it IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. The original sin comes from Adam, through our fathers, thus the fact that Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus' birth meant that He was sinless. It is only because He was sinless that He was the perfect sacrifice that attoned for all our sins. Without the virgin birth, Jesus would have been just one more Jew executed by the Romans, and we would be dead in our sins.
However, the perpetual virginity of Mary doesn't have any effect on anyone's salvation. And I don't care how many Church fathers wrote about it, God's Word does not say that she remained a virgin and that's good enough for me.