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HI MDO,

” It’s inconsistent for you -— I assume you’re a sola Scriptura guy -— to pencil in that Mary and Joseph had sex, which is not stated in Scripture, and when no Christian even imagined such a thing until 1500 years after the Incarnation.”

It is entirely consistent of me as someone who obeys and respects God’s revelation, to assume that:

1. Mary was an obedient follower of the will of God.
2. ALL married couples are commanded to have sex, except for short periods of time devoted to prayer.
3. Ergo, Mary and Joseph, obedient followers of God, fulfilled His commands with joy and satisfaction.
4. God never commanded Mary to abstain from sex forever in Scripture.
5. Joseph was never commanded to abstain from sex by God, as recorded in Scripture.
6. No record exists in Scripture that says they abstained from sex forever.

In other words, in Scripture, your claim is working from total silence.

However... I’m open to your evidence always. So...

Please show me any written record before 100 ad that demonstrates it was widely taught or believed that Mary was a perpetual virgin (or that she was assumed into heaven, for that matter).

The sources you quote to prove your claim can include any source before 100ad, including:

Extra-Biblical Christian writings
Christian art
Secular writings
Secular art

Have at it sis! I’m rootin’ for you!

As you gather up your sources (which will not fill a thimble, I predict), also remember that just because no believed something doesn’t prove it was true. People have a history of making up things and pretending they are true. So back to the sources and actual facts to prove your case.

AMPU

PS -

“An even large issue, if possible, is that you assume that if a couple doesn’t have sex, it must be because they think sex is dirty and sinful. “

No, if they are obedient Christians, they are only abstaining because they are not able to have sex or they are devoting time to prayer for a brief period.

But she could not be conjugally given to Joseph --- in the full, one-flesh sense --- because she had already been given to God for the exercise of her sexual reproductive capacity. A "good and devout woman" can only give herself to one --- or shall we say, one at a time --- in the conjugal sense unless she is widowed and remarried.

"ALL married couples are commanded to have sex, except for short periods of time devoted to prayer."

This is true in general (this also entails an openness to bear children, i.e. we're talking about honest natural sexual relations, not perverse or contracepted acts) but it does no t require intercourse under any and all circumstances. For instance, if one of the spouses is actively HIV-positive, that would be a just reason to abstain from intercourse; or if the couple had a serious reason to avoid pregnancy (e.g. wife has cancer of the cervix or uterus or some other serious condition.)

Or do you think they are obliged to have intercourse regardless of their particular situation?

Remember that woman in Texas, Andrea Yates, who drowned her 5 children? This was about 10 -15 years ago. She had suffered from psychosis after her 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pregnancies, including hallucinations (both visual and auditory), multiple suicidal attempts and homicidal ideation, and yet her husband thought it was his duty to keep on impregnating er, and her duty to keep on having babies.

I always thought that was wrong, even moreso on her husband's part than on her's, because she was diagnosed psychotic but he was supposedly in his right mind. He knew she suffered by pregnancy-triggered psychosis but kept on having intercourse with her regardless.

So although there is in marriage an exclusive exchange of conjugal rights (the wife's conjugal right to her husband, the husband's conjugal right to his wife) there is not a limitless obligation to have intercourse in marriage.

As for Mary, she had a serious reason to abstain with Joseph, because it was God who had a conjugal right to her.

Just ask, “Who is Jesus’ father?” In terms of the origin of His conception, it’s not Joseph, but the Holy Spirit in one sense, and God the Father in another. (Multiple senses and meanings and applications are common in Holy Scripture.)

If Jesus’ parents were Mary and the Holy Spirit, then by simple analogy it follows that Mary (in this particular sense, and this alone) is the “spouse of the Holy Spirit”.

Don't think that implies that Mary had equality with God, when in fact it’s only a limited analogical description based on Mary’s relation to the Holy Spirit in the matter of the conception of Jesus.

In any case, in no place does the Scripture authorize bigamy, i.e. according conjugal rights to more than one person.