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To: Mrs. Don-o
The links you provided manifest a certain ignorance about the way the Church regards the early Church fathers. They are not regarded as infallible teachers nor as sources of doctrine per se. They are most authoritative when what they say shows a broad a consensus, which is evidence of the "mind of the Church" at that time.

Now you’ve moved the goal posts. It went from being the “unanimous” consent of the ECFs, down to a broad consensus. Is this 80%? 75%? 51%?

Imagine this: You are at a bridal shower for a friend and somebody remarks to the bride, “You are going to have such adorable kids!” Everybody laughs, but the bride draws back in astonishment and says, “But...but...how shall this be? I know not man.” **Huh?** For a woman who is engaged to be married, there are only two possible explanations for such a reaction: either she has no idea where babies come from—--or she has every intention of remaining a virgin after marriage.

GOOD GRIEF THE IGNORANCE OF THE WORD! Forgive my caps on this, but this is utterly ridiculus and has been pointed out to you on several occasions by me. This is what is frustrating. After having been shown the Greek behind this you continue to post this falsity. I expect better from you.

The Greek indicates she had not had sex with anyone at the time. Nothing in the Greek indicates what catholics are suggesting. The Greek for “know” means to have intimate knowledge/contact through personal experience….in other words….sexual intercourse.

Why else would Mary be astonished? She’s a woman betrothed to Joseph, she knows about the birds and the bees. Yet she reacts with amazement at the news that she, a woman betrothed, will bear a son.

She’s astonished in that she knows she hasn’t had intercourse with anyone.

Notice that the angel does not say “You are pregnant.” He says “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son” (Luke 1:31). This is a promise that has been made to other women in Jewish history such as Sarah and Hannah. All of them understand the promise to mean, “You and your husband will conceive a child.” So why should the same promise astonish Mary, a young woman who also plans to marry—--unless she had already decided to remain a virgin throughout her life?

False equivalence and false assumption on the part of the catholic. Again, there is NOTHING in the text indicating Mary had decided to remain a virgin. The texts show she and Joseph did have intercourse, much to the chagrin of catholics everywhere. Sarah was already married and had been having sex with Abraham in trying to have a child.

This idea that Mary was NOT ever-virgin, is a Renaissance-era innovation.

The Greek texts say otherwise. Paul says otherwise when he noted he met James, the Lord’s brother.

61 posted on 06/25/2015 7:21:51 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: ealgeone
The Greek texts say otherwise. Paul says otherwise when he noted he met James, the Lord’s brother.

Yes, James, the half brother of Jesus, the natural son of Mary and Joseph, was the leader of the Jerusalem church, not Peter. Don't forget Jude, another half brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of Jude. I wonder what the names of the half sisters of Jesus were? We just don't know. I hope all the half brothers and half sisters of Jesus became true Christians, like James and Jude did. We just don't know for sure. 😇

64 posted on 06/25/2015 7:53:12 PM PDT by Mark17 (Lonely people live in every city, men who face a dark and lonely grave. Lonely voices do I hear)
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