Post #8 ~ Omniscient Tucker39 apparently is NOT omniscient. here was no word in the language for ‘cousins’ hence it was translated as ‘brother’...
There is certainly a koine Greek word for cousin.
Is that what the priest told you? This is America, in the Year of Our Lord 2016. You do not have to take someone else’s word for it. You can actually look it up for yourself. The gospels CLEARLY state that Joseph and Mary had sons and daughters together after Christ was virgin-born.
The locals in Nazareth were puzzled by the ministry and miracles of Jesus; at one point remarking that He was the (supposed) son of Joseph; and, of course, Mary.....and that His brothers and sisters were well known in the neighborhood and synagogue. Read all about it.
First of all, when Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, God assured Joseph in a dream that he should stay with Mary, marry her and name the Holy Child Jesus. And then it goes on to say that Joseph took her as his wife, but did not “know” her until after the Christ child was born.
This clearly implies that he DID “know” her after Christ’s birth. So much for perpetual virginity. God forbid that I should be unkind, and I do not mean to be. But what does it say about unkindness that certain clergy would spin a yarn about “perpetual virginity” and then perpetuate it through the millenia, when the gospels clearly say otherwise? I hope you make the effort to read up on it and smoke out the truth for yourself.