Rabbi talks about the Virgin Mary

Comments

• minasoliman

  May 2017 edited May 2017

  In a nutshell:
  
  1. We don't believe in the immaculate conception. The divine nature purifies the Virgin Mary and brings her into communion with God. The incarnation of Christ is the moment of her salvation. So we reject this doctrine from the Catholics, simple because it is an unnecessary doctrine. Christ Himself by His divine presence and taking her flesh into Himself simultaneously saves her and fills her with His divine grace.
  
  2. Virgin birth does not mean sexual intercourse is disgusting. Sex is not the source of Original Sin either. St. Augustine believed that, but the Oriental Orthodox Church does not believe sex is the source of the propagation of Original Sin. St. Severus condemned such an idea via Julian of Halicarnassus. St. Severus, as did St. Athanasius and St. Cyril before him, believed that the point of the Virgin birth was not because of an objection to sex. Sex is good because it is the means by which we are created, and God created all things good. But the necessity of the Virgin birth is to show forth a NEW creation, and NEW origin of being, not from your biological father, but this time, your Father in heaven. Jesus demonstrates that by the Virgin birth, we too are born from the Virgin, our Mother the Church, and our Father in heaven who is by nature the Father of Jesus also becomes our Father by adoption when we are united to Jesus.
  
  3. None of the ancient pagan stories have a real Virgin birth as described by the gospels. Instead, you have some stories that are very strange and have nothing to do with the way Jesus was born. The ignorant Rabbi vomits off the same crappy argument atheists use without real knowledge of the ancient pagan myths.
• minasoliman

  May 2017 edited May 2017

  4. The Virgin Mary is perpetually a Virgin because she dedicated her life fully to God. It's not a repudiation of marriage, but the gospels are quite clear her marriage to Joseph was a cover up of the birth of Jesus, not a consummated marriage. She questions the archangel Gabriel in Luke 1 asking him: "How can it be since I do not know a man?" She asked this question while she was already betrothed to Joseph. That means her betrothal was not one of marriage, but one of a family caretaker, as the ancient tradition teaches us. If it was one of marriage, she wouldn't ask this question, because she would then "know a man", i.e. Joseph.
  
  Furthermore, she had no other children than Jesus. Jesus was her ONLY son. How do we know this, because when Jesus was crucified, He entrusted John to be her caretaker, and John was not a natural son, but was also a vowed Virgin. When one son dies, the other sons and daughters are brought in to take care of that mother. There were no sons and daughters of Mary besides Jesus. The only other people called "brothers of the Lord" were actually His cousins, some believed to be of a previous marriage under Joseph, and others believed to be nephews of Mary.
  
  It's not a stretch to think of someone dedicating his life completely without marriage or sex. Elijah the prophet is a great example. John the Baptist is another. It's not that the Church is against marriage, anymore than fasting makes us against food! That's an ignorant fallacy made by Protestants and by this idiot Rabbi.
  
  No when someone is completely infatuated with God, sometimes he/she is willing even to sacrifice some of the good things God has given him/her for the greater good, to be a steward and a servant of God on behalf of Christ for the world. After the disciples start spreading the gospel, you see a huge resurgence of virgins, male and female, as a form of liberty in God. I have the choice now of marrying or not marrying. I don't have to be forced, and I can live my life with God even without marriage. Virginity and marriage have both become pathways to salvation, and Mary chose virginity. Out of her choice comes the new path of salvation.
• Justice

  May 2017 edited May 2017

  Mina Solomon,
  
  Thank you for your detailed response, I once went to a museum in Chicago were they said the same thing in your third response but then again they also regarded evolution as undeniable fact so what do they know.
  
  In Christ,
  Justice
• minasoliman

  May 2017

  Well, I'm more sympathetic with their views on evolution, but yes, pagan stories of virgin births are really different and sometimes not even "virgin".