Jackson50 on 23 December 2008
| akuma587 said:Does anyone actually believe that Mary remained a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus? I mean come on, it says several times in the New Testament that Jesus has a brother, James, and not just in a metaphorical way. There is also evidence that James was a very important member in the early Christian (or technically Jesusbewegung) movement. Not to mention Mary was a woman, in a time when woman had almost no power. Does anyone believe that she could successfully tell her husband the entire time they were married that they couldn't have sex? Some women were killed for that in those days. |
The Bible does mention Jesus' siblings, but there are a few plausible explanations that will allow for the doctrine of perpetual virginity of the Theotokos. The Bible does not mention whether or not Jesus' siblings are from a previous marriage of Joseph's. The siblings could be Jesus' step-siblings. It could also denote close relatives. I do not think a metephorical meaning is a correct explanation. In Mark 6, when Jesus returns to and is subsequently rejected at Nazareth, the townspeople specifically mention Jesus' brothers and sisters.
