Everyday evidences are recovered that either agree or disagree with certain theories. My question is, what if a valid evidence is found that disprove the virgin birth of Jesus. will the Catholic Church inform the rest of its congregation?
I asked this question because while i was kid, the only answer parents will give as to why they were against pre-marital sex was "The mother of Jesus was a virgin until she got married"
A second thing to realize is that scripture does not evolve over time as people do. What was written in the original is still written and studied today. So looking back on social norms from the time period pre-marital sex was a sin, and if you think about it girls were being married at or around age 12 (give or take a few years), so pre-marital sex would be the equivalent of statutory rape in our society today. Our society changes rapidly and to stick to scripture that has remained unchanged for centuries, leads to contradictions in ways of life.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to consider that dogmas pushed by the church are not necessarily supported by the scripture itself. For example, as we discussed in class, Luke is the only gospel in which the virgin birth is even mentioned and yet it is one of the most dominant dogmas of the religion despite such little scriptural support.
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church has been relying on the bible for generations to teach morals, they would not change one of the most important teachings now. There might be theories and facts that say that Mary was not a virgin, but the Catholic Church still needs that story to teach the value of abstinence
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the above. If the virgin conception of the Lord Jesus is compromised all of the teaching that comes after is questionable because the godliness of Jesus would be in question since the virgin conception, according to Crossan, is a foreshadowing of greatness.
ReplyDeleteKelli: we shouldn't assume too quickly that we know what sexual mores and practices were really like in first-century Palestine. There is reason to think that pre- and extra-marital sex was at least as widespread as it is today.
ReplyDeleteCharlie: You'd be surprised how the views of the Catholic Church have evolved over the centuries (not to mention the Antiochian and Eastern Orthodox teachings, which were never part of the Roman church, as well as the views of the hundreds of Protestant sects since European Christianity split up a few centuries ago). Certain central dogmas do remain unchanged, though how they are interpreted has certainly changed significantly, which amounts to the same thing.
Raj: Certainly, if the literal virginity of Jesus' mom is most important thing about your faith, then you will have to cling to it against all reason and evidence, or jettison your faith. On the other hand, it remains possible that you will discover other things (peace, justice, compassion...?) about the content of your faith that could be even more important than Mary's sex life.
Well, since the Catholic Church sees the Virgin Birth to be a miraculous event, I'm not sure if it would be possible for someone to "prove" that the Virgin Birth was not true. It's not like we can do a post-mortem examination of Mary's body, well, because according to Catholics it doesn't even physically exist on Earth anymore.
ReplyDeleteSo, I guess what I'm saying is if there was any way to actually disprove the Virgin Birth, it would be the end of Catholicism
Of course one cannot by definition disprove any event understood as literally miraculous -- that is, as taking place outside the constraints of space, time, physical reality, and reason. What one can do is give good textual and historical reasons to think that the miracle of Mary's virginity is a literary/mythic creation of some (but not all) early followers of Jesus. This has no effect on someone for whom that myth is foundational, and it needn't have any. People may always think what they like and live as the choose. However, they should be wary of attempting to persuade anyone rationally of the merits of their choice.
DeleteTo comment on Stephan's basis, we are speaking hypothetically . In order to disprove Mary's virginity would be very difficult but if it was done, I agree that it would be the end of most Catholics beliefs IF the church were to accept the proof and inform their followers. I'm not sure if I believe the church would accept the evidence
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I know a lot of lovely people who are practicing Catholics, and I have way more confidence in the strength of their commitments to social justice, equality, compassion, and other central principles of their faith than to think they would just throw up their hands and quit over Mary's sex life. And the Catholic intellectuals with whom I am acquainted don't spend a lot of time worried about the virgin birth.
Delete