• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

Something About Mary (2)

sculleywr

Orthodox Colitis Survivor
Jul 23, 2011
7,789
683
Starke, FL
✟30,069.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Engaged
Politics
US-Others
All those "inconsistencies" can be explained, but this isn't the thread or time. You won't like the conclusions.

As can the "inconsistencies" that have been pointed out about the PoJ. The point is that there is never a doctrinal dispute between Scripture and the PoJ, so attacking it on the "inconsistency" front leaves the Bible open to the same scrutiny.
 
Upvote 0

sculleywr

Orthodox Colitis Survivor
Jul 23, 2011
7,789
683
Starke, FL
✟30,069.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Engaged
Politics
US-Others

Quote from Athanasius:
If Mary would have had another son, the Savior would not have neglected her nor would he have confided his mother to another person, indeed she had not become the mother of another. Mary, moreover, would not have abandoned her own sons to live with another, for she fully realized a mother never abandons her spouse nor her children. And since she continued to remain a virgin even after the birth of the Lord, he gave her as mother to the disciple, even though she was not his mother; he confided her to John because of his great purity of conscience and because of her intact virginity.

Sounds to me like Athanasius agrees with the assertion of the PoJ that she was always a virgin.

And the PoJ doesn't contend that Christ was inhuman. That's pathetic prattle and about as accurate as saying that the Scriptures support slavery. -_- Drop it before it hurts you. The PoJ is almost as physical as the gospel of Mark, describing the physical characteristics of Christ and showing Him held in the arms of Mary.

The PoJ, on the birth, doesn't show the physical process any more than any of the gospels do. However, its physical descriptions of events that happen to Christ, and the physicality of His birth is shown in the fact that she was having contractions, which are described thus:

Mary said to him: Take me down from off the ass, for that which is in me presses to come forth.​

One could not have contractions without a physical child within her. Her pregnancy is way too physical. Next to that is the fact that the child is carried, swaddled, and touched in several ways in this account.
 
Upvote 0

Standing Up

On and on
Sep 3, 2008
25,360
2,757
Around about
✟73,735.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private

Please provide the link to the Athanasian quote.
 
Upvote 0

Standing Up

On and on
Sep 3, 2008
25,360
2,757
Around about
✟73,735.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
As can the "inconsistencies" that have been pointed out about the PoJ. The point is that there is never a doctrinal dispute between Scripture and the PoJ, so attacking it on the "inconsistency" front leaves the Bible open to the same scrutiny.

Coupld of Contradictions:

The names of Mary's parents.
Location of birth (cave, region).
Nature of birth (no afterflux).
Vestal virgins.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
Focusing on the model of virginity that the PoJ presents to us, which is all about the hymen, has drawn the church away from understanding virginity that Ireneus had when he talked of Scripture as a virgin.
Focusing on the physical state of a woman's body like that as the definition of virginity, the PoJ, in spite of its being rejected as scripture, in spite of being put on the papal list of apocryphal books, nevertheless the PoJ and the theology that emerges from that book has left a large stain on the church as a whole, in which sin and sexuality becomes synonymous.

The virginity of Mary at the conception of Jesus is a theologically necessary, as it correctly identifies who the Father of Jesus really is. Perpetual virginity of Mary adds nothing to that, but can only detract from that by making the birginity all about Mary, rather than about the Father.

The disdain for sexuality that has emerged in Christianity was not present in Jewish culture, but it was very much a part of Docetism. A Christianity that grows out of the Hebrew culture then, rather than completely breaks from it, simply does not become a part of a cult of the hymen, which the PoJ has initiated much of the Christian world into. The disdain for female sexuality has become almost inevitable ever since.
EV theology is not harmless, therefore. As it has taken us away from the Hebrew understanding of sexuality with its message that intact hymens and purity are synonymous, the view that sexuality is tainted is reinforced by such a theology.

Ever virginity cannot speak of Mary's hymen, but only of her heart. That has been the only definition of purity that the Bible has ever been interested in. Most definitely, the purity of the virgin heart of Mother Mary, as revealed in her raising of her son into perfection, is something to be lauded, a blessing like no other.

Making it about the hymen comes from the PoJ.

We can only note that PoJ is not from the apostle James, as it claims to be.
It is not Scriptural, however Scripture is defined
It is a breach of the Hebrew tradition which Christianity has been grafted into. This would never equate purity with intact hymens.
It introduces ideas that the apostles never taught.

If Catholics are to accept Perpetual Virginity as de fide teaching, then at least they have been provided with a means to do so now that has nothing to do with hymens.
The virginity of Mary is a quality of a heart that bore and raised the Son of God into this world. That much at least is authentically Scriptural.

Everything else ties back to the PoJ, which the RCC has already deemed unfit for doctrine and dogma. So if making the virginity of Mary before during and after the birth of Jesus is not heretical on that account, then nothing is heretical.
 
Upvote 0

Root of Jesse

Admiral of the Fleet/First Sea Lord
Site Supporter
Jun 23, 2011
18,909
3,645
Bay Area, California
Visit site
✟399,065.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution

Same here. And so, we trust the Church, which has authority. You trust consensus, which has no authority
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
Same here. And so, we trust the Church, which has authority. You trust consensus, which has no authority
So, to get down to brass tacks, now that you have an infallible authority to lead you, does your church teach you to believe that PoJ was written before 62 Ad, or that it was written by a man who had been dead for some seventy years? Perhaps there is another tradition out there that James did not really die, but is the prototype for the Engergizer bunny?

Does your infallible witness to the truth disagree that the four Gospels were written sometime between the decades after the crucixion to the AD90's or 110 Ad at the latest?

You have access to infallible truth. Tell me, on the points at hand, does your church teach what I have given you, or something else?

And if it remains silent on the dating, or does not have an infallible statement in the matter of dating, then you got nothing, saved for a closed mind against going with the best evidence, wherever that might lead.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
As far as I can see, the infallible witness seems to agree with me, that the apocryphal work in question is something to be avoided by Catholics.


 
Upvote 0

Root of Jesse

Admiral of the Fleet/First Sea Lord
Site Supporter
Jun 23, 2011
18,909
3,645
Bay Area, California
Visit site
✟399,065.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
WHy do you accept 145 as the date of authorship of PoJ? Because "some scholars you trust" do? What is their authority? A diploma? What definitive evidence is there?
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
WHy do you accept 145 as the date of authorship of PoJ? Because "some scholars you trust" do? What is their authority? A diploma? What definitive evidence is there?

Don't weasel out of the question I asked you by asking me another question.
You say that you have a better way because you have an infallible authority to answer these things.

I have already given a lot of information on how that date was derived.
But since you know better, what is the correct dating for the PoJ, according to the authority that you follow?
 
Upvote 0

Root of Jesse

Admiral of the Fleet/First Sea Lord
Site Supporter
Jun 23, 2011
18,909
3,645
Bay Area, California
Visit site
✟399,065.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
The Church doesn't say, nor does it matter, either who wrote it, or when it was written down. The Gosple narratives were spoken for 30-50 years before they were written down, too. And that's the point. The first written New Covenant writings were the Epistles. The Gospels were passed on verbally before they were written.
Does your infallible witness to the truth disagree that the four Gospels were written sometime between the decades after the crucixion to the AD90's or 110 Ad at the latest?
Not only that, but they're in the order they are for a reason. No Q source, no primacy of Mark's gospel. But they were taught verbally for a long time before they were written. Same can be said of the PoJ.
You have access to infallible truth. Tell me, on the points at hand, does your church teach what I have given you, or something else?
Which points?
And if it remains silent on the dating, or does not have an infallible statement in the matter of dating, then you got nothing, saved for a closed mind against going with the best evidence, wherever that might lead.
We have the doctrines. Mary was a virgin before, during and after Jesus was born. Mary was immaculately conceived, and at the end of her life, was assumed into heaven.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
Again...
Dates please?
Show me where your Church teaches me that I am wrong to accept the dates that you criticized me for accepting.
 
Upvote 0

Root of Jesse

Admiral of the Fleet/First Sea Lord
Site Supporter
Jun 23, 2011
18,909
3,645
Bay Area, California
Visit site
✟399,065.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution

Not defined, but not very important, because the Gospels were the Gospels before they were ever written down. They were true before they were written down, too.

The likelyhood is that James told his disciples the facts of the PoJ, and they were passed down verbally, just like the Gospels were.

And who are you to order me as you did???No authority there either...
 
Upvote 0

Root of Jesse

Admiral of the Fleet/First Sea Lord
Site Supporter
Jun 23, 2011
18,909
3,645
Bay Area, California
Visit site
✟399,065.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
Again...
Dates please?
Show me where your Church teaches me that I am wrong to accept the dates that you criticized me for accepting.
The relevant thing is not when they were written down...that's true whether your dates are right or wrong.
Where you're wrong is discounting the contents based on a consensus dating of when they were written.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
me said:
And if it(the infallible witness) remains silent on the dating, or does not have an infallible statement in the matter of dating, then you got nothing, saved for a closed mind against going with the best evidence, wherever that might lead.
Again, no apologies are necessary.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens
The relevant thing is not when they were written down...that's true whether your dates are right or wrong.

If it is not relevant, then it is not relevant for you to comment on what I wrote, as if you had something better to go on, as it pertains to the matter at hand.
In terms of discussing the evidence as to whether the PoJ is apostolic writing, and written by James, the dating is most certainly relevant to refuting such nonsense.

In terms of following your infallible witness, who has already told Catholics to avoid that writing, your arguments against me are even a breach of your own principle of accepting the churches witness as infallible.
It is I that has been affirming the witness of the church as the correct one. It has been yourself and scullywr that have been levelling all your efforts at refuting me, and undermining the evidence that your own church got this correct the first time around.
 
Upvote 0

SolomonVII

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2003
23,138
4,919
Vancouver
✟162,516.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
CA-Greens

LOL RoJ. Playing the victim card does make me feel sorry for you though, at this point of the discussion. It does make you look very pathetic for sure.
Hard not to feel sorry for you.

However, commands don't tend to end with question marks, as far as I know.

You were the one that was critical of my methodology as pertaining to dating, and you were the one that made the assertion that you had a better method.

Suffice it to say that your better method came up with no dates whatsoever.
 
Upvote 0

sculleywr

Orthodox Colitis Survivor
Jul 23, 2011
7,789
683
Starke, FL
✟30,069.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Engaged
Politics
US-Others
Coupld of Contradictions:

The names of Mary's parents.
Location of birth (cave, region).
Nature of birth (no afterflux).
Vestal virgins.

I don't recall either of the parents of Mary being named in the Gospels. Maybe you would like to tell me how an inclusion of their names is a contradiction?

Location of birth is given as Bethlehem. It says in a cave that is apparently owned by the innkeep. No contradiction here, just a confirmation that yes, a prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in the birth of Christ involving a cave.

Nature of birth? The gospels don't record the nature of birth. However, the PoJ includes the contractions at the beginning. We don't see the birth itself, but the existence of contractions very conclusively determines that the birth was physical, because non-physical birth would have not had physical contractions because a physical child could not cause the contractions to start:

A mysterious combination of factors work together to start your contractions. The complicated process begins with a series of chemical messages from your baby's brain that tell your body this kid is ready to rock and roll. These messages stimulate a hormonal chain reaction in your body, releasing prostaglandins and oxytocin, the substances that trigger contractions and get the show on the road.
Contractions During Labor | What to Expect

As to vestal virgins, you'll have to elaborate.
 
Upvote 0