Why is Mary’s perpetual virginity so controversial for non-Catholic Christians?

[FaithT]

Yes. Those that try to use Greek to back their position does not work either as I posted above.

Ok thanks!

 

[narnia59]

There is a word for cousin in the bible. It is used here:

“Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),” (Col 4:10 NKJV)

The word is ἀνεψιός anepsios.

The KJV translates Col 4:10 as "Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas"

And Google translate renders the word anepsios as "nephew" which is consistent with the KJV translation.

So, no, there is no definitive word for "cousin" found in the Bible.

In addition, in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the apostles) we see the word adelphoi (the Greek word used in the NT to denote the "brothers" of Jesus) to describe a relationship that is clearly cousins:

In 1 Chronicles 23:22 we read “Elea′zar died having no sons, but only daughters; their kinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them.” In verse 21 we’re told Eleazar and Kish are both sons of Mahli, so they are legitimately biological brothers. And the “kinsmen” (adelphoi) the daughters of Eleazar marry are their biological cousins since they are the sons of Kish.

So it is clear from Scripture that the Greek word adelphoi used to identify the "brothers" of Jesus can be a much broader identification of kinship than biological siblings and specifically can be used to describe cousins. And there is no unique Greek word used to denote cousins specifically in the Bible.

 

[narnia59]

I am struggling sort of, with this, because of the verse that goes "He did not know her until she brought forth their firstborn son." I've seen the explanation for this but I'm struggling with trying to understand why it doesn't mean what it plainly says. However, I'm not trying to cause problems, and I realize that the notion of her PV does not really affect me in my everyday life

The problem is that it doesn't plainly say that Mary and Joseph had sex after Jesus was born.

The definition of the word "until" is simply to make a statement about a condition up to the point of time referenced. It does not give us any information about what happened after that point of time or imply that the condition automatically changed afterward. But people assume the condition changed if that's what they think should happen.

When the Bible says Joseph did not know Mary until Jesus was born, because most married people have sex, people assume that means they did. But it's simply an assumption.

For example, if I'm going to dinner and leave my kids with a babysitter and tell them to "be good until I get home" does that mean I'm telling them that they only have to be good until I get home but after that they don't have to be? Of course not. Nobody assumes that to be the case because they know that's not what I'm implying. I am simply stressing the importance of their being good for this specified timeframe. Which is exactly what Matthew is saying in his Gospel -- he is stressing the importance of knowing that Joseph and Mary did not biologically create Jesus in the normal fashion. He is not telling us anything about what happened afterward nor does he intend to.

If you look throughout Scripture that are a multitude of examples where we know that the word "until" does not mean the condition changes after the point of time of the until. Some examples:

Genesis 8:5 “And the waters continued to abate until (eōs) the tenth month.” When one reads this text about the great flood, one might assume after the tenth month the waters ceased to recede and the flood was over. But you would be wrong. It is simply a marker in the story – a checkpoint where the tops of the mountains are now seen. The waters continued to abate after the checkpoint. The condition does not change from before the usage of "until" to afterward.

2 Samuel 6:23 – “And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to (eōs) the day of her death.” Is the implication here mean she had children after she died? Of course not. The condition does not change from before the usage of "until" to afterward.

1 Timothy 4:13 – “Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching.” Is the implication here that once Paul comes Timothy would no longer preach and teach?

Matthew 28:20 – “and lo, I am with you always, to (eōs) the close of the age.” Is the implication here that once the age ends Jesus is no longer with us?

Bottom line is we make an assumption as to whether or not there is a change of condition after "until" based upon what seems most likely to us. But it's only an assumption and nothing else.

 

[narnia59]

But if anepsios was used once, then it was used. Catholic Answers says they didn’t have a word for cousin. Why the discrepancy?

See my answer a couple of posts above this. Just because a newer translations have chosen to go with the word "cousin" doesn't mean they are accurate. Google translate renders that word from Greek to English as nephew.