More on the Virgin Birth
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 2:15 pm
As previously mentioned I put together some quotes from Paul to make a "Gospel" http://tinyurl.com/kjgjxc4 which among other things debunks the virgin birth.
Bart Ehrman comments that the Virgin Birth in Matthew is to fulfil the prophesy in Isaiah 7:14, but based on the Greek translation, the original Hebrew word (alma) means only "a young woman" and does not have the connotation of virgin in the Greek translation (parthenos). ("Did Jesus Exist" by Bart D Ehrman) The New Oxford Annotated Bible gives the text at Isaiah 7:14 "The young woman (Greek virgin) is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel (God with us)" However it reads this quotation at Matthew 1:23 as "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel" Mark and John don't have the story.
The virgin birth is undoubtedly one of the popular myths of Jesus but we have Paul as a contemporary witness who met the disciples and evidence of a mistranslation of the Greek Bible as explanation for something that didn't happen. Materialists might make cynical comments but more likely the authors of Matthew and Luke felt that the story came to them in a "revelation". It seems indefensible and the question is whether to continue to blindly believe lies or to seek to separate dross from liquid gold.
Bart Ehrman comments that the Virgin Birth in Matthew is to fulfil the prophesy in Isaiah 7:14, but based on the Greek translation, the original Hebrew word (alma) means only "a young woman" and does not have the connotation of virgin in the Greek translation (parthenos). ("Did Jesus Exist" by Bart D Ehrman) The New Oxford Annotated Bible gives the text at Isaiah 7:14 "The young woman (Greek virgin) is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel (God with us)" However it reads this quotation at Matthew 1:23 as "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel" Mark and John don't have the story.
The virgin birth is undoubtedly one of the popular myths of Jesus but we have Paul as a contemporary witness who met the disciples and evidence of a mistranslation of the Greek Bible as explanation for something that didn't happen. Materialists might make cynical comments but more likely the authors of Matthew and Luke felt that the story came to them in a "revelation". It seems indefensible and the question is whether to continue to blindly believe lies or to seek to separate dross from liquid gold.