Mary - not a virgin

by Norm 3 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Norm

  As we have known for some time the Bible didn’t describe Mary as a virgin but simply as a “young woman”. That is what the word which for so long was translated “virgin” means in the original text. Read about it in the Independent:

  http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=106705

  Some quotes:

  “Publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls – 15,000 papyrus documents discovered in the desert that have changed scholars' views on the Bible – is finally being completed, after more than half a century of bitter squabbling, censorship and academic controversy.”

  “Fifty-four years after the first of them was found in a cave in Qumran, on the north-western shore of the Dead Sea, publication of all the scrolls and fragments has been completed in 37 volumes. All but two have been published in scholarly editions, and those two are being edited.”

  [quote]"The completion of publication is a landmark for academics and for Christians and Jews, whose most dearly held beliefs have been challenged by the scrolls – including that of the Virgin birth of Christ, which arose from the use of the word for virgin in early Greek versions of the Bible.The scrolls reveal that this was a mistranslation: the original Hebrew word used simply meant young woman.

  Now the completion of the scrolls' publication coincides with an admission by the Vatican that it is to revise parts of the Bible accordingly, a task likely to take five years.”

  [quote]"Experts have studied the scrolls and discovered much about the way the Bible was written, including its discrepancies, contradictions and repetitions. The first five books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – were ascribed to the same writer, Moses, but they have many inconsistencies. The scrolls include several different editions of the books of Exodus and Numbers, and the Psalms. They revealed that the Bible was not a rigidly fixed text, but was edited and adjusted to make the text more relevant to its audience.”

  It was not only the religious significance of the work that the scrolls questioned but also their historical truth, for they revealed that the writers would have colored their accounts with their prejudices too.”

  Well, the Vatican is going to revise their Bibles, wonder if they will do the same in Brooklyn – nah, they will probably bury their heads deeper into the sand with the rest of the fundies.

  Norm.
• 

  Hyghlandyr

  Come now, whether the bible uses this word or that word to describe mary is irrelevant. Why? because neither she, nor jesus, nor the apostles, are factual people. They never existed. The concept of mary being a virgin has nothing to do with the literal claim that some woman had never had sex and spontaneously gave birth. Rather, it has to do with the Goddess of antiquity. The Virgin, the Maiden, and the Crone. Mary is just a rebirth of them, and a combination, not only of these three in one goddesses, but a combination of all the three in ones, and all the other goddesses...or I should say a recombination as the concept goes back before the existence of any of these religions.
• 

  Yerusalyim

  Norm,

  However, in the word used for "young lady" "maiden" or "virgin" the virginity of the young lady is presumed. If I say, she's a maiden, the presumption of virginity is included in that word.

  YERUSALYIM
  "Vanity! It's my favorite sin!"
  [Al Pacino as Satan, in "DEVIL'S ADVOCATE"]
• 

  Moxy

  you have to read between the lines a bit in this article. lets clarify. the dead sea scrolls do not contain copies of any of the gospels. the point about the word 'virgin' is not related to what matthew or luke meant. matthew unquestionably meant that mary was a virgin when she conceived (luke is less certain) and the reason is that he quoted from Is 7:14 from the septuagint which says a 'virgin would conceive a son.' THAT's the mistranslation. the greek translators used the word 'virgin' to translate the hebrew word meaning 'young maiden.' presumably the article is refering to hebrew or aramaic versions of Isaiah or other OT books that make this clear.

  now the word for 'young maiden' may imply virginity but the simple sentence, 'the young maiden will conceive a son' certainly implies the opposite. if it meant something extraordinary and miraculous, the point would need to be explicitly and carefully stated. there is no question that matthew made use of a bad translation to support the legend of the virgin birth. he made a mistake.

  mox