=ClydeW;5709599]It isn’t hard to believe that Mary was not a perpetual virgin since she had other children. She could not have remained a virgin. She had other children and the Bible even names them. That’s just one of those things Roman Catholics want to believe even though there is no Scriptural basis for it at all, quite the contrary James, the Lord’s brother is mentioned several times and was head of the church at Jerusalem. It also said in the early church leaders writings that he looked just like Jesus enough to have been his twin.
This is one of those things manufactured in order to fit something they wanted to be true.
“Blessed Virgin Mary”
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF JESUS ???
Many non-Catholic people say that the use of the words brothers and sisters of Jesus, in the scriptures’ means that Mary had other children after the birth of Our Lord, and therefore did not remain virgin after His birth. This is false teaching, according to the Church founded by Jesus and guaranteed by Him to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and therefore free from error in her teaching.
A more logical and acceptable explanation could be that the Scriptures, written by the Hebrews in the Greek language, used the word adelphos, which is the same as the word 'ah in Hebrew, and has a broad base of meaning, from all forms of blood relationship to close friends and followers. New Testament writers used the term brother and sister in the same manner, but Jesus said that only they who follow the commands of My Father are My brothers and sisters.
Matthew 13:55 shows the brothers of Jesus as being James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, but they are identified in the Scriptures as having different parents, so the phrase does not apply to any children of Mary, our Blessed Mother.*** If Jesus had any blood related brothers and sisters, why did He designate, from the cross, Mary to be the mother of John and for John to be her son?
Hebrew writers of the Old Testament used the term brother in the same way as previously mentioned. In 2 Samuel 1:26, David, in his lament after the death of Saul and Jonathan, refers to Jonathan as his brother. Jonathan was the son of Saul and his wife Shinoam, so how could he be the brother of David? We see many other mentions of the word brother where no relationship exists, in 1 Kings 9:13, 2 Chronicles 29:34 and 1 Samuel 30:23, to mention just a few.
In order to have had other children, after Jesus, Mary could not have remained virgin, and this is antithetical to Church teaching. Pope St. Ciricius (384-398) covered the question very succinctly in his letter to Anysius in 392, when he said that Jesus would not have been born to the virgin if He thought that she would be so incontinent, that with the seed of human copulation, she would pollute the generative chamber of the Lords body, that palace of the Eternal King. He went on further to say that if we accept the Jewish priests’ authority , we sweep away the truth with great zeal.
The Lateran Council, called by Pope St. Martin 1, (649-653), states in canon 3: “If anyone does not properly and honestly confess in accord with the Holy Fathers, that the holy mother of God, and ever virgin and immaculate Mary, in the earliest of the ages conceived of the Holy Spirit without seed, namely, God the Word before all ages, and that she incorruptibly bore Him, her virginity remaining indestructible, even after His birth, let him be condemned.” We are not discussing rumors or myths here, but the teaching of a validly convened council of the Roman Catholic Church, and as such, we do not have the freedom to reject this teaching without divorcing ourselves from the Catholic Church, because in rejecting her teaching we become heretics.
The key words in the pronouncement are 'ever virgin’ and her ‘virginity remaining indestructible’. There can be no doubt at all about what St. Martin and the Lateran Council were saying."
" Bother" defined by Hebrew meaning is "Strong’s Concordance"
251 'ach awkh a primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like 1)):–another, brother(-ly); kindred, like, other. Compare also the proper names beginning with “Ah-” or “Ahi-”.
252 'ach akh (Aramaic) corresponding to 251:–brother.
256 ‘Ach’ab akh-awb’ once (by contraction) oEchab (Jer. 29:22) {ekh- awb’}; from 251 and 1; brother (i.e. friend) of (his) father; Achab, the name of a king of Israel and of a prophet at Babylon:–Ahab.
257 ‘Achban akh-bawn’ from 251 and 995; brother (i.e. possessor) of understanding; Achban, an Israelite:–Ahban.
267 ‘Achuwmay akh-oo-mah’-ee perhaps from 251 and 4325; brother (i.e. neighbour) of water; Achumai, an Israelite:–Ahumai.
279 ‘Achiyam akh-ee-awm’ from 251 and 517; brother of the mother (i.e. uncle); Achiam, an Israelite:–Ahiam.
281 ‘Achiyah akh-ee-yaw or (prolonged) pAchiyahuw {akh-ee-yaw’-hoo}; from 251 and 3050; brother (i.e. worshipper) of Jah; Achijah, the name of nine Israelites:–Ahiah, Ahijah.
