I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this yet in this long thread (I didn’t read through it), but I simply cannot fathom how anyone can believe that Joseph, after discovering Mary was with child, had the intention of divorcing her (i.e., assuming she had relations with a mere human being, he had the intention of putting her away), yet after he discovers that Mary was overshadowed by GOD HIMSELF, he would have the audacity to have relations with her afterwards. I guess certain Protestants think that humans mattered more to St. Joseph than God?
I can’t wrap my head around the utter disrespect that presumes of St. Joseph. Don’t Protestants believe that St. Joseph was a holy man? If they so believe that St. Joseph was a holy man, how can they think for even one instant that after knowing that God touched her, he would himself have the audacity to have physical relations with her. Was it not understood by Jewish culture that what God has touched is holy and cannot even be handled by man?
Obviously, the earlier Protestants had a greater understanding of this than many modern Protestants. I don’t see anything biblical about the belief that Mary had other children. The belief seems based more on an imposition of modern liberal sexual standards on the original cultural context of Scripture than anything else.
Blessings,
Marduk