Convert questioning things, struggling with the virgin birth and perpetual virginity

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I was Baptized and entered the Church in 2011. I went to Mass for a year and a half and stopped going in 2012 because of terrible social anxiety. I can barely leave my house and am disabled. I fell away from my faith but due to recent health issues, have started praying and wanting to be in good standing with the Church. When I was in RCIA, I didn’t have trouble accepting the teachings of the Church. Now I find myself struggling with believing the miracles of Christ, the virgin birth and perpetual virginity, and even the Resurrection. I believe in God, creator of all things, and am drawn to the Church. I am struggling to believe these things and am looking for help. I want to strengthen my faith and return to the Church.
 
Can you tell us what you struggle with about those teachings? Do you think there’s not enough support in Scripture?
 
There is enough support in scripture. These things just seem impossible to me now.
 
They just seem like they couldn’t have happened based on the laws of physics.
 
Why does a miracle have to be confined within the laws of physics (especially since we’re dealing with the very being who created them to begin with)? What law(s) of physics did it break?
 
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I suggest reading the Gospels, just the Gospels, first. Also has someone been bringing you Communion. ? If not , ring the parish and ask for someone to do so. You might ask for the Priest, so he can chat with you and offer you the sacrament of confession.

Watch the youtube series by Bishop Barron. He has Word on Fire and lots of discussions and talks uploaded. He also has a Catholicism series that is really good,
 
JD23 said:
They just seem like they couldn’t have happened based on the laws of physics.
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Isn’t this the definition of a miracle, though? Something which violates the norms of our physical universe?

You already accept that God exists. Do you suppose that He who created the physical universe is at all constrained by the laws which He made?
 
JD23 said:
They just seem like they couldn’t have happened based on the laws of physics.
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God created the law of physics, so God can override it. Miracles are outside these things. I suggest you concentrate on the Gospels , and what you do believe , to start with.

Pray also.
 
I struggled with these things too, as I was going through RCIA. But then I realized one day, do I really want to worship a God that I can fully understand? I love that our God is so big, that it takes faith, and a healthy sense of wonder, to follow Him and to accept some of the teachings.
 
I struggled with it to at first…then someone started making comparisons of the Ark of the Covenant being carried and cared for in the OT, and all the details that entailed.
Then compared it to Mary being, and I paraphrase, the carrier of the New Ark of the Covenant, the New Covenant…

TisBear also said some things long ago in a thread where I discussed my struggles with the concept that really helped…wish I could remember what exactly it was, ahhh old age.

For some reason that started to make things come into focus on the subject. Then I started thinking of how God chose Mary, her role, her lineage, her chastity and loving nature…and that the God of the universe that sent the Holy Spirit to Mary to conceive Christ, so how out of the question would it be for Mary to remain a virgin?

Lastly, and this is all supposition on my part, not a lot is said about Joseph…and I sometimes wonder, again just a hypothesis, that perhaps Joseph died fairly young…which would have made Mary being a widow and remaining a virgin much easier to accept…but that is just me thinking things through and trying to put to rest some of my doubts and questions I struggle with.

Nothing is beyond not scope of God’s design…
 
I guess my thought/question is, what kind of God would He be, if He couldn’t do what is impossible for His creation? And, who wants to worship a God who would be so impotent?

I mean, do you believe that He created the earth from nothing, people from dust, ect? If you do, is it really so hard to see Him doing miracles? He isn’t us. “My ways are far from yours, and my thoughts from your thoughts”

I may not understand everything, know everything, ect, but He does, so that makes it okay.
He’ll work it all out in the end, and that’s enough for me.
 
Thanks for your reply! I do believe that God created the universe, including the earth. I guess that is a miracle by itself. I can see what you mean by Him being able to do miracles easily if He created the earth. I’m just worried about having doubts and receiving Communion. Would that be a sin?
 
Thanks for your reply! It just seems impossible that Mary became pregnant while remaining a virgin, and that she remained a virgin even after giving birth. I have heard this being described as light shining through a window pane. I am trying to remember that all things are possible with God.
 
Thanks for your reply! I guess I’m afraid of receiving Communion while I’m having doubts.
 
I’d encourage you to work with your priest and a mental health professional. Your anxiety and your current spiritual concerns may be related.
 
Thanks for your reply! That makes sense. I will concentrate on the Gospels.
 
I have anxiety about contacting my priest. We haven’t spoke in 7 years. I owed some KofC dues and I was too anxious to go into church or call. I think he’s mad at me. I do see both a psychiatrist and a therapist and am on medication. I don’t know how well it works, as I still have crippling anxiety. Therapy is going very slowly.
 
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