That’s a cop-out. The question isn’t whether God could, but whether there is any reason to think God did. Would it be fitting? And the pain isn’t really the main question.Well, let’s see… if God could part the Red Sea, would doing a little “painless opening up” be particularly difficult?
We ARE talkin’ about GOD here, people!?
But this is highly misleading language and allows you to make an indefensible, even heretical argument. The Holy Spirit is not a human being. The operation of the Holy Spirit in question is not in any way analogous to the relations by which human men have children with human women. Using the same word is grotesquely inappropriate.
God isn’t a person. God is three Persons. And “person” here doesn’t mean quite the same thing as it does for humans. God is not a “rival” of a human husband. Again, this is both grotesque and heretical.
Ok. Fine. You see that as a cop-out. I don’t. Have a nice day!
I don’t know. I tend to think that she gave birth in the normal manner. If Jesus healed her at that moment, then this would have been His first miracle, rather than the changing of the water into wine at Cana.
Oops! Sorry about that!
I’m terribly sorry you misinterpreted what I said.
That would be correct. And your point is…?
The only thing I’m considering is that there appear to be only two ways by which women become pregnant:
You apparently see it as you do. Have a nice day!
It’s “arguments” like yours that make Catholics accuse Protestants of being “goofy”.
Your profile says you are a Catholic. The Catholic Church does not interpret Scripture the way you suggest. So who, specifically, led you to believe this?
If you would carefully read my posts in this thread, you would know that I did not look at any footnotes. And, as we all know, just because the Catholic Church teaches one thing it does not mean we all learn it the “right way”. Through my years (and that is more than a few
) I have “been” Cathoic (at infancy), Baptist, Mormon and recently come home to the Catholic church. I am merely trying to understand. All that aside, when I see the verse in question (in ANY version), to me, it begs discussion - at the very least. As much as some Catholics here would like to believe, not all Catholics accept blindly the Church’s interpretation of scripture. We use it as a guideline and then use the brain that God gave us to form our opinion. ALL I wanted to do was understand the RCC’s teaching on this subject. I did NOT want to start such a heated debate…You are obliged to accept the Church’s interpretation of all things related to faith and morals.
Your opinion is YOUR opinion, and not truth as taught by the Church.
Yes, of course God would know, but I don’t think He told Mary “It’s okay to have relations after Jesus is born because I’m going to make you infertile.” She was simply told “There can be no others”. If God was going to make her infertile, He would not have needed to tell her that.
Annie B did not “disagree,” she asked a question. This doctrine is extremely difficult for people of our period in history. A question is not a difficulty, and a difficulty is not a doubt.
No. You can disbelieve if a given idea doesn’t make sense to you. That’s okay, you know.
And you may want to talk to your priest about how you handle it when another Catholic is merely trying to understand a teaching and YOU disagree with them. Just because I disagree (and I have NOT said that I do - I merely said that it was not what I was taught and had been led to bwelieve). And you are right about one thing; my opinion is my opinion and yours is yours…I NEVER claimed that my opinion was always within church teachings. I am LEARNING church teachings and NEVER accept BLINDLY what anyone teaches. I figure if it is really a church teaching (whatever “it” is) then it will hold up through discussions AND disagreements to show itself to be the truth.
Clearly, and good for you!
Bearing a child fathered by someone other than your husband also, obviously, goes against Church teachings. But since God did it, and God cannot do wrong, then we must conclude that certain Church teachings simply do not apply in this instance.Now, THAT argument would make sense to me.
I always knew there was something evil about horseback riding…