PRmerger, justify your beliefs any way you want to. Use me to make yourself feel better is you want to; it bothers me not one bit.
Believe Mary never had more children if you want; that’s truly extra-Biblical because the Bible say Jesus had sibblings no matter how you spin it.
Matthew 1:
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
25 and did not know her** till ** she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
I REALLY dont want to wade into this but Gosh it makes me upset when people dont show the holy mother respect…
so… using your logic above that the word “until” means that the antithesis (mary had other children) inevitably came to pass, what is your take on this verse:
Psalm 110
Of David. A psalm.
1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion;
you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy majesty,
from the womb of the dawn
you will receive the dew of your youth.
The word until does NOT indicate an inevitable antithesis.
And for the sake of all that is sane and logical, PLEASE dont try to use the word brothers (adelphos) in this… Seriously. Its too pedantic and has already been explained too many times to be worth my while to discuss that word again.
If you really want, we can talk about the word kecharitoomene, (full of grace), but not adelphos.
And for the record, the Church that emanated through PETER, from CHRIST, has the solemn promise from Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail… There is only one church from Christ on earth and it is Holy, Apostolic, and CATHOLIC. Do not fall into the standard protestant dilemma of trying to differentiate between Catholic and catholic. The supposed difference there is the ultimate non sequitur.
I dont have to HOPE that my faith is from God, I know it. My HOPE is in Heaven. My HOPE is as follows:
Hope
1817 Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."84 "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."85
1818 The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.
1819 Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice.86 "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations."87
1820 Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that does not disappoint."88 Hope is the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf."89 Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: "Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation."90 It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation."91 Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.
1821 We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will.92 In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end"93 and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all men to be saved."94 She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:
Code:
Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.95
sorry for the mini tirade, but I got frustrated with this.
Dominus vobiscum,
FSC
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:thumbsup: