Virgin birth

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According to the Christian mythology as related in the Bible, Jesus Christ, a very important character in Christianity, was born to a virgin mother. However, the first mention of the virgin birth in the Bible occurs in the Gospel of Matthew which was written over 30 years after the birth.[1]

Contents

[edit] The story

The Gospel reads;

“ But while he (Joseph) thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

”

—Isaiah 7:14-Deception In The Name Of Jesus[2]

One of the more remarkable aspects of the virgin birth is the belief in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary held by some Christian religions. The believers of this doctrine hold that Mary not only was a virgin when she conceived, but she continued to be a virgin after giving birth and for the rest of her life. As said by Rufus in the film Dogma: "The nature of God and the Virgin Mary, those are leaps of faith. But to believe a married couple never got down? Well, that's just plain gullibility."

Another theory is that a Roman soldier called Pantera was the father of Jesus.

If any of these stories are true, it's pretty cool how Joseph took it all in stride.

Importantly, the original Jewish texts (the alleged prophecies) referred to the mother as almah (young woman), as opposed to bethulah (virgin). Using corrupted translations containing the incorrectly placed Greek word "parthenos" (virgin), the Greek-speaking New Testament writers unknowingly contrived their stories to fall in line with this error. Thus we have myth built upon error from a previous myth.

[edit] Immaculate conception

Virginal Conception should not be confused with Immaculate Conception (or the Immaculate Reception for that matter). The doctrine of Immaculate Conception arose because the question was asked how Christ could be born of a woman who would inevitably be tainted with original sin. In order to get round the problem the church decreed that Mary herself was immaculately conceived - without original sin - and this allowed Christ to be born without original sin. (It is not clear how Mary's parents avoided original sin or why an omnipotent God did not make more exceptions, though.)

[edit] Contradiction

There is a contradiction inherent in this myth, because the Bible also states that Jesus was a "direct" descendant of King David through the male line.[3] Obviously, if God was the father, this is impossible by any stretch of the imagination. Or at least nonsensical to the point of comedy.

[edit] Genetic impossibility

Jesus was born through parthenogenesis, a phenomenon not naturally observed in mammals (although it has been artificially induced in rabbits). His genes would have come only from Mary, if the incredibly unlikely parthenogenesis ever occurred. Unfortunately for the Bible's claims, Mary is a female. In animals using the XY chromosome system, parthenogenesis always results in female offspring. Thus, Jesus would also have to be female, because only Mary's female genes were passed on to "him."[4] But because it is generally agreed that Jesus is a male, it is possible to prove that Jesus was conceived naturally through Reductio Ad Absurdum.

[edit] Similarity to other religions

Many have pointed out that many other religions have children born from gods, but the Buddha is specifically described as having been born from a virgin as well.

Okay, let's go into a little more detail and try to figure out if a pattern is emerging here:

[edit] Greek mythology

  • Leda: Leda's father was the Aetolian king Thestius. The story goes that Zeus, the dude with the lightening bolts and thunder clouds, admired Leda very much. So, like any randy god, he took the form of a swan and seduced her. Ew. Anyway, the result of this celestial gettin' down were two eggs. From these eggs hatched Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux. Technically, this isn't virgin birth since Zeus physically did the deed, but the sentiment is more or less the same, although termed 'miraculous birth.'

[edit] Hinduism

  • Vishnu: His avatars were believed to be virgin births.
  • Karna: Was the result of Queen Kunti asking the god Surya for a child, without taking Kunti's virginity, just before she married King Pandu.
  • The Pandavas: Brahmin laid a curse upon King Pandu, telling him not to touch either of his two wives sexually or he'd die. Queen Kunti, ever resourceful, simply asked the other gods to give she and her co-wife children. The gods gave them the Pandavas.
  • The implication is that Karna and his five siblings - the Pandavas - were all of virgin birth.

[edit] Assyrian and Babylonian mythology

  • Zorastar: Was born of a virgin.

[edit] Roman mythology

  • Perseus: Son of Danae, who was locked away in a room while a child and impregnated by Zeus (busy fella, that Zeus).

[edit] Buddhism

  • The Buddha: His mother, Queen Maha ,was Koliyan princess. The night of her child's conception, she dreamed of a white elephant with six tusks entering her right side.

[edit] Egyptian mythology

  • The Egyptian God Horus was born of the virgin Isis; as an infant, he was visited by three kings. Sound familiar anyone?

[edit] Finnish and Karelian mythology

  • Marjatta: while herding, she eats a lingonberry and becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a boy who will grow up to be the king of Karelia.

[edit] Conclusions

These are just a few examples. But they do all have one or two things in common.

  • Anti-woman: Women have no say in the matter of whether or not they wish to bear the children. They are the playthings of gods, victims of celestial rape, commanded to bear the offspring of supernatural beings simply because those beings are supernatural. In cases where the women do have a say, it is portrayed as them scheming for their own gain.
  • Anti-vagina: Don't laugh, it's true. The details of how a god in the guise of a swan managed to impregnate a human female are skipped, but in cases where details are given, the birth canal is eschewed entirely in favor of the child being conceived through a convenient slit in the side of the mother's body or, ahem, telepathically. Thinking about it, this paragraph is a reiteration of the first one, so let's just say that the creators of these myths seem to have a real problem with women, and more specifically, what makes them women, and leave it at that.

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ↑ New Advent
  2. ↑ Isaiah 7:14-Deception In The Name Of Jesus
  3. ↑ apocalipsis.org
  4. ↑ That, or somehow one of the X chromosomes mutated into a Y chromosome.
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