God has provided proficient evidence that Mary, mother of Christ, remained a virgin until her death

Though this is a fun debate it does not in any way detract from the Good News that all sinners can be set free in Jesus Christ. Christians vary in worship and practice, which in most systems are not theological differences. (Example: Chanting monks vs. Gospel singers, most things are culture vs tradition) To the debate: My opponent will attempt to construct a positive argument that Mary was not perpetually a virgin after the birth of our Lord and I will construct a Positive case that she was perpetually a virgin. We are not debating any other belief system about Mary as the resolution clearly shows. Concerning Mary's Perpetual Virginity – **1st. Positive Argument **– The belief that Mary remained a virgin until death was a staple belief system throughout the Church, despite contrary sounding scriptures. The importance of this is displayed that in the church as early as the mid 300's a dissenting opinion within the church was scoffed at. That most of "Greek" speaking early church fathers believed in this viewpoint (again proven by the fact that by 383 A.D. a dissenting opinion was nearly unheard of and only possibly in the Arian and Monatist sects as alluded to by Origen in his commentaries on Matthew.) Arguments against this did not come up until the mid 200's (Origen's Commentary on Matthew 2:17 [A.D. 248]). when a lot of the Church laity and a few of the pastorate were not versed in the Greek Language but Latin and were led away to gnosticism, arianism, monatism etc…. You would have expected to see a war raging in the other direction before the mid 200's in the early church documents if the perpetual virginity was a heresy coming into the Church. The schism that came to the 400's –600's was from Latin speaking bishops that were reading the Bible ignoring traditional belief systems and also not having a complete knowledge of ALL scriptures. The Arians/monatists in the late 200-300's were the only existing recorded dissenting opinions but not the apostolic fathers, which nearly all-Christian viewpoint is built upon. We even see that St. Jerome even ridicules such an opposite viewpoint by the 400's. (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). The person who purported the concept of the "brothers" of Jesus argument that Jerome wrote concerning and defending the perpetual virginity, this person could only come up with two writers to quote concerning the belief of Mary not being a perpetual virgin. Tertullian who was a monatist and may have believed, then there was Victorinus whom was misquoted (by Helvidius) and actually believed in the perpetual virginity. So many others could be listed to believe in the perpetual virginity and these men were educated scholars, rhetoricians and powerful apologists of the Christian faith spending their time fighting heretical beliefs of many sorts. That leads me to my second positive argument. **2nd Positive Argument **– The Majority (of the confirmed Church fathers by God) and the most powerful apologists within the early Church Fathers Believed in Mary's Perpetual Virginity. Ignatius [AD 100] (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). Justin Martyr[AD 150] (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). Polycarp [AD 100] (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). Irenaeus [AD 220] (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). Hilary of Poitiers(Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]). Athanasius(Discourses Against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360]). Epiphanius of Salamis(The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]). Jerome(Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]). Didymus the Blind(The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]). Ambrose of Milan(Letters 63:111 [A.D. 388]). Pope Siricius I(Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]). Augustine(Sermons 186:1 [A.D. 411]). Leporius(Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]). Cyril of Alexandria(Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [A.D. 430]). Pope Leo I (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450]). ******* Dissenting authors to this viewpoint – Helvidius – Writings recorded by St. Jerome in 383 A.D. Arians might have had a dissenting opinion early concerning this but they had many teachings that were not backed up by the scriptures, and only Origens refutation of the Arians exists and it is not necessarily stating they believed that only that someone did. Tertullian – Monatist (who believed in…a lot of strange things…) Victorinus (misquoted by Helvidius) ********* (a point of note even Origen which had many heretical beliefs believed in this was not a dissenting opinion, He also agreed with her Perpetual Virginity.) All of these early church fathers works can be read in the online library at New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org... I will not rebut any negative arguments at this point to avoid attacking straw man arguments. I will allow my opponent to choose His strongest arguments against the perpetual virginity of Mary. I will only say this concerning the "Brothers" of Jesus argument of my esteemed protestant brothers…. With so many Greek Theologians in the early Church history clearly not having any difficulty with these scriptures and holding to a belief of the perpetual virginity, and even having written commentaries on the Gospels, as well being able to read and write Greek (having memorized scripture unlike most theologians today who have to do word searches), they did not believe this to be an issue. Does that not 'raise the question' why?