The doctrine of Marys perpetual virginity is reasonable based on scripture and historical evidence.

In order to clarify the resolution, I will quote briefly from the catechism, a document stating the beliefs of the Catholic Church. "The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. .. and so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the 'Ever-virgin. '" [1] There are no scriptural problems, and the scripture even supports, Mary conceiving as a virgin, but there is no scriptural evidence at all that Mary remained a virgin after the conception of Jesus. But before we dive in to the scriptures, I would like to take a brief moment to address the main points of pro's argument. Pro gives an interesting anecdote about the interpretation of certain ambiguous statements in a book. The punch line, whilst not explicitly stated, is simple: the Catholic Church offers the most clear and correct interpretation of scripture (if this is not the case, please clarify). Why? The Catholic faith was founded by those who knew the apostles that wrote the New Testament, so therefore it possesses greater knowledge on what is meant by vague Bible verses. However, it is simply not true that because the Catholic Church claims the lineage of St. Peter, it possesses any mechanism of interpretation not available to Protestants or members of the Eastern Orthodox Church, or any other denomination. In other words, everyone has access to the same evidence and sources. I will now clarify my standards for interpretation of difficult scripture. Firstly, an interpretation must not contradict any other Bible passage. Secondly, the interpretation must match reality (sorry, creationists) and conform to historical evidence. Thirdly, no unnecessary assumptions may be made. Allow me to give a concrete example. One of the most difficult pieces of scripture to interpret is 1 Timothy 2:12. In this passage, Paul states that a women should not "teach or assume authority over a man. " Yet Deborah, a women, was the leader of Israel for many years, and Paul himself praised Priscilla, another women, for instructing Apollos, a famous evangelist, in Acts 18:26. Clearly, this statement cannot be taken at simple face value. Rather, one must first examine the Greek text. The first thing one notices is that the word for authority is not the ordinary "exousia" but the seldom used word "authentein. " Why is this significant? Because "authentein" doesn't mean righteous, Godly authority but rather dominance, often of a sexually dominating nature. The combination of sexual domination and teaching is indicative of the hetairai, a class of intellectual prostitutes common in Ancient Greece, who both taught and practiced their secondary occupation. In other words, Paul is condemning this behaviour, not teaching or leading, as un-Christian. [2] This example illustrates a simple rule: interpret the Bible in light of itself and historical sources. This is the most logical way to interpret the scriptures, not trusting in one fallible human being to always give the right answer. With this method in mind, let's now turn to Mary's perpetual virginity. The passage my opponent slightly but significantly misquotes is Luke 1:34. My opponent quotes Mary as merely saying "How shall this be? " but the full quote is "How shall this be since I am a virgin? " Clearly, Mary has interpreted the comment to mean that she will conceive before consummating her marriage. In all the examples pro cited, the woman was already married rather than being just betrothed. Mary did not say "How shall this be, as I will remain a virgin forever? " but cited her current virginity. Also, I would like examples of other women in that culture that decided to remain a virgin in marriage, as this seems very odd to me. I have never heard of any evidence suggesting it common for persons of that culture to abstain from sex during marriage. Now, let's look at the Biblical evidence against Perpetual Virginity. In Matthew 1:24-25 the Bible states, "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus. " To "know" someone is a euphemism for having sex with said person, so this clearly implies Joseph had sex with Mary after Jesus' birth, debunking Mary's perpetual virginity. We also know, thanks to Mark 6:3, that Jesus had at least six siblings, again debunking perpetual virginity. Scripture clearly teaches Mary didn't remain a virgin. Good luck next round to pro! Thanks again for the interesting debate, and I look forward to next round. Sources 1- . http://stgabrielparish.ca... 2- . http://christianfeminism.wordpress.com...