Virgin birth

According to Christian mythology, Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin. Jesus being born to a virgin was first written down in the Gospel of Matthew, which was written some 70 years after the supposed birth.New Advent (Some scholars put Luke a smidge earlier, but others place Luke all the way in the second century. Even the earliest Luke proposals still put it over 60 years later)
==The original texts==
===Isaiah===
 contains the infamously disputed verse:
To this day, the proper translation of the term הָעַלְמָ֗ה ("haalmah" which can be translated as "young woman", "girl" or "virgin") remains a divisive issue in Bible translations. Importantly, however, the text refers to the mother as haalmah, as opposed to בְּתוּלָ֕ה (bethulah) which is much omre definitively defined as "virgin". This casts doubt on the virgin birth hypothesis.
The word is transcribed as παρθενος (parthenos; "virgin") in the Greek Septuagint translation of the torah. The Greek-speaking writers of the New Testament may have written their stories to fall in line with the Septuagint. Thus we would have a myth built upon an error from a previous myth.
In many versions of the Bible, other instances of haalmah are not translated as "virgin." 
eg. (NIV) is translated:
and (NIV) is translated:
The same goes for sibling derivations, such as בְּעַלְמָֽה׃ (bealmah') eg. (NIV) is translated:
(Albeit, there are also numerous translations that, for certain instances, use "virgin" for both those derivative words, such as the KJV, NASB and ESV)
As Gerald Larue states:http://infidels.org/library/modern/gerald_larue/otll/chap18.html
And as the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges states:http://biblehub.com/commentaries/isaiah/7-14.htm
Finally, it's been noted that even if the word almah is to be translated as "virgin", it does not carry the connotation that said virgin would be a virgin at the time of birth or forever. It simply means that someone who was then a virgin should conceive. As such, it might be a virgin conception, but not a virgin birth.
===Matthew===
The Gospel of Matthew 1:20-23 (KJV) reads;
Christians interpret this as fulfilling the prophecy laid out in Isaiah.
It's possible that Matthew and Luke chose to translate haalmah as "virgin" in order to support the Nativity. On the other hand, Mark did not consider stars, virgins, massacres or any of Jesus' life before the start of His ministry to be worth writing down.
There is also the problem that Jesus was not actually named Immanuel. The name Yeshua (Jesus) probably "God saves". The name Immanuel means "God with us". (Yeah, yeah, He may have been called "God with us", but that was not His name)
===Etymology of "virgin"===
The New Testament uses the Greek word parthenos in relation to virginity. It appears 14 times in ESV. ESV translates parthenos as "betrothed" 3 times, "daughter" once, and "virgin" 8 times.https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=ESV|strong=G3933&options=NVHUG
According to LSJ Dictionary, parthenos can refer to "the Virgin Goddess, an unmarried woman, a chaste maiden, an unmarried man, a pupil, or Samian earth".https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B8%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82
==Alternate fulfillments==
Several other mother-son pairs have been proposed.
===Mahershalalhashbaz===
The first is Isaiah's wife and her son Mahershalalhashbaz. :
Interestingly, the last line of Isaiah 8:1-4 lines up with :
Mahershalalhashbaz was born and shown as a sign of God to Ahaz; anyone who could not be shown to Ahaz could not possibly be a sign to him. Furthermore, Mahershalalhashbaz is said to be going to refuse evil and to live while Syria and Israel are destroyed. (In this time, both Israel (the northern area of the Jews) and Syria decided to attack Judah (the southern area of the Jews). Why? Because Judah wouldn't help Syria and Israel team up against Assyria, which was getting extremely powerful and scary.http://eatthebible.blogspot.com/2011/02/isaiah-7-immanuel-prophecy-in-context.html)
However, it's hard to call Mahershalalhashbaz the son of the almah — his mother had already given birth, and the word almah, even though not strictly requiring virginity, does heavily emphasize sexual innocence.http://www.faithandreasonforum.com/index.asp?PageID=31&ArticleID=412
Strangely, Jesus does not fulfill these requirements. Were both Syria and Israel dethroned before Jesus learned ethics? Nope, because they'd been crushed and incorporated by the Romans before he was born.
===Hezekiah===
Another proposed fulfiller is Abi and her son Hezekiah. :
There is weak scriptural support for this. First, Hezekiah reigns while Syria and Israel are destroyed, as required. Second, Hezekiah is pious, as required.
This is problematic when squared with :
Immanuel is supposed to "shave" the king of Assyria (gain true independence) and bring the honey and butter (have prosperity). Neither is true, because soon after Israel and Syria were conquered, ().
==In classical tradition==
Greeks and Romans were fond of claiming their great leaders and/or saviors of their people were born of miraculous births. This included Alexander the Great, the Roman emperor Augustus, and even Plato. There are alternative claims that Alexander and Augustus were born of gods such as Zeus. Alexander the Great recorded of a virgin after birth of Christ in Plutarch's "Lives". 
In fact, it has been suggested that being born of a virgin was the ancient equivalent of being "born with a silver spoon in one's mouth" ( never meant to be taken literally) and signified the "extraordinary personal qualities exhibited by an individual"Tucker, Bob (2009) "Was Jesus Virgin Born?" Foundation of Contemporary Theology- Internet archive as well as being an "attempt to explain an individual's superiority to other mortals. Generally, Mediterranean peoples looked at one's birth or parentage to explain one's character and behavior" and "veneration of a benefactor."Talbert, Charles H. (2006) “Miraculous Conceptions and Births in Mediterranean Antiquity.” Pp. 79-86 in A.J. Levine, D.C. Allison and J. D. Crossan (eds.), The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press
==Extraordinary claims==
... require extraordinary evidence. To support the claim that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, it would be necessary to demonstrate that he was born of a virgin.
The only evidence that this occurred is in the statements of Matthew and Luke. The writers of the Gospel are not exactly the most unbiased authors and have shown previous factual inaccuracy.
==Contradictions==
There may be a contradiction inherent in this myth, because the Bible also states that Jesus was a "direct" descendant of King David through the male line.apocalipsis.org (via Archive.org) Obviously, if Jesus had no human father, he couldn't have been a biological descendant of King David through the male line. Ancient Hebrew culture did allow adopted sons to be counted as descendants (alongside other interesting cases of legal descentIf a man died without a male heir, his brother could have sex with his widow and any resulting male children would be counted as the legal descendants of the dead man. This was called a levirate marriage.), so Jesus could have been legally descended from King David. It's debatable to what extent this is in keeping with the original intent of the prophecy, however.
Additionally, it is worth noting that Matthew and Luke's claim of the virgin birth is inconsistent with how, in the Book of Mark, Jesus' family called his ministry crazy.3:21,31-34 You would think that Mary and Joseph would remember something so significant as an angel telling them they were picked to raise God's kid.
However, Joseph makes no appearance in Mark's Gospel, in which Jesus is referred to as the "Son of Mary"; his biological father hadn't stuck around, and his name was not known, so in this Gospel Jesus is — literally — a bastard. It has been suggested that Joseph is pasted into the story in later Gospels to make Jesus' family life seem all respectable and proper, but never actually existed. For some, this clear indication that Mary brought up Jesus as a single parent lends weight to the Pantera theory (), for which there is already good evidence.
===Which genealogy is that of Mary?===
The only way for Jesus to have had some sort of genetic link to King David would be if this was passed down through Mary. CARM states that the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew must be Joseph's, noting that it includes Jeconiah, who was barred from having a descendant who would sit on David's throne.https://carm.org/why-are-there-different-genealogies-jesus-matthew-1-and-luke-3 Then, the genealogy in Luke becomes the genealogy of Mary. 
The problem is, Luke does not explicitly state that the genealogy is that of Mary. Instead, it states that it was believed to have been traced down from Joseph. CARM argues that due to historical and cultural conventions, Luke actually attributed Mary's lineage to Joseph.
==Apologetic responses==
Many Christians believe and want to believe that the virgin birth of Jesus fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy and defend the flawed translation.
===John Oakes===
==Additional theories==
If any of these stories are true, it's pretty cool how Joseph took it all in stride.
===Perpetual Virginity===
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, even though Jesus had siblings,Did Jesus Have Brothers and Sisters? and more importantly Matthew 1:25 specifically states that Joseph "knew" Mary after the birth. They argue that those siblings were Joseph's children from a previous marriage, and Mary was their adoptive mother. (So much for Biblical literalism.) 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."
Interestingly, there is a 2nd-century text known as the Infancy Gospel of James,Infancy Gospel of James, several translations available which never made it into the Bible, but which is the source of many Catholic and Orthodox beliefs about Mary. In this text, it is stated that Joseph was already very old at the time of his marriage with Mary (and that he had sons from a previous marriage). If so, he may not have been, shall we say, up to the task anymore.
===Pantera===
Another theory is that a Roman soldier called Pantera was the true father of Jesus, though the support for this theory is quite weak. These claims come from the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 107b; while weak evidence and most likely an attack on Christianity, many Jews will cite this as proof that Jesus was not born of a virign.
==Special conception in other religions==
Okay, let's go into a little more detail and try to figure out if a pattern is emerging here.Child of the Holy Spirit
===Hinduism===
The idea of a miraculous conception occurs in Hindu scriptures. used a special meditation or chant to give birth, first to (just . . . to see if she could?) and then, along with her sister, to (because her and her sister's hubby was cursed to die if he touched them while randy)
===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. (Though researchers currently regard this chapter of the as an attempt to reconcile Finnish mythology and Christianity, artificially added by Elias Lönnrot during the compilation.)
=== Buddhist mythology ===
 who went on to achieve considerable deeds in spiritual matters, features in tales of his mother's miraculous impregnation.
==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 around 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.)
==Virgin birth in science==
===Parthenogenesis===
Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. More than 2,000 species are thought to reproduce parthenogenically, including plants, vertebrates (such as some fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds),https://www.britannica.com/science/parthenogenesis and invertebrate animals (particularly rotifers, aphids, ants, wasps, and bees). This phenomenon is not naturally observed in mammals, although it has been artificially induced in rabbits, mice, and monkeys. In animals using the XY chromosome system, parthenogenesis always results in female offspring.
However, in 1995 there was a reported case of partial-parthenogenesis; a boy was found to have some of his cells (such as skin and white blood cells) lacking any genetic content from his father. Scientists believe that in the boy's case, an unfertilized egg began to self-divide but then had some (but not all) of its cells fertilized by a sperm cell; this must have happened early in development, as self-activated eggs quickly lose their ability to be fertilized. The unfertilized cells eventually duplicated their DNA, boosting their chromosomes to 46. When the unfertilized cells hit a developmental block, the fertilized cells took over and developed that tissue. The boy had asymmetrical facial features and learning difficulties but was otherwise healthy. This would make him a parthenogenetic chimera (a child with two cell lineages in his body).Philip Cohen, The boy whose blood has no father. New Scientist, 7 October 1995.
Mammalian parthenogenetic (PG) embryos undergo early developmental demise due to imbalanced expression of imprinted genes and exhibit cell proliferation defects and restricted contribution to mesodermal and endodermal tissues when combined with normal embryos as chimeras. However, in both mouse and human, PG embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be readily derived from blastocysts developing after in vitro activation of unfertilized oocytes; these cells exhibit key characteristics of pluripotent stem cells, including multilineage in vitro differentiation potential. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376534/
===Haplodiploidy mating system===
Many insects, such as wasps, bees, and ants, use a haplodiploidy mating system, where the sex of the offspring is determined by whether it inherits a single or paired set of chromosomes. In this system, an unfertilized egg can be laid without mating, but it will always develop as a male since it inherits only one set of chromosomes from the mother; females are produced via mating with a male, causing the offspring to inherit a set of chromosomes from both mother and father. In this system, virgin births of boys happen quite frequently.
While Christian 'scientists' may applaud these virgin births, you may not want to remind them that one of the evolutionary advantages of haplodiploidy mating is how convenient it makes incest. If no males are available for a young female to mate with, she can get biblical with a few virgin births followed by "getting biblical" with the sons she produced to produce a whole multitude of grandchildren. Hey, it still beats Adactylidium, where siblings mate in the womb before eating their way out of their mother's body and leaving their brothers and cannibalised mother dead while the pregnant sisters all move on to find food to feed the sibling orgy going on in their wombs. Isn't nature beautiful?
===Sperm donation===
It is quite possible for a woman to get pregnant in the modern day without the need to have sex via sperm donation. If one defines female virginity as never having sex with a man, many lesbian women would count as virgins. Thus, for a religion that celebrates the miracle of virgin birth, surely Christians must be excited for the increased frequency of virgin births resulting from lesbian women more frequently choosing to become parents... right?
==External links==
* Parthenogenesis 
*The myth of the virgin birth at infidels.org
*A virgin birth prophecy? At theskepticalreview.com
*Was she or was she not "a virgin"? - a good contextual refutation from the Hebrew, at messiahtruth.com (via Archive.org)
*Liberals and skeptics on the virgin birth at religioustolerance.org
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Birth
Category:Christian mythology
Category:Christmas
Category:Oxymorons
Category:Jesus
Category:Purity culture