Please explain to me the birth of Jesus.

[bytebear]

Since God is an exhausted man, I don't see what the issue is as to whether Jesus was "fully God" or "fully Man". Because we believe God and Man are of the same species, and theoretically the same genetic makeup, we don't have to go through the mental gymnastics to justify the existence and nature of Jesus.

Being God has nothing to do with your mortal existence, or who contributed to your DNA. We all existed prior to that instance, and Jesus was God long before he was conceived or born.

[volgadon]

Since God is an exhausted man,

Best typo of the week!

[Snow]

I'm confused. I understand that Jesus was born of a virgin. But why? Why was Jesus born of an immaculate conception instead of the natural process of procreation that everyone else goes through? What was the importance of this? Would it have made any difference if Jesus were the biological son of man? And since Mary was impregnated by God, wouldn't that mean Jesus was not just a man but part god as well?

First, it's only the authors of Luke and Matthew that say anything about Mary being a virgin. The author of John demonstrates no knowledge of such nor do Paul and the author of Mark, both who wrote well before Luke and Matthew. In fact Paul actually speaks of Christ being born or a woman which suggests that was not aware of it else he would have said virgin instead of woman.

The authors of Luke and Matthews are not even eyewitnesses to the events they describe re. Christ's ministry let alone being eyewitness to the circumstances of Jesus's birth some thirty years earlier. Luke and Matthew depended upon other 2nd and 3rd and 4th hand sources for their Gospels, for example, they used Mark, the theorized Quelle, oral tradition, etc, thus the historicity of the claim is very very weak.

The author of Matthew writes the birth of Jesus as fulfilling prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 however the author quotes the Septuagint which uses the word "parthenos" which means virgin but the original Hebrew text does not say virgin, it says "almah" which more generally means "young woman." Some modern bible translations correct the error and no longer say virgin. Additionally, there are several problems with the idea that Isaiah 7 refers to the birth of Jesus - rather it points to events soon after the time it was written, not the distant meridian of time.

Attributing the birth of heroic or legendary figures to a miraculous birth is a staple archetype in ancient literature. Some examples of miraculous births in the OT include Sarah giving birth to Isaac at age 90. There are other such examples in Genesis. Other examples exist outside the Bible. For example, in the Hindu epic Mahabharata there is god that impregnates a woman but maintains her virginity. In Zoroastrianism it is held that the savior of the end-times, Soashyant, will be miraculously conceived by a virgin. Other examples involve the mythic gods, for example the tales of Leda, Europa or Hercules.

[pam]

Best typo of the week!

I bet He's exhausted too.