And you also asked about the perpetual virginity of Mary. Here is why I believe in it:
"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not
until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus."
Hello LonelyPilgrim,
Regarding Mary being a perpetual virgin, this is just ridiculous and I don't know why you would continue to believe in such things that are taught by the RCC. In the scripture above, there is a revealing word which destroys the whole idea of Mary as a perpetual virgin. If you will notice in the verse above, I have the word "
Until" underlined which means "up to the point in time or the event mentioned." I have used this example before, "I can't ride my bike
until I fix the flat." That does not mean that I never get to ride my bike. What it does mean is that, once I fix the flat, then I can ride my bike. The word "Until" has a condition attached to it, in the example the condition is that once I fix my flat, then I can ride the bike. Keeping this in mind, in the scripture above, it states that, Joseph did not know Mary
until she gave birth to her Son, which means that once the condition of her giving birth to her son was met, then Joseph had relations with Mary afterwards. That information aside, do you actually believe that God would tell Joseph to take Mary as his wife and to remain celibate during his entire marriage to her?