Luke 1:46-48 "And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed."
Yes, Mary was certainly blessed. And her's was definitely an important role: because Jesus was born of a virgin, he was not a "sinner from birth", because sin entered the world through Adam. Okay, so she had an important role. But, is she the only one who has been blessed in scripture?
Judges 5:24 """Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women."
Genesis 14:19 "and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth."
Genesis 27:27 "So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed."
Now, these are just a few of the many, many, many blessings that has gone on in the world. If you remember the Beatitudes (ie. Blessed are the hungry, etc...) then you realize that there are a lot of people who were blessed. Mary is not some "magical, super-glorious eternal-virgin". She was a woman, chosen for a very important role, but God could easily have picked another. Do not worship a woman.
Luke 4:8 "Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'""
Yes, God blessed Mary. But the "ever-virgin"? That is completely unbiblical and unnecessary.
Not so. How do you know it is unnecessary? Is Christ the only-begotten Son of Mary? Scott / Erie
Let's examine the Holy Bible to see what it says.
Matthew 1:25, NIV "But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."
Matthew 1:25, NLT "But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus."
Matthew 1:25, ESV "but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus."
Matthew 1:25, NASB "but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."
Matthew 1:25 KJV "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS."
By this point, it's very clear what the scripture is saying: Joseph did not have sex with Mary until she gave birth to the redeemer of our souls, Jesus Christ. This verse implies Joseph had sex with Mary. God is faithful, and he would not deceive us in scripture.
Matthew 1:25 "He was not knowing her until." (ouk eginosken auten heos). Note the imperfect tense, continuous or linear action, "he was not knowing" or "he kept on not knowing" ONT note on Matt. 1:25, page 76. "And Joseph, having been awakened from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took to him his wife, and was not knowing her until she brought forth her Son, the firstborn; and he called His name Jesus." Matthew 1:24-25 ONT page 2. ONT Orthodox New Testament, Copyright 2000, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, CO. God is faithful, and He would not deceive His own Church, which teaches that Mary is ever-virgin. Outside of the Church, people are deceived into believing that Mary had sexual relations with Joseph. She did not. No Church Father believed that. There are no writing from many many fathers in the early Church to support the belief that Mary was not ever-virgin. If it were true, the belief would have been widespread among Christians in the first 500 years of Church history. Instead, the common belief is that Mary is ever-virgin. The criterion of truth is the doctrines which have been believed "always, everywhere, and by everyone" who is an Orthodox Christian (as from "The Commonitories" of St. Vincent of Lerins). Amen. God save us all from heresy of any kind. Even regarding doctrines which do not seem to matter to some people. Some people don't believe John 15:26 matters much, either, and that is Christ Himself speaking. Christ's Sheep hear His voice (cf. John 15:26), and this is the common faith of the Orthodox Church, that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally "from the Father alone". Take care.
John 7:2-3 NIV "But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers
John 7:3 NLT "and Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles!"
John 7:3 ESV "So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing."
John 7:3 NASB "Therefore His brothers said to Him, "Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing."
John 7:3 KJV "His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest." said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do."
There are two clear principles here which demonstrate that Jesus had brothers:
a) It says "His brothers"! The word "brother", in Greek, is adelphos. While it can mean "neighbour, fellow believer, or companion", it primarily means "brother", as in "the son of my mother is my brother".
b) If it meant "follower" or "companion", why would his "brothers" be telling Jesus to go so that His
disciples could see His works? Why didn't they say to Jesus "Let us go with you to Judea, so that all of us, your disciples, can see your works!"?
The same word, "adelphos", is also used in Matthew 4:18, 4:21, 12:46-49, 13:55, Mark 3:31-34, Luke: 8:20, John 2:12, 7:3, 7:5, and in many more places as well.
So we see, Jesus definitely had brothers. Why does it matter? How is it a strike against Mary? The joy of children, and the pleasure of marital sex glorifies God! Mary glorified God by having pleasureful sex with her husband, and in the process had two children, which later turned to follow Jesus.
So what?
So what? Where is your evidence from early Church history? Could it be true if it was not believed in th early Church? Did the gates of hell prevail against the Church? Did the early Church believe false doctrines? If it is necessary to believe Mary had relations with Joseph, why did not any Christian in the first 500 years believe that? Why does Mark 6:3 call Christ "the Son of Mary", and not "a" son of Mary, if Mary had other sons? That would be an error in Scripture. If Christ were "a" son of Mary, Scripture would clearly say that. No. It say "the" Son of Mary. Is Scripture wrong? Or is your interpretation that Mary had "other sons" wrong? Can you not read Scripture. Does it not say "the Son of Mary". If Mary had other sons, St. Mark should have said "a" son. And then St. Mark was misinformed, and all of the Apostles testimony to Jesus Christ is suspect, if St. Mark can't get his facts right! No. Christ is the Only-Begotten Son of Mary, the Only-Begotten Son of God. If He was not Mary's only Son, He would not be the Only-Begotten Son of God. He would be one of many sons of Mary.
First of all, Sola Scriptura (this means that we should depend on God's word alone, and not on the teaching of men in traditions) is biblical.
2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
The word "thoroughly equipped" here is the Greek word exartizo. It means "to be finished, to be complete, to be completely equipped, furnished, and accomplished.
So we see that we can depend on God's word alone.
I'm sorry, but you are completely wrong. While it is true that some horribly misled people accept homosexuality as a "lifestyle", this is not common in the true Church. Yes, there are many horrible "liberal-churches", which teach that there is no God, that Jesus was not human, was not God, was an Angel, that there is such thing as Sin, God isn't just, everyone goes to heaven... etc.
The reality is, the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality. Please try to refrain from throwing blanket statements everywhere. You're not edifying.
Actually, the issue with Mormons (a group completely unrelated to Protestants) is that they don't depend on the Bible enough. Look at this very simple Bible passage that Jehovah's Witness, Islam, and Mormons all ignore:
Galatians 1:8-9 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"
Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Muslims are state that there gospel was brought by an angel.
Interesting.
May God bless you!