Simple question?

Quote: FrGamble

if they can name the four Gospel writers.

You can't name them because we really
don't know who the authors are. They
weren't around in the time of Paul, he
never mentions them. Some prominent
scholars are now saying they were written
200-300 years after Jesus died, and are
a collection of writings from different
authors. Makes a lot of sense given
what we know about things worked in
that era.

Quote: Nareed

But even if it wasn't rape, impregnating a woman with yourself is the ultimate act of incest.

This had occurred to me? If God has all the power to make Eve out of a rib, create the world and infinite this and that, I don't get the part about making Mary go through labor and all the pain and risk she had to take, so Jesus could be like one of us? Why not just appear or create himself from a stick, or rock or smoke?

Creator creates worm. Creator becomes worm. Creator returns to being Creator . Creator decides to crush some worms and reward others. Praise be to the Creator.

Might as well just say God is ruler and he does what he wants anyway.

You know what is actually more inspiring. Man finds sick animal, nurses it back to health and releases it. We are not super beings; we actually have to make an effort to do something. And we have limited means and time.

And I don't ask for praise like the man-made invention of god who seems to require it constantly.

Quote: FrGamble

He came as a helpless infant.

As near as I can tell, that's true for 99.99999999999% of every human being who has ever lived. YMMV

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He lived in obscurity and poverty

Once again, a carpenter in a Roman province at the time was not poor. He'd have been among the minutely small middle class.

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He suffered abandonment, torture, fear, pain, and the reality of death.

I don't think a being who can resurrect as and when he wants can be considered "dead"

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He prayed in the garden that this cup of suffering pass Him by and He cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you abandoned me."

Whom was Jehovah/Jesus praying to? Athena? Isis? He should have prayed to Diana. After all, the Huntress eventually comes to Earth as Wonder Woman. Do you think a few Roman legionaries would have even slowed her down? And have you seen the Fountain of Diana in Mexico City? It's one of those few things in this city I enjoy seeing.

Is "born of a virgin" the literal truth, as we understand the words now, or does the translation to virgin from "young woman" hold merit?

Quote: Dalex64

Is "born of a virgin" the literal truth, as we understand the words now, or does the translation to virgin from "young woman" hold merit?

Does it matter?

If it is, then it's one more mythical claim the goyim expect you to take seriously.

If it isn't, then we're still to take seriously that Mary was impregnated by a god, like the mothers of Alexander, Hatshepsut and perhaps Romulus and Remus, among many others.

If we assume that Jesus, like 100% of all other men who have been born, lived and died, was as human as everyone else, then a virgin pregnancy is simply impossible. But that kills the myth.

Quote: petroglyph

This had occurred to me? If God has all the power to make Eve out of a rib, create the world and infinite this and that, I don't get the part about making Mary go through labor and all the pain and risk she had to take, so Jesus could be like one of us? Why not just appear or create himself from a stick, or rock or smoke?

"Oh, Lord," say an angel, "isn't it time you took a vacation."

"Indeed it is," replies the Lord. "But where should I go?"

"How about Earth, Oh Lord. You haven't been there in millennia."

"Oh, no! Last time I took up with this nice Jewish girl, and the locals are still talking about it!"

Bob, something that I think we are missing in focusing on what it costs God to become human, suffer, and die for us is what this means to us. We needed someone to save us from death and to free us from our guilt and shame. We simply could not do that no matter how hard we tried or how much we gave. Even if salvation was easy for God to do, and it was not, the equivalent for us ashuman beings is unimaginable. I think we've used this before , but let's say you are about to lose your house. You need a million dollars. You can't pay it, you have nothing in the bank. Bill Gates decides to pay off your mortgage for free. Do you complain because he has plenty of money? Are you grateful or do you wonder why he didn't give more?

Okay Nareed, I should have been more clear God will always love and care for you no matter what, and nothing you can do or say will ever change that. However, messing with Mary will challenge my charity for you more than anything else. I respectfully ask you to follow the unwritten rules of the playground and please leave our mothers, and especially the Mother of Jesus out of this.

The Incarnation was the humbling of God who came to Mary through any Angel's greeting extolling and honoring her. It was a unique and truly miraculous conception of the second and distinct person of the Most Holy Trinity. There is nothing equal to this True God/True man reality in anything that had come before even though some of these earlier myths seem to point in the direction of or predict such an amazing occurrence could happen.

Oh one more brief thing. Mary like all good Jews would indeed know of God's love and protection of the chosen people especially in the face of persecution. They would remember and know that God does not stand by when people are enslaved and mistreated. He warns the evil doers and then raises up a priest, prophet, or a king to fight against evil and lead people to freedom. Mary and many others could see the time was right for a Messiah.

Quote: FrGamble

Even if salvation was easy for God to do, and it was not,

Why wasn't it easy. It would just be a
silly game to a god, a melodrama
where he knows all the outcomes.
These are often played out in
mythology, taking one of them
seriously is majorly missing the
point. You are living a life based on
a myth. And to feel better about it,
you actively recruit others to join
you. Surely you see that.