Originally posted by jagdflieger
Who ever said that Mary remained a virgin? The Bible speaks of James as
the brother of Jesus. If I recall correctly, it never refered to any other
apostle as the brother of Jesus. Only a few denominations hold the stance
that Mary remained a virgin all her life. Mary and Joseph were supposed to
be righteous Jews which meant that they were to produce children (and a lot
of them). James was the physical brother of Jesus. "The rock question" is
really a stupid trick question and does not deserve an answer. Another thing
It you really need to know why God needed a virgin, read C. S. Lewis.
hi
''Brothers and sisters'' of the Lord , as used in the Gospels, has a meaning completely different than what is meant by brothers and sisters of
the Lord in contemporary tems,
According to the custom of Eastern peoples of that time, as is now kept in the life of Arabicpeople living in Palestine and Asia Minor,''brothers
''meant not only the relation of brother, but also cousins, second cousins and, in general, all close relatives.
St Joseph was not a real husband to Her(Theotokos --God bearer)he was only BETROTHED,the custodian of Her virginity.
This means that bothers and sisters of the Lord in the flesh could only have been first and second cousins, and then only by maternal lineage, in the
lineage of His Most pure Mother.Blood relatives bt paternal lineage did not exist for the Saviour,for He had no father in the Flesh.'
In the Gospel account no clarification is given for the ''brothers of Christ'', although several of them are even mentioned by
name:James,Joses,Simon and Judas(cf.Matt.13:54-56 ).much has been written about the ''brothers of Christ'', many judgements made and theories
proposed, but they all contain cotradictions or are lacking in fact.
If these ''brothers'' of Christ appear in the literal sense, that is,they were actual relatives by flesh, then they could have been second
cousins.The Apostle Matthew speaks of their mother as being Mary, the mother of james and Joses, the wife of Cleophas,who appears to have been a
cousin of the Most-Holy Mary.The ApostleJohn also calls her sister of His Mother (John 19:25)
Ancient tradition would not have any opposition if the Apostle Mattew had not mentioned that the mother of James and Joseph was Mary, whom the Apostle
John names Mary of Cleophas,sister of His mother (Mattew 27:56; John19: 25 )therefore several scholars came to the conclusion that ''brothers'' of
the Lord were His second cousins by blood.
st Joseph the Betrothed was the son of Jacob.Jacob was the son of Matthan.But Jacob was married ,according to the levirate law , to the wife of his
brother Heli who died childless.The levirate law prescribes that if a man dies childless, his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his
brother (Deut. 25:5-6 )
By this law, Joseph was the son of Heli, althoughaccording to the flesh he was the son of Jacob.
That is why the holy Evangelist Luke, in presenting the lineage of Christ, called Heli the father of Joseph, speaking of Christ thus: And Jesus
Himself began to be about thirty years of age, being as it was supposed the son of Joseph,who was the son of Heli, who was the son of Mathat,....(Luke
3:23 )
Her husband Joseph being a just man (Matt.1:19 )
WOW......you know what, now im mixed up and there's more but im going to stop!!!

