Why I Don't Believe in the Virgin Birth

Recently I shocked an evangelical friend of mine, when I told him I do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, actually of anyone. It occurred to me this morning I might share my reasoning with you.

Long ago I had the realization that God gave me intelligence and expected me to use it. 

I began to question and explore.

 So here is a brief outline of my thinking.

 Paul wrote between 52-64 CE. The only thing he said about Jesus' birth was he was "born of woman under the law." He surely would have said something about a magical birth, if it were being talked about. 

The next writing we have is Mark who starts his Gospel with the baptism. Not a word about a virgin birth. All three baptism stories have Jesus see a dove or spirit and hear a version of Isaiah or Psalms saying he is my son. Indicating he did not know that before this time. 

Then there is the episode in Mark 3 where his mother and brothers want to take him away "for he has gone out of his mind." That does not seem consistent with Mary being made pregnant by God. It seems that story does not develop until The Way has moved fully into the Greek/Roman world where they already had such stories. 

For these and other reasons, such as the genealogies in Matthew and Luke all through Joseph, I am pretty well convinced that Paul spoke the truth

A Really New Idea to Me

 He did not speak to His disciples of His resurrection, His ascension, and His parousia as three distinct acts, since the event to which He looked forward is not identical with any of the three, but is composed of them all. The resurrection is, at the same time, the ascension and parousia, and in the parousia the resurrection and the ascension are also included. --- Albert Schweitzer, "The Quest of the Historical Jesus"

Wow! I never even considered this as a possibility. My mind is whirling.

I can see this as possibly true. All three were contained in this multifaceted event. 

It goes on to say:

 "Jesus spoke of the future of His work and His teaching in a way that implied the consciousness of an influence to be continued after His death, whether unbrokenly or intermittently, and the consciousness that by this influence His work and teaching would be preserved from destruction and the final victory assured to it."

Here we are 2,000 or so years later and various versions of his teaching are still here. I'm going to have to contemplate all of this!

1776 and Us

 July 4, 1776, the official birthday of our nation, is a joyous and sacred day. Courageous and visionary people dreamed of a new kind of government, and surprisingly they did something about their vision. They wrote The Declaration of Independence. They fought the greatest power of the day and won independence with farmers, builders, and other ordinary people. Great men led them, including the incredible George Washington. Then they wrote the landmark document, The Constitution. They realized some more was needed, so they wrote some amendments. It developed and grew and became the place in the world where dreams could come true.

John Adams said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The quote above haunts me more and more. Christianity seems to be unraveling. Marxism is on the rise in the world and in subverting our foundation. Youth are being taught false history and to hate our country. 

It seems to me that it is time to wake up, to think, to stand for what once made this place great. I often think of my long ago political science professor who said, ""You can tell which country is the best by which way the borders leak."   From the very beginning, people with a dream were drawn here. I'm not talking about the current invasion - I'm talking about orderly and lawful immigration. Remember the history of the Roman Empire, weakened by bad emperors and declining morals, finally taken down by the barbarians flooding the borders. 

God bless the American Dream. Will we have the courage of our visionary founders, or will we go down as a failed experiment, a footnote in history?

Are You Upset?

For what, then, has god made you responsible? For that which alone is in your power, the proper use of appearance. Why then do you then feel upset about the things which you are not responsible for? This is only bringing trouble to yourself.                            --- Epictetus

 In these turbulent times, it might be a good idea to listen to what Epictetus has to say. I see and hear all manner of people extremely upset over things they have no power over and often things said that are unverified or distorted.

So and so says XYZ and another says LMN. Pundits then say opposite things about them, and people rage, not being present at the event and not being privy to any inside information to verify, or being too lazy to research. Extreme ravings ensue. 

That's where we are now - polarized.

Before we get upset, let's do some research, listen to all sides, think, use logic, sprinkle with common sense. Take a breath. Calm down. 

Once that is done ask - Is there something I can and should do about it? Is it mine to do?  Do I have expertise in this area? Do I need to learn more?

Say it's a Constitutional issue. Read the Constitution. Listen to arguments pro and con. Think about it logically, not from left or right bias. 

Say it's a religious issue. Do some research perhaps in history, archeology, the study of ancient languages, etc. There are mountains of book, podcasts and YouTube videos from actual scholars. Before you upset yourself, get informed.

If you are still livid, you are in your limbic brain and not using your cerebral cortex. Don't make any decision out of emotionality. You are likely to make things worse. 

Taking responsibility for our own reactions or responses is the sign of maturity and wisdom.

Greek Stoics

First say to yourself, who do you want to be: then act accordingly. -- Epictetus

I keep reading and hearing that Paul added Platonism and Stoicism to his teaching and understanding, perhaps to make it more palatable to the people of the Roman Empire and possibly because it was already part of his worldview. He was a Jew and a Pharisee, but he lived his life outside of the Jewish homeland. He was a Roman citizen.

So I have been rereading Greek philosophy. I had not read Epictetus, except for a few quotes here and there, so I started reading his Discourses. I am now excited about his ideas. The Stoic ideas he presented are very much in alignment with mine, or maybe I should say I am in alignment with him.

The quote at the top of this entry is a simple and profound idea, one of a huge number of thoughts worthy to deeply consider.

Beginning to consider it, I wonder how many have asked themselves what they want to be. Not just career wise, but more importantly as a person. What principles do we stand on?  How do we act in life? Who are we?

Once we begin to get clarity, then action is necessary, unless we just want to be empty windbags. Practice a thing and it becomes part of us. What should we practice? I suggest kindness is a good beginning. Taking responsibility for yourself, not blaming, is essential. Focus on what you can do and do that and do it well. Be the best person you can be. 

A New Vision

 

Menticide

 Menticide is an old crime against the human mind and spirit but systematized anew. It is an organized system of psychological intervention and judicial perversion through which a powerful dictator can imprint his own opportunistic thoughts upon the minds of those he plans to use and destroy... 

Mental courage cannot be cultivated by physical training only. It requires training in mental stamina, in understanding of basic. beliefs, and even in non-conformistic thinking. ---. "The Rape of the Mind" by A. M. Meerloo, M.D.

Our minds, our ability to reason, our critical thinking, all of these are precious and need to be protected. The idea of menticide, the numbing or killing of these, is horrifying.

In the study of mind control, propaganda, hypnosis via mass media, the influence of the internet and now artificial intelligence, I find the dangers of menticide incredibly increased.

One of the things happening, in the overload of varying degrees of information, from totally false to accurate, people are exhausted and just give up the search for truth, thereby live a numbed down existence. Or they just take one strand of "information" and make it their truth with religious fervor.  Or... Whichever response we use to the bombardment coming at us, we have some degree of menticide.

I hear the Zen master shout WAKE UP!!!