Hail Mary! Was Virgin Mary
Truly the Mother of God’s Son?
— By
John W. Loftus
Catholic
Christians pray the rosary, which is a string of beads representing creeds and
prayers to be recited. Devout Catholics are considered to recite it every
single day. In it the Apostles’ Creed made the cut, which is recited one time.
The Glory Be (Doxology) is recited five times, the Lord’s Prayer is said six
times, but the Hail Mary prayer is recited a whopping 150 times!
As
one who was raised a Catholic I was required to recite these things a number of
times upon visiting the confessional booth, depending on the gravity of my sins.
While the Hail Mary can be dated back to the 13th century, the
current prayer dates to the 16th century:
Hail
Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed
is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Logistics
and Mary the Mother of God.
We
need to start by briefly considering some logistics. Consider first, the
logistics of how a real mother named Mary could conceive of God (or God’s Son).
The
ancients commonly believed that the woman contributes nothing to the physical being
of the baby to be born. They thought the child was only related to the father.
The mother was nothing but a receptacle for the male sperm, which grew to
become a child.
Today,
by contrast, with the advent of genetics, most Christian thinkers try to defend
the virgin birth on the grounds that the humanity of Jesus was derived from
Mary and that his divine nature was derived from God. They do this because they
know something about genetics and know Mary must have contributed the female
egg that made Jesus into a man. But this doesn’t adequately explain how Jesus
is a human being, since for there to be a human being in the first place
minimally requires that a human sperm penetrate a human egg. Until that happens
we do not have the complete chromosomal structure required to have a human
being.
Now
of course, God could conceivably create both the human egg and the sperm from
which to create life inside Mary’s womb. But if it’s a created human life then
it’s not God, who is believed to be eternal, and the creator of everything, who
came to suffer and die to atone for human sins as a sinless God. Other problems
emerge when it comes to the supposed genealogies and fulfilled prophecies.
Nevertheless,
what if God had a body? He did, didn’t he? Sure he did, even though later
Christian theology describes God as a Spirit. God is described as walking and
talking with Adam and Eve, who even tried to hide from him in the trees of the
garden (Genesis 3:8-10). Later on, Jacob prevailed over God in an all night
wrestling match, after which Jacob said, “I saw God face to face, and yet my
life was spared.” God also let Moses see his body, even his backside (Exodus
33). After monotheism arrived God was still seen as having a body. He sat on a
throne (Ezekiel 1; Daniel 7; Matthew 25:31; Revelation 5:1), and he rewarded
the faithful by allowing them to see his face (Matthew 5:8; 18:11; Revelation
22:3-4). The first martyr Stephen saw Jesus “standing at the right hand of God”
(Acts 7:56).
Even at the end of times every eye will see him—and presumably recognize him—riding
on a white horse to do battle with his enemies (Revelation 1:7; 19:11-21).[1]
So
perhaps it isn’t too surprising Mormons still believe God has a body. But if
so, they have to struggle with the virgin conception of Jesus. Was mother Mary
a virgin or not? According to Brigham Young, the second president of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “The Father came down and begat Jesus,
the same as we do now.” Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie agreed, saying, “Christ
was begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten
by mortal fathers.” Two Mormon researchers ask us if it “is so disgusting to
suggest God sired a son by sexual intercourse?”[2]
Inquiring minds want to know.[3]
But if God’s son was produced the old-fashioned way, his son Jesus was not conceived
of a virgin after all!
Debunking Christianity
About Author
