Melville Cooke, Contributor

WESTERN BUREAU:

I DO not believe in the virgin birth. I think it is, to put it kindly, a bunch of rubbish!

I know what the Bible says - Matthew and Luke are clear on that. I know that it is supposed to be one of the pillars of the Christian faith, I know that a lot of Jesus's "specialness" comes from being the son of a virgin. And I still believe that it is a pile of manure. Two thousand-year-old manure.

And it is also unnecessary. If Mary had been portrayed as a prostitute who had no idea who her son's father was, it would not have made Jesus's life less significant, it would not have meant that the 10 commandments are not a guide for harmonious relationships among human beings and "love your neighbour" would still hold true.

There are two options. Mary had sex with Joseph, or she had sex with someone else and Joseph got a coat of a single colour, unlike the multi-coloured garb of his biblical predecessor.

Whatever the reason, the myth of the virgin birth has fuelled the ridiculous notion that an unbroken hymen means that a woman is a special and especially good person. I have not met many nuns, but the one that I had the most contact with was a vicious crone, masking her cruelty with a sweet smile, dulcet tones and a pretence at just being honest. And I have met prostitutes who are pleasant as you could expect anyone to be.

These are two extremes, of course, but as a virtue virginity is highly overrated. And it is certainly no sign of purity of thought or chastity.

It is also an unfair burden to place on young women, where they are expected to hold on to their similarity with Mary for as long as they can, while the young men are encouraged to be like David. (The Bible doesn't say anything about Joseph being a virgin or not, does it?).

Food cannot defile you, because what is eaten is eventually passed out, but the words you speak can, because they come from your mind. At the risk of being crude, the same can be said for a man entering a woman's body, although sometimes something is left behind.

Which is what happened with Mary, mother of Jesus.

Thankfully, the Kebra Nagast, or Glory of Kings, does not bother with the fables where this is concerned. Solomon had sex with Sheba "by trickery" and she conceived, thus the divinity in the lineage. Let some other people worry about the birth of Jesus.

I also believe that those who have propagated the myth of the virgin birth are the spiritual ancestors of those who have tried their best to marginalise women under the Christian banner. And, with cloning and fertilising an egg without sperm, they may have just succeeded in making the ultimate exclusion of women possible "xing" them out of carrying children in the reproductive process.

So what is there to say that Dolly the sheep was not a holy sheep if the scientists said they had had a revelation from God? What is there to say that a person created from cloning is not a holy being, complete with a revelation from God?

Because in the end, Mary's virginity is only a part of the issue. Reproduction without sex is the rest of it.

Colin A. Gyles, Contributor

THE virgin birth of Jesus Christ cannot be proven. It can be accepted by faith, however, based on the testimony of trustworthy witnesses and its consistency with the overall hope-inspiring Christian gospel.

The biblical record concerning the virgin Mary is rather concise and offers little support for the many legends that have been told about her. She is portrayed in the Bible as a humble, faithful and caring person who was chaste and morally upright. She was found to be pregnant while engaged to marry Joseph. With no evidence that Mary had been intimately involved with any man, Joseph accepted the revelation in a dream that God had chosen Mary as the vessel through whom His Son would enter the human family. Matt.1:18-20.

The fact that such an occurrence (a virgin being pregnant and giving birth), is unusual does not make it an absurdity. If finite human innovation can have a fertilised human egg implanted in the uterus today without any form of coitus between man and woman and a human being entering the world thereby, there should be little difficulty in seeing, at least, the possibility of God accomplishing the same in bringing His Son into the world.

The virgin birth, in addition to being declared by the testimony of persons, as given in the biblical record, is consistent with other tenets of Christianity. If it should be accepted that the Son of God existed as a complete Being before the incarnation and would undergo, by the power of God, a change of form (Phil.2:6,7), it is quite consistent and possible that this Being be transformed into a human foetus that is capable of growing and being nourished in the same manner that such processes occur for other human foetuses. In such a case there is no need for either sperm or egg, but simply the uterine conditions initially and the home and family environment and support thereafter to assure viable growth and development.

It is conceivable that God could have transformed His Son into a fully grown human being and have Him dramatically enter human domain by descending visibly from the skies in a similar manner as it is reported that He ascended. But, in such a case it could not have been said of Him that, "For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb.2:14,15.

Further, if He were born as the product of human sperm and egg that descended from Adam, He would have been born, Himself in bondage, just as condemned as all of Adam's posterity and in no position to rescue anyone from the grasp of the devil. Thus, the virgin birth, rightly understood, is consistent with the overall gospel of salvation, from a Christian perspective, and offers us hope that there is indeed a champion who "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him". Heb.7:25.