The Not-So-Virgin Birth Of God

When looking at the divinity of Jesus Christ with a Christian worldview, we have to understand why God would allow a person to be divine. After Genesis God should be jaded and unforgiving towards people. The birth of Jesus represents the rebirth of our faith and the faith of God in us. It proves that God is a forgiving being that will always Love. The birth of Jesus gives the Christians their worldview and religious view. The ability to forgive, love, and to be good to all of man is what the divinity of Jesus

Matthew opens his argument by describing Jesus: born of a virgin in Bethlehem, in the line of David, worshipped by Gentile Magi, brought out of Egypt, and raised in Nazareth.1 Matthew employs this list of prophecies from Mosaic Law and describes how Jesus fulfilled them all, simultaneously, as Blomberg’s notes in his portrait of Jesus, Matthew describes Jesus as “Son of David, King, and Royal Messiah,” and “Son of God.”2 Moreover, Matthew’s examples of the use of these titles throughout Matthew bear witness to Jesus’ divinity, as well as, how God could be understood through Jesus.3 Matthew proves not only Jesus’ Messiahship but His title of the Son of God.

The way in which both Matthew and Luke treat Mary in their birth narratives affects our understanding of the historicity of these accounts. It could be argued that both of the birth narratives present the male ideology of that time. This is clear when in Luke, Mary is first introduced as “a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David” This description reveals the two most important features of a woman of her time: her virginity and, the man who she belonged to. This male ideology is also presented through Matthew’s writing as he also associates the female population with the aspect of birth and nurture. However, despite both of

Gnosticism was one of the movements that grew out of Christianity. It would challenge the beliefs of the church in a way that would put the two at odds. This case study will discuss the beliefs of Gnosticism and the Church’s response to it using research from scholarly printed text and on-line resources.

As a text written in the early middle ages, the Canon Episcopi by Regino of Prüm was revolutionary in the fact that it exemplified a growing skepticism for magic within the Christian community, and most importantly, it served as a strict call to arms for church officials to identify and eliminate practices of magic within parish communities. As a major theological text in the time where Christianity is finally solidifying doctrine, the Canon Episcopi should both draw upon existing ideas of its predecessors and shape the theological works of its successors. While the works of other theological minds show evidence of a common theme or influence, there is still extreme variability and sometimes even direct opposition to Regino’s themes. While

From Augustine of Hippo to Theodosius Dobzhansky, Christians have a strong intellectual heritage. At one point, we stood on ethical and intellectual high-ground. Unfortunately, throughout recents years, we have stripped the Gospel of much of its power, and without realizing, have fallen into the abyss of today’s naturalistic and empirically subjective society. As Moreland claimed, in this new age society, progress has replaced wisdom. Progress is not measured in a moral or purposeful sense, but in the increase of technology and freedom from natural restraints. It has become assumed that scientific knowledge is the only type of knowledge, or at least the most superior form. According to secular sources, the only knowledge we can have about reality is empirical knowledge gained by the hard sciences.

The Christian worldview, also categorized under theism, is highly recognized and held by many. This is the belief that there is a single, personal, and relational God who is the creator of all things, this includes a belief in morality and the afterlife. This paper will discuss important aspects and key characters in the Christian worldview, including God and His plan for His children, humanity and the Fall, and Jesus’ role in restoration.

Jesus Christ is worshiped around the world as being the savior of all mankind. His birth was a miracle because he was born from a virgin. Taken from the Holy Bible, in Matthew 1:18-25, it states

However, the notion that God is the creator of everything and is making us suffer for our sins has changed drastically throughout the centuries. As a result of the development of science, naturalism, modern upbringing, and multiculturalism, the importance of religion has declined and our world is becoming more secular. In the Old Testament, the Bible is a sacred book and everyone respects and trusts its content. However, with the rise of science, the accuracy of the Bible has been questioned by scientific findings.

The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens—at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle. . . . God is more than god, not less: Christ is more than Balder, not less. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about “parallels” and “pagan Christs”: they ought to be there—it would be a stumbling block if they weren’t. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic—and is not the sky itself a myth—shall we refuse to be mythopathic? For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than the moralist,

In Chapter II of The Gnostics, “Identifying The Gnostics And Their Literature”, Brakke‘s intent is to display that the new usage of the word “Gnostic” comes into being with a new social group (31). The belief is that Gnostics originate from the Gnostic school of thought. Brakke displays how scholars use additional information that Irenaeus and others provide to make sense of the individuals known as the Gnostics. Brakke believes scholars should read and interpret for their own selves to gain the most knowledge of the Gnostics. Through supportive beliefs from individuals and works, Gnosticism could represent “proto-orthodoxy” rather than just a religious movement of different religions. While Irenaeus believes the Gnostics to be heretics (branching

the prime intercessor between Man and Christ. Since the Virgin's role had been denied by the

Gnosticism, which was viewed as a threat to early Christian beliefs can be defined as the “thought and practice especially of various cults of late pre Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis (King, p.5).” Besides the dictionary’s condensed definition summarizing Gnosticism, “Gnosticism” is a much more complex belief composed of numerous myths defining humans and God and viewed as an ancient Christian heresy. Gnosticism is rather a term invented in the early modern period to aid in defining the boundaries of normative Christianity. Yet, it has been mistakenly come to be thought of as a distinctive Christian heresy or seen as a religion in its own

Stephan A. Hoeller defined Gnosticism as a system of ‘teachings based on gnosis: the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior intuitive means’. The Greek words gnosis is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a special knowledge (or wisdom) of spiritual mysteries’. An individual or group that possesses gnosis as a part of Gnosticism is labelled with the Greek word Gnostic. ‘Historical context indicates that Gnosticism’ ‘was originally a Jewish esoteric (secret) spirituality that assumed a Christian form after the coming of the Christian dispensation’. Gnosticism is a significant example of Western Esotericism.

Although John 21:25 is important to keep in mind when discussing the basses for Marian Doctrine the Bible itself is also very use full. The Bible contains support, both direct and indirect, for the four Marian Doctrines. The Divine Maternity can be found in scripture, with the help of some logic. The Divine Maternity refers to Mary as the mother of God.