Bible Discussion Thread

Life was always a complicated drama of choices and compromises. KJV Bible is not a definitively clear cut manuscript, forcing us to decide matters for ourselves, always evolving. Jesus' immediate family tree is surprisingly dysfunctional to our standards: James.

James (brother of Jesus) was Joseph's son by Joseph's first wife, not by Mary... Joseph became the father of James and his three brothers (Joses, Simeon, Judah) and two sisters (a Salome and a Mary or a Salome and an Anna) with James being the elder sibling.

Dissenting opinion below, because there's always 2 sides to the story:

Saint Jerome believed that the "brothers" of the Lord were Jesus' cousins, thus amplifying the doctrine of perpetual virginity. Jerome concluded that James "the brother of the Lord", ( Galatians 1:19) is therefore James, son of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and the son of Mary Cleophas.[11]

Jerome also concluded that James "the brother of the Lord" is the same as James the Less. To explain this, Jerome first tells that James the Less must be identified with James, the son of Alphaeus. Jerome concludes that James, the son of Alphaeus, James the Less, and James, brother of the Lord, are one and the same person.

Jesus ancestry could be discribed as dysfunctional i suppose ,we KNOW this because the Bible tell us ,there was a moabite and a caaananite prostitute in there way back ,as for his contemperary family ,i just go by what the Bible says ,anything else is speculation ,its fine to speculate ,i do it too sometimes but i dont think speculation should be presented as anything but that .

Unfortunately, to maintain the firm belief in the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary, some (from both the RC & protestant camps) have had to redefine the Scriptures to support their belief. Therefore, not finding support it in the Canon of Scripture, appeal must be made to extra-biblical sources, such as the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Thomas, the First & Second Apolocalypse of James, as so on.

I'm afraid "Error breeds Error".

Jesus had brothers and sisters,so it would be impssible for Mary to remain a perpetual virgin. Both she and Joesph took the doves for an offering for their sins. Yes, she was a sinner, too.

Paul Bryson

Fully agree, Paul. However, those who claim this state of Mary, appeal to those other sources that describe Joseph has having been married before which means Jesus' siblings were not directly related to Him (e.g. cousins or step-siblings) & that Mary had only one Child - and that too, probably by C-Section, which would be extremely difficult to prove from any source.

All people are sinners, except for Jesus.

Mary was a sinner like everyone else, but I don't know why you say it's 'impossible' for someone to remain a virgin. She married Joseph and likely had sex, but I don't agree with the 'impossible' word, as adults live their whole lives today as virgins.