Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
Personally, maybe we should look at the virgin birth as it appears to have been to Mark, John, and Paul. Those that have experienced the Spirit of Christ aren't in need of such things as the virgin birth to prove their faith.
Experiencing the Spirit of Christ requires no such proof to validate that Jesus was the Son of God. So the virgin birth doesn't need to be true or not.
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Two gospels record the virgin birth. Matthew's account focuses on the fulfillment of OT scripture, since he was a Jew and wrote primarily for the Jews. Luke, however, was a Gentile physician under the tutelage of Paul, and wrote primarily to a Gentile audience. Their accounts have nearly no overlap which really supports the demands for independent witnesses. The fact that there were two accounts is significant to me.
A while ago I saw an
astronomical study of the Star of Bethlehem that the Magi followed. It's pretty incredible. It astronomically dates the birth of Jesus. The symbolism was fascinating. Only God, the creator of the universe, could have arranged for the "stars" to announce the coming of the promised Messiah. This 21st century documentary provided overwhelming evidence to validate Matthew's account. Some of you folks demand "scientific" proof, and this is the closest thing we have.
Interestingly, the heavenly constellation does not point to Mary's conception, but rather to the actual birth of Jesus. It seems that God never wanted to highlight what happened to Mary at conception, but what happened to His Son. Jesus basically lived His whole life on earth with all those around Him convinced He was Joseph's son. Legally He was Joseph's son, and the genealogy shows us this. His brothers and sisters had no clue what was about to happen to their big brother when He turned thirty. I believe that due to financial hardship and Joseph's death, Jesus basically worked day and night to support His mother and younger siblings, so that His own marital status would remain a non issue.
No one can say that Luke and Matthew stole their accounts from Mark. Their research into the events surrounding the birth of Jesus proves this. No one was plagiarizing their own gospel record. Of course their is much overlap on special events, but the uniqueness of each is proof alone.