THE PICTURE OF A BLOODIED WOMAN WITH THE WORDS "METOO BIBLE EXPERTS: MARY WAS IMPREGNATED BY GOD WITHOUT HER WILL OR CONSENT" - CERTAINLY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION.
The lead paragraph of the possibly satirical article continues 'BETHLEHEM - Palestine - Bible experts who adhere to #MeToo are saying that God had sex with Mary without her consent and raped her to birth Jesus.' [1] In the article, the transcript of the biblical passage of Matthew 1:18-25 follows.
The lead paragraph of the possibly satirical article continues 'BETHLEHEM - Palestine - Bible experts who adhere to #MeToo are saying that God had sex with Mary without her consent and raped her to birth Jesus.' [1] In the article, the transcript of the biblical passage of Matthew 1:18-25 follows.
Quotations
The article contains the following quotations:
- "Biblical experts have been studying the facts about the virgin birth of Jesus, from different ancient texts, and have come to the conclusion that Mary was sexually raped by the Holy Ghost i.e. God" [1]
- "Within the generation we live in today, the #MeToo generation, God would be called a rapist for taking that poor girl and having sex with her without her consent" [1]
- "The angel of the Lord who appeared after the rape, was possibly a demon..." [1]
- "The story of the nativity that has been taught for many years is thus one of sordid rape by an almighty entity that had its way with a little virgin girl, abused her body to sow a supposed Son of God who could perform crazy miracles like walk on water and turn water into wine." [1]
Incomplete exegesis
The article content - while possibly intended as satirical in nature - instead flounders in a morass of incomplete theological exegesis. The conclusion that Mary was unwillingly impregnated by God was arrived at by incomplete biblical exegesis based on Matthew 1:18-25 alone without reference to Luke 1:26-28.
For all facts in re both Annunciation [2] and Incarnation, [3] Luke 1:26-38 needs to be studied in conjunction with Matthew 1:18-25.
Luke 1:26-38 reads as follows:
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I know not man?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38 makes the following clear:
- The angel Gabriel visited Mary before - not after - the Incarnation. This mighty Archangel, revered by the great world religions, is angelic in character (Daniel 8:15-27; Daniel 9:20-27; Luke 1:11-20 ).
- God sent Archangel Gabriel as His ambassador to Mary with courteous request for her informed consent to become the mother of Jesus. Mary's free will was unimpaired; her consent not immediately given. Mary first questioned Gabriel before her decision. Our Lady's words were, "How will this be since I know not man?"
- Gabriel's reply to Mary's question led into the second main part of his message: that the holy Child to be born of Mary was not only to be the promised Messiah, but God made man. The angel explained the virginal conception of Jesus as being due to the power of God Who had chosen this unique way to send His Son among humankind as their brother and Savior. In Jesus humankind receives a fresh start.
The conception of the Son of Mary without a human father is the sign that the Incarnation is the new creation, independent of the will of man or urge of the flesh (John 1:13). [4]
- The Incarnation of Jesus within Mary was not a physical act. It was an overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit in which the second person of the Trinity was incarnated within her. God thus became flesh: God assumed a human nature and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- Only in the wake of Mary's freely given informed consent was the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, incarnated. Equation of the horror of rape with the holy Incarnation of Jesus Christ is thus theologically inaccurate and blasphemous.
- Jesus is not the supposed Son of God - He IS the Son of God. God the Father gave His personal testimony regarding this fact at Christ's baptism in the River Jordan with the words, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him." [Luke 9:35]
- The miracles which Jesus performed were not 'crazy' but unique. In the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, miracles are signs that the Kingdom of God had come. Peter saw the value of miracles in promoting the faith of the faithful. He witnessed to Jesus as "a man attested to you by God with miracles and with wonders and signs" (Acts 2:22). There are those in every decade who continue to experience the signs and wonders of God's Power working outside the confines of the laws of nature.
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to God or towards something considered sacred or inviolable. To draw a parallel between the horror of violation and the purity and holiness of God is blasphemy.
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to God or towards something considered sacred or inviolable. To draw a parallel between the horror of violation and the purity and holiness of God is blasphemy.
[1] #MeToo Bible experts: Mary was impregnated by God without her will or consent
[2] Annunciation
Announcement by the Archangel Gabriel that Mary would conceive and bear the Son of God if she gave her consent to the Incarnation
[3] Incarnation
The Incarnation is the mystery that Jesus, Who is the non-created second person of the triune God, took on a human body and everything that is human and became both man and God. Jesus was incarnated within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary
[4] Behold your Mother Woman of Faith, A Pastoral Letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 21, 1973: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, numbers 22-24, pp 8-9
Acknowledgement to dailysquib.co.uk
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