Virgin birth is open to all kinds of interpretation, not just how we interpret it now in modern times, but how it was understood at the time |
To me it depends on what you call evidence. Speculation and hearsay wouldn't be allowed in a court of law. It does depend on circumstantial evidence and a leap of faith - and I'm not a denier btw. |
Wrong. Isaiah never said that. That’s a Christian mistranslation. The Hebrew word is “alma.” “Alma” means young woman,” not “virgin.” |
she was unmarried. You're suggesting she wasn't a virgin? |
It's actually a Jewish translation (mis or otherwise), the Greek of the Septuagint was produced by Jews, before there were Christians. |
Isaiah never said that the child would be born to an unmarried woman. |
ok, got it. So Isaiah can't be used as a prophesy supporting the story. |
Wrong. The Septuagint translates “alma” into “neanis” which means “ young woman,” not “virgin.” Jews have never said that the yet to come Messiah will be born of a virgin. |
The word in Septuagint is παρθένος. Here's the Greek: https://www.septuagint.bible/-/hesaias-kephalaio-7 |
The idea that Isaiah was predicting the coming of a Messiah is a silly late Second Temple corruption. Before that, Isaiah was read to be saying exactly what he said, that the birth of a child named Immanuel would be a sign that the Assyrian campaign to conquer the southern kingdom of Judah and the seemingly inevitable fall of Jerusalem would in fact not take place and that the kingdom of Judah would prevail without help from Egypt. |
You’re either misreading it or being obtuse. Are you the “denier” troll from earlier? No evidence means there is no evidence. He may have existed or may not. Seems likely but not ”proven”. It’s also impossible to prove that he didn’t exist which is why no one is claiming that. |
What other words are mistranslated by Christians, in your view? |
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How much time have you got? There’s a reason that Jews teach their children to read the Bible in the original and Christians do not. |
Young, unmarried women were generally virgins. Also, Matthew was writing for an audience in Antioch that was still part of the Jewish community, even if the relationship was deteriorating—yet the “virgin” language was apparently accepted. In any case, whether or not the translation works is irrelevant. Matthew’s text relies on the fact that Isaiah was talking about a virgin, not on a Greek god that was popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, i.e well after the gospel of Matthew was put together towards the end of the first century. |