I have tried to explain this before....you might say I have a dry sense of humor or a weird sense of humor. Either way I have no reason to put you down....sarcasm....guilty as charged, as a expression of humor.
Jewish sources....as a child I had a lot of Jewish friends in University City, Mo and have had Jewish friends all my life. Early in my studies I realized that you could not understand the Bible unless you understood biblical Judaism. There is a very good reason for that, most of the main characters of the Bible are Jewish, so knowing that perspective is important. Although interesting, I know enough about Judaism to know that you do not want to mix the Jewish religion with the Christian religion. Christ warned about this when talking about the new wine in old wine skins.
When I was in Washington DC I took courses and attended seminars at the Jewish Studies at the American University and also over a course of a few years took courses out of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Just the study of the 613 Mosaic Laws is a daunting task, but worth while.
The truth is important but after having so many fingers in the pie over the last 2000 years it is like untangling that giant ball of twine in the Guinness book of world records and Ripley's believe or not. Like Christianity that ball of twine has sat out in the weather for a long time and a lot of people have contributed to it. Getting to the core, getting to the truth takes some effort.
Still, the fact that Miriam was not a perpetual virgin does not take away from the fact that, she is the most blessed of women, holy and favored of God, and a perpetual agent of God that blessed the believers for nearly 2000 years. I do not believe in Miriam, I am a witness. I love her, pray to her and look forward to seeing her again.
But virginity has nothing to do with physical or religious purity or piety. A woman's standing with God is not downgraded because she marries and has children. Mommies are just as pure and favored as any other women. This virgin belief has done great harm to Christianity, to women's status in society and in the Church. The core of this belief is sacrilegious to God Himself. God's first commandment and the only commandment He repeated over and over in the Torah was to be fruitful and multiply. It was among the promises that He made to his favored. The belief that sexual desire, the functions of the "private parts"' and procreation, is of the devil....is sacrilegious. I know it is preached from the pulpit that Man corrupted the sexual union but you will not find that statement in the scriptures. If it were, God would not have kept repeating this commandment in the Torah.
Physically men and women are not equal, but in God's eyes, as believers, they are equal. All the false beliefs we now have were thought up by men. If women were considered equals in the Church, stood side by side with men as leaders, we would not have as many false beliefs.
OK, so you know all about Judaism and Jewish web sites are rubbish.
Well, believe that if you like.
