There are certain common Jewish and Christian beliefs about sanctity. Objectors have lost the sense of the sacred, which I can only describe as spirits or threads of the Manichee, Bogomil and Cathari heresies ( false dualisms; nothing on this earth can be sacred)infecting Modernist Protestantism. . The idea that Mary loses her acquired temple sanctity once Jesus is delivered is odd, for in Judaism and Christianity holy things do not revert to common use once they’re taken out of sacred service. It may not be strictly necessary that the Virgin Mary remain the Perpetual Virgin Mary,
but it is certainly fitting. (Theology often does best when it operates less according to the logic of strict necessity and more according to the logic of propriety, thus avoiding every deracinating reductionism.)
Why fitting? Because St. Matthew’s Gospel teaches that Mary has been a holy vessel. Having had “Emmanuel,” God incarnate, in her womb, could it be returned to common use?
Unlikely. If the Ark of the Old Testament were recovered today, would anyone of any piety dare use it (say) as a trunk or footlocker? Neither is it likely that Joseph would have treated the New Ark of the Covenant in a common way. Or ask contemporary Orthodox Jews about the Wailing Wall. Though the Temple in Jerusalem was leveled by the Romans almost two thousand years ago in 70 C.E., Jews still gather there to pray at this one wall remaining; the site retains its sanctity.
This is why Modernist Protestants are forced to deny the numerous foreshadows of the Old Ark with the New Ark. "The Ark of the New Covenant is not in the Bible!!!" So the mantra goes. It's theological brain damage.
There is this claim:
“Temples are holy only when the Holy One inhabits them. Once Yahweh abandoned the temple, it was an empty shell for demolition and burning.”
On this basis the claim suggests by parallel that Mary loses her special status once Jesus is delivered. The parallel fails because in the world of St. Matthew’s Gospel the destruction of the temple is punishment for the murder of God’s Son; Jesus dies, and God flees the Holy of Holies through the rendered temple veil. Thus the Romans advance on Jerusalem a generation later, leveling the city and razing the temple. But Mary has done nothing deserving that sort of abandonment. Even if the Son departs her womb, she’s no “empty shell.”
Like the site of the temple for Jews, Christian vessels retain their sanctity: It simply would not be fitting for Catholics, or Orthodox, or (for that matter) Lutherans who have a high view of Holy Communion to (say) sell a worn-out chalice that has held the Blood of Christ at a parish rummage sale and have someone then use it to sip Cabernet while binge-watching the latest series on Netflix. Even after vessels, vestments, and sacramentals wear out, they retain their sanctity, and so require especial treatment and disposition. Mary’s womb having held God, then, it is simply not fitting that she and Joseph would have copulated in the normal way. Like temples and vessels, she retains her special sanctity.
Like the site of the temple for Jews, Christian vessels retain their sanctity: It simply would not be fitting for Catholics, or Orthodox, or (for that matter) Lutherans who have a high view of Holy Communion to (say) sell a worn-out chalice that has held the Blood of Christ at a parish rummage sale and have someone then use it to sip Cabernet while binge-watching the latest series on Netflix. Even after vessels, vestments, and sacramentals wear out, they retain their sanctity, and so require especial treatment and disposition. It would not be fitting to bulldoze the spot where Jesus died and erect a drug store. Mary’s womb having held God, then, it is simply not fitting that she and Joseph would have copulated in the normal way. Like temples and vessels, she retains her special sanctity.
We have post biblical writings indicating the Jewish custom of vows of perpetual virginity, the Protoevangelium of James, and John the Theologian but they are no good because it's not in the Bible. Well...it is, and Protestants are too quick to dismiss every historical document as "uninspired", therefore meaningless. This is historical brain damage.
Vows for virginity, temporary or permanent (unheard of in our sex crazed culture, but common in the ancient world) are found in
Numbers 30. <this site explains it well.
What gets me is an atheist university professor can remain celibate in order to devote all his time to his work, and is considered a valuable contributor to society, while the mother of Jesus gets thrown under the bus.
Western Wall in Jerusalem.