Why do only Matthew and Luke mention the virgin birth? Was this detail not important enough for Mark and John to note? Come to think of it, why do Matthew and Luke bother going to great lengths to list (two contradictory) genealogies for Jesus through Joseph?
I think the four boys were just having a laugh. They wanted to test our faith.
ReplyDeleteThat would be my number one or two stump a Christian post. Isn't the virgin birth kind of a big deal to the Jesus narrative? Oh wait. That was already done with a bunch of other previous "gods." Hell, back to the drawing board.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good question, and worth pondering. I've thought about it before. Each of the 4 gospels has a different emphasis - the Bible is not a history book, although it contains history in it.
ReplyDeleteThe virgin birth is important but questions of foundation don't require "proof" as much as questions around gray areas. As an outsider of the faith looking in, I can understand the confusion for professing atheists because they have not established the foundational truths. The Bible is not written for outsiders - although it is for them as well.
As for the genealogy question, this link might give some food for thought, http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefactsandlists/a/jesusgenealogy.htm
One thing to remember is that Matthew is written by a Jew, for the Jews and Luke was a Greek, writing to the Greeks. Greeks were more philosophical and considered to be great thinkers and pondered the origin of the world and such (just went back to reread the entire link and the last paragraph basically says exactly that).