[Milu]

Originally posted by djmcmath
Alright, good start -- a popular misconception is that maiden and virgin are interchangeable, and that Mary is only described as someone who wasn't married. However, our translation is built on rather a lot of classical Greek text, and there are a number of places that really leave no room for doubt. (Aside from obviously translating the word parthenos.) I'll pick an easy one, for starters: Matthew 1:18, "...Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child..." The expression "to come together" is sunelthein, which any lexicon will tell you is defined as "coming together in sexual union, intercourse." We've been neatly protected from the truth by prudish translators, sadly. (sigh) We don't merely have one word that might sometimes have been translated "maiden" instead of "virgin" by conservative suits in the translation house, we also have a moderately graphic description of what hadn't been done. Whether or not you agree with what the text says is an entirely different question; the text is quite clear, and the translation is excellent.

Dan

As I read the text it merely means Joseph was not the father.

As an aside, virgin births for important figures is not unique to Christianity.