Antares 531
2008-10-20 23:53:44 UTC
The pregnancy of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a long-standing topic
of debate and misunderstanding. Some argue that Jesus was the child of
a Roman soldier who had intercourse with Mary, either forcefully, or
consensually. Others argue that Mary's pregnancy was a result of
divine intervention into her life and reproductive process, and that
God was the one who brought this about.
Two key points are:
1. God is omnipotent - He can do anything he chooses to do. He doesn't
need human consent or approval, and placing any pseudo-restrictions
upon God is the height of blasphemy.
2. God is omniscient - He knows and understands the entire
cause/effect situation associated with any event or sequence of
events. In ordinary street language one would say, "God knows how to
get things done without any help from us mortals."
If it was God's intention that Mary should bear a child with no human
father, angel father or other such sire, I'm quite sure God could have
made this happen.
Mary was a healthy, normal young woman. She was ovulating about every
28 days, regularly. Mary's ovulation process - the same as for all
healthy normal young women - involves the release of a diploid ovum
which undergoes a haploid division into two haploid cells, one of
which is jettisoned as waste, while the other haploid cell normally
moves down the fallopian tube to the uterus. If there are sperm cells
present this haploid cell can and normally does merge with one of the
sperm cells and a pregnancy results.
The human diploid genome contains some 3,000,000,000 DNA nucleotide
pairs, divided among twenty two (22) pairs of autosomes and one pair
of gender determining chromosomes. This is a very complex arrangement,
but we can be sure God understood how to set it up and manage it, when
he created humans and other life forms.
In a human female the two gender determining chromosomes are both X
chromosomes. These X chromosomes are bonded to each other, along the
entire X structure.
In a human male the gender determining chromosomes consist of one X
and one Y chromosome. This XY chromosome pair is bonded only at the
top of the upper branches of the X and the Y. The lower part of these
XY chromosome pairs float free of each other.
If Mary indeed was a virgin, and had not copulated with a human male,
an angel, a demon, or otherwise, it stands to reason that God, by
divine intervention, must have caused Mary's pregnancy by some other
process. We MUST avoid placing restrictions upon God by saying or
thinking that He could not have instigated Mary's pregnancy by some
other means. Our human-level lack of understanding doesn't give us the
option of declaring it impossible for God to have done something
beyond our comprehension.
One way Mary's pregnancy could have happened would have been for God
to have caused a burst of cosmic rays to impinge upon Mary's diploid
ovum just as it was nearing the time where the normal haploid division
process would occur. If this burst of cosmic rays, directed by God,
disrupted the haploid division process, leaving this diploid cell in
its diploid state, this would have accomplished most of this task.
And, if one or some of this burst of cosmic rays also impinged upon
one of the X chromosomes in the XX chromosome pair of this diploid
ovum, effectively changing it into an XY chromosome pair, the modified
ovum could then have moved along, gestating into a male child, just as
a normally fertilized ovum does.
If this is the way it happened, Mary would have become pregnant with
no sexual involvement with another male or angel. About 9 months later
she would have given birth to a male baby with one X and one Y
chromosome in its cells...Jesus of Nazareth.
Gordon
of debate and misunderstanding. Some argue that Jesus was the child of
a Roman soldier who had intercourse with Mary, either forcefully, or
consensually. Others argue that Mary's pregnancy was a result of
divine intervention into her life and reproductive process, and that
God was the one who brought this about.
Two key points are:
1. God is omnipotent - He can do anything he chooses to do. He doesn't
need human consent or approval, and placing any pseudo-restrictions
upon God is the height of blasphemy.
2. God is omniscient - He knows and understands the entire
cause/effect situation associated with any event or sequence of
events. In ordinary street language one would say, "God knows how to
get things done without any help from us mortals."
If it was God's intention that Mary should bear a child with no human
father, angel father or other such sire, I'm quite sure God could have
made this happen.
Mary was a healthy, normal young woman. She was ovulating about every
28 days, regularly. Mary's ovulation process - the same as for all
healthy normal young women - involves the release of a diploid ovum
which undergoes a haploid division into two haploid cells, one of
which is jettisoned as waste, while the other haploid cell normally
moves down the fallopian tube to the uterus. If there are sperm cells
present this haploid cell can and normally does merge with one of the
sperm cells and a pregnancy results.
The human diploid genome contains some 3,000,000,000 DNA nucleotide
pairs, divided among twenty two (22) pairs of autosomes and one pair
of gender determining chromosomes. This is a very complex arrangement,
but we can be sure God understood how to set it up and manage it, when
he created humans and other life forms.
In a human female the two gender determining chromosomes are both X
chromosomes. These X chromosomes are bonded to each other, along the
entire X structure.
In a human male the gender determining chromosomes consist of one X
and one Y chromosome. This XY chromosome pair is bonded only at the
top of the upper branches of the X and the Y. The lower part of these
XY chromosome pairs float free of each other.
If Mary indeed was a virgin, and had not copulated with a human male,
an angel, a demon, or otherwise, it stands to reason that God, by
divine intervention, must have caused Mary's pregnancy by some other
process. We MUST avoid placing restrictions upon God by saying or
thinking that He could not have instigated Mary's pregnancy by some
other means. Our human-level lack of understanding doesn't give us the
option of declaring it impossible for God to have done something
beyond our comprehension.
One way Mary's pregnancy could have happened would have been for God
to have caused a burst of cosmic rays to impinge upon Mary's diploid
ovum just as it was nearing the time where the normal haploid division
process would occur. If this burst of cosmic rays, directed by God,
disrupted the haploid division process, leaving this diploid cell in
its diploid state, this would have accomplished most of this task.
And, if one or some of this burst of cosmic rays also impinged upon
one of the X chromosomes in the XX chromosome pair of this diploid
ovum, effectively changing it into an XY chromosome pair, the modified
ovum could then have moved along, gestating into a male child, just as
a normally fertilized ovum does.
If this is the way it happened, Mary would have become pregnant with
no sexual involvement with another male or angel. About 9 months later
she would have given birth to a male baby with one X and one Y
chromosome in its cells...Jesus of Nazareth.
Gordon