Posted by Mike (202.109.210.36) on June 24, 2003 at 02:07:10:

In Reply to: Neither wise nor necessary posted by John on June 22, 2003 at 04:21:34:

"With regard to your question concerning the Virgin Birth of Jesus; on this point, as on several others, the Bah¬¢'¬» teachings are in full agreement with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. In the Kit¬¢b-i-Iq¬¢n (Book of Certitude) page 56, and in a few other Tablets still unpublished, Bah¬¢'u'll¬¢h confirms, however indirectly, the Catholic conception of the Virgin Birth. Also `Abdu'l-Bah¬¢ in `Some Answered Questions', Chap. 12, page 73, explicitly states that Christ found existence through the spirit of God which statement necessarily implies, when reviewed in the light of the text, that Jesus was not the son of Joseph."

"We believe that Christ only was conceived immaculately. His brothers and sisters would have been born in the natural way and conceived naturally."

(http://www.bahai.com/writings4/ShoghiEffendi/directives/36-40.htm)

It appears that the problem here is - as is too often the case - not with the the original holy Scriptures but with our understandings and interpretations of those Texts.

Mike

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