Virgin Births

Skeptics like Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher ridicule Christians for embracing the miraculous. One of their favorite punching bags is Jesus’ virgin birth. A virgin giving birth to a son is ridiculous, right? Isn’t that assertion alone enough to discredit all of Christianity?

Some Christian types will crumble to this argument and deny Jesus’ virgin birth happened -- or at least call it unessential. They will say we’ve learned a few things in the last 2,000 years. We’ve progressed beyond needing fairy tale stories about miracles. Let’s take the essentials from the Bible and move beyond the primitive stories that litter it. We might be able to stick to small miracles like a little healing here and a little coincidence there, but a virgin birth? That’s just over the top.

Both groups presuppose that virgin births are impossible. Therefore, when they see it in Luke, they immediately conclude that Luke is a liar, a fake, or taking desperate measures to continue a myth. My advice to both groups is to look at the story again. If they would look, they would find they share that presupposition with an unlikely person: Jesus’ mother. Notice what she says after Gabriel announces to her that she will conceive and bear a son:

And Mary said the the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’

Luke 1:34

One important thing to note here is that Mary’s not asking ”How will this be” in the sense that she doesn’t believe she will bear a son. She’s asking it in such a way that says, “Ok, I believe you that I will bear a son. But I need details here! What will be the events that happen for me to bear this son? After all, I’ve never been with a man!”

Mary, just like Dawkins, just like Maher, just like the “progressive” Christian types, just like you, and just like me, knows that babies don’t just appear in wombs. Up until this point, she would have called a virgin birth impossible. But after the angel tells Mary how she will give birth as a virgin, he tells her:

For nothing will be impossible with God

Luke 1:37

She then responds:

Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word

Luke 1:38

Now we see that Mary believes in virgin births, but it’s only after the angel tells her that it’s possible. The impossible became possible to Mary only after the she learned the impossible is possible. For all the world knew, virgin births were impossible. They only became possible when God intervened. Mary presupposed that virgin births were impossible, but after she found out that nothing is impossible with God, she took His word for it. Skeptics presuppose that virgin births are impossible, so when they hear that nothing is impossible with God, they say that God is impossible. But could it be possible that virgin births are impossible, except when God intervenes? Could it be possible that God reserved the virgin birth -- something so miraculous, so over the top, and so (dare I say) ridiculous -- for a once-in-a-universe opportunity? Mary thinks so. Christians think so. What do you think?