Can a chosen virgin say 'No' if she lacks the wherewithal to bring up
a new Messiah?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/5105946.stm

---

Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 22 Jun 2006 23:14 PDT

Only if her agent tells her to say no!

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 22 Jun 2006 23:22 PDT

Hi Cynthia

Great to have you on the case.

Are you speaking from personal experience (preferred) or have you
stumbled upon a Search Strategy?

Bryan (another Synna)

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 23 Jun 2006 21:22 PDT

Here's the latest ...

The three maiden ladies are all in their 50's so it's conceivable that
the chosen one may require either a miracle or fertilty drug treatment
before she is conceivable.

But would a 50+ maiden lady make the ideal mom for a new Messiah?

Technically, according to Catholic dogma it is the Blessed Virgin Mary
herself who was conceived innaculately, without original sin.
See:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Immaculate_Conception_and_Assum.asp

You seem to be asking about the Annunciation and the Virgin Birth.
Here Catholic dogma is that the Virgin, like everyone else, has free
will, so could have declined the invitation to become pregnant.

Rather than paying an insurance premium, it might have been simpler
for the ladies in your news article to have evaded the invitation by
ceasing their virgin state. Alternatively, if they wish to preserve
their virgin status,  they could just say, no thank you, to the angel.

Bryan...

Interesting article...

Me? If I got "chosen" I would have to say NO.

Its expen$$ive enough raising a fat, spoiled cat and his "fishy friends".

Steph53

Yeah, Steff, but have you considered the sponsorship deals that you could get?

It should give you more than enough to feed Fat Albert as well plus
his Fishy Friends.

Please RECONSIDER ...

Just in case!

I rather suspect that in the event, the Good Lord will have considered
not only the girl's virginity, good character, unfailing faith, etc.,
but also such practical matters as her economic situation  - and maybe
her mother's attitude when she comes and tells her that she was
visited by the angel Gabriel and is pregnant.  Most mothers lose their
cool in that situation.

MARY

(Ma´ry) [from the Heb. Miriam, possibly meaning ?Rebellious?].

There are six Marys mentioned in the Bible.

1. Mary the mother of Jesus. She was the daughter of Heli, though the
genealogy given by Luke lists Mary?s husband Joseph as the ?son of
Heli.? Says M?Clintock and Strong?s Cyclopaedia (1881, Vol. III, p.
774): ?In constructing their genealogical tables, it is well known
that the Jews reckoned wholly by males, rejecting, where the blood of
the grandfather passed to the grandson through a daughter, the name of
the daughter herself, and counting that daughter?s husband for the son
of the maternal grandfather (Numb. xxvi, 33; xxvii, 4-7).? It is
undoubtedly for this reason the historian Luke says that Joseph was
the ?son of Heli.??Lu 3:23.

Mary was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David. Hence it
could be said of her son Jesus that he ?sprang from the seed of David
according to the flesh.? (Ro 1:3) Through his adoptive father Joseph,
a descendant of David, Jesus had a legal right to David?s throne, and
through his mother, as the ?offspring,? ?seed,? and ?root? of David,
he held the natural hereditary right to ?the throne of David his
father.??Mt 1:1-16; Lu 1:32; Ac 13:22, 23; 2Ti 2:8; Re 5:5; 22:16.

If tradition is correct, Heli?s wife, the mother of Mary, was Anna,
whose sister had a daughter named Elizabeth, the mother of John the
Baptizer. This tradition would make Elizabeth the cousin of Mary. That
Mary was related to Elizabeth, who was ?from the daughters of Aaron?
of the tribe of Levi, the Scriptures themselves state. (Lu 1:5, 36)
Mary?s sister, some have thought, was Salome, the wife of Zebedee,
whose two sons, James and John, were numbered among Jesus?
apostles.?Mt 27:55, 56; Mr 15:40; 16:1; Joh 19:25.

Visited by Angel. About the end of 3 B.C.E., the angel Gabriel was
sent by God to the virgin girl Mary in the town of Nazareth. ?Good
day, highly favored one, Jehovah is with you,? was the angel?s most
unusual greeting. When he told her that she would conceive and give
birth to a son called Jesus, Mary, who at the time was only engaged to
Joseph, asked, ?How is this to be, since I am having no intercourse
with a man?? ?Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most
High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be
called holy, God?s Son,? the angel explained. Thrilled with the
prospect, yet with fitting modesty and humility, she replied: ?Look!
Jehovah?s slave girl! May it take place with me according to your
declaration.??Lu 1:26-38.

To strengthen her faith further for this momentous experience, Mary
was told that her relative Elizabeth, in her old age, was already six
months pregnant, because the miraculous power of Jehovah had removed
her barrenness. Mary paid her a visit, and when she entered
Elizabeth?s home the infant in Elizabeth?s womb leaped with joy,
whereupon she congratulated Mary, saying: ?Blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!? (Lu 1:36, 37, 39-45)
Thereupon Mary broke forth in inspired words magnifying Jehovah for
his goodness.?Lu 1:46-55.
Mary was the offspring of Heli and Anna. The Catholic claim of
immaculate conception is wrong and is made to justify Mary being a
channel to God for prayers. Only Jesus is this channel. John 14;6
Jesus said to him: ?I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me".

I think Mary carefully considered her options and decided not to spend
several days in the belly of a big fish simply to do Gods will
afterall.

Ah, the maidens are in their fifties  - very rare, indeed -  quite the
suitable candidates for immaculate conception, but as explained above,
that will make them more likely to be the mother of the mother of the
new Messiah or of a second John the Baptist; both Anna and Elizabeth
were apparently past the normal age of bearing.

I wonder how the lasses expected that they would be able to prove that
an offspring was the new Messiah.  And if it were a girl?

Ah, then of course SHE would/could be the eventual mother of the NM. 
Good planning by the Almighty  - giving Himself a few more years to
check if the times are ripe.