Catholic doctrine takes the position that Mary is sinless and a perpetual virgin. She is honoured in the Church as "Queen of Heaven" and the perfect disciple of Christ.
This thread is for discussing that topic from a Catholic perspective vs other kinds of Christian perspectives. For the sake of this discussion, the focus is not on prayer to saints and only pertains to the question of whether Mary is 1) sinless, 2) perpetually virginal, 3) "Queen of Heaven" in a sense that differs from "queen of heaven" in Jer 44:19.
For the purpose of discussion, the Bible is considered to be true. The test is to evaluate a) whether the position is consistent with scripture, and b) if consistent, whether it is compellingly the case from scripture.
Some verses that are used against the Catholic position:
- References to brothers and sisters of Jesus
- Joseph not consummating the marriage "until" after Jesus' birth
True, but I think it goes even further than that for many of the points listed. We are discussing multiple languages (Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English, etc.) and the nuances of translation. Also we need to mention that the culture and understanding of the world and language and customs is very different today, so interpreting any Bible passage truly needs more than just the English words.
AugustineOfHippo2 1 points 1 month ago
True, but I think it goes even further than that for many of the points listed. We are discussing multiple languages (Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English, etc.) and the nuances of translation. Also we need to mention that the culture and understanding of the world and language and customs is very different today, so interpreting any Bible passage truly needs more than just the English words.