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And just, for a minute, just what?? if that is true.

There was no word to aptly describe “cousins”, so those realatives were called brothers and sisters.

Mary had no other children.

Aren’t you familiar with the Ark of Old Covenant and how the person who touched it died instantly?

Well, Mary is the Ark (in her womb) of the New Covenant — Jesus Christ. I believe that anyone who would have tried to touch her in the way you are thinking (sexually) would have died instantly.

Read about St. Joseph and how he and the Blessed Virgin Mary lived celibate lives.

Sal, I get where you are coming from and I am NOT trying to nitpick or start a fight. Douay-Rheims Bible And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. Matthew 1:25 This verse used to get me in trouble in Catholic school religion classes as a kid. As and adult, I learned that the perpetual virginity of marriage was affirmed by the 4th century (ἀειπαρθένος) and rose about the same time as the concept of celibate marriages in the church. The Greek word for "know" is ἐγίνωσκεν and is used in various forms from the root to refer to sexual intercourse. For Protestants, it doesn't matter. For Catholics, I know and understand that is a major doctrine, yet I don't really understand why even after all these years studying Catholic church history professionally.

—Mary had no other children.—

There is no evidence to make such a ridiculous claim. You can claim that the word for “brother” is the same for “cousin”. Does that mean that, therefore, the word mean’t cousin when used in the bible? No. And the scripture to which you refer is not the only reference to Jesus brother(s).

There is plenty of evidence in the bible that whould cause a reasonable person to say Jesus probably had brothers. There is not one shred of evidence that would cause one to say Jesus could not have had any brothers.

—Aren’t you familiar with the Ark of Old Covenant and how the person who touched it died instantly?

Well, Mary is the Ark (in her womb) of the New Covenant — Jesus Christ. I believe that anyone who would have tried to touch her in the way you are thinking (sexually) would have died instantly.—

Did God tell them not to touch the ark? Yes. Did God tell them not to touch Mary? No. They are two completely different things. People died for touching the ark because they were expressly told not to. Joseph was told not to have sex with Mary while she carried Jesus. It is very, VERY clear. He was not told to NEVER have sex with her.

You, or whoever helped form your opinion on this, are being too smart by half. You are reading information between the lines that is not there while ignoring what is in the lines themselves. You are literally suggesting that there is some magical “unspoken” reason that people died when touching the ark while ignoring God expressly said NOT to do it, and you are saying that a person could touch Mary all they wanted but not in “that way” because of some magical power of God, while he gave no instruction to not do it.

See the difference?

—Read about St. Joseph and how he and the Blessed Virgin Mary lived celibate lives.—

It’s not in there. Nowhere. It is also not relevant. Whether Joseph or Mary had sex after Jesus’ birth is no more relevant to us than the frequency of their bowel movements. They were a married couple and all that that implies. Read about it in 1 Corinthians, or the old testament for that matter.

Arguing whether or not Mary had sex with her husband AFTER Jesus’ birth is like arguing the color of the donkey Jesus rode. It is irrelevant to Christianity.