Where did the virgin birth story originate?

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   mintinfoposted 12 years ago

   Where did the virgin birth story originate?
   
   The biblical story of a virgin birth is not an original concept. How many cultures had similar accounts of the tale before Christianity adopted it?

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   scottcgruberposted 12 years ago

   Virgin births were a common feature in ancient mythology, from Greek and Roman to Babylonian to Assyrian myths. The Jesus story probably was influenced to an extent by all of these as early Christians spread the gospels to these areas and adapted them to the local culture.
   
   The story also has some origin in the Greek mistranslation of the Old Testament. In the Hebrew book of Isaiah, the prophet predicts that a young woman (almah) will give birth to a child named Emmanuel, and that this would signal the defeat of the enemies of king Ahaz. Greek scribes mistranslated almah to mean "virgin," however, and the authors of Matthew applied this mistranslation to the origin story of Jesus.

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   JimTxMillerposted 12 years ago

   In ancient Egypt Mut-em-ua, the virgin Queen of Egypt, was said to have given birth to the Pharaoh Amenkept III some 2000 years before the Christian era. The Egyptian god Ra was said to have been born of a virgin mother, Net. Virgin Isis gave birth to Horus. These and other virgin birth stories spread throughout the known world long before the advent of Christianity.

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   celafoeposted 12 years ago

   play with it all you wish--
   BUT only one of virgin birth was the Son of God and was prophesied about in complete and accurate detail for hundreds of years and then came and fulfilled ALL the prophesies including being killed and raised back to life.
   the others are all myths.   and if you believe some of them are real-ok but ONLY 1 came back from the dead as prophesied and as He said He would
   The man Jesus Christ.    His birth story can be found in the bible in the books of Matthew and Luke  .    And his whole story to date is found from Genesis to Revelation.   The final chapter is yet to be written but the details of it are found in the bible.

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   JThomp42posted 12 years ago

   In the manger..............................................................................

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      celafoeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      what are you trying to say??

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      JThomp42posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What I am saying is that is where Jesus was born. In a manger in Bethlehem.

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   Borsiaposted 12 years ago

   Virgin birth was a part of many stories long before the Christian version came along as many others here have mentioned.
   The entire story of Jesus was told numerous times before, over hundreds of years, with all of the elements from birth to death to rising again with the only real differences being the names and places. It was inscribed, if my memory is correct, on a temple wall in Egypt which might well have been heard by travelers from Rome and elsewhere. I want to say it was the temple of Izor but it has been a long time since I read about it and my aged memory isn’t all that good.
   In the times of Jesus there were many women claiming to have been impregnated by gods, it was actually rather common. Some were no doubt delusional and others trying to explain away pregnancies that couldn't have been from spouses who were away at the required time.
   The “Immaculate Inception” is often credited to a French girl named Bernadette who supposedly heard it from an angel by a spring. Or at least that was the fable.

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