A priest was telling me that he was asked to talk to some Hebrew students. This was a seventh/eighth grade. One boy challenged the priest with the statement, "How can you follow a religion based on rape?"
He was blindsided by this question and couldn't think and finally muttered something.
This story has been echoing in my mind ever since. How would I have responded?
I would have said that the Blessed Virgin Mary was predicted. Scriptures prove the virgin birth and it certainly wasn't rape. The angel Gabriel asked Mary if she would consent to the conception of the Son of the Most High.
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
Mary's consent is called her FIAT.
Back to the prophesies that this would happen:
But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathat least among the clans of Judah, from you, shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. There the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne... Micah 5: 2
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. Isaiah 7: 14
Open to argument is Psalm 45. This psalm is a song for a royal wedding. When I read Psalm 45 I see the praise for Mary. How do you read it?
