The theologian was meaningfully silent.
– Please pay attention here and draw conclusions. First of all, in the first case she knows about her pregnancy… or at least Joseph knows from somewhere. If we take her ignorance as truth, then it is absurd. The next conclusion is that the Gospels were written at different times, with a disregard for accuracy, sloppiness in the approach to the work, or incompetence on the part of the scribes. Why? Here's why. Look at the dialog between Mary and the Angel. Based on it, Mary did not know she was pregnant. But in Matthew's story, she did. At least she should have known, and not just her. Otherwise, how did Joseph know? Or, if we take such a version, she grew a belly before time, Joseph, having realized the essence, was indignant, then for her it should not have been news for sure. And also – look at Luke's description: in fact, she is not pregnant yet, based on the angel's warning, "…and behold, you will conceive (!!!) in the womb…". This is just an example of how the story is told. Let's not cling to words. For, let me also explain myself in the rhetoric of those who use expressions accepted in the parochial canon. You will agree that if you analyze the biblical accounts with an open mind, the whole rhetoric of those who are committed to the truth of the biblical events and those who are against, i.e. do not believe or doubt, is built on this kind of argument and arguments. I have already said, here it is written this and that. And here it says this and that, and from this follows this and that. Is it funny? Me too. But to me it is because of the argument, in which the criterion of truth and untruth is not a fact, but someone's presentation of some history. You understand correctly, even if many sources will write about some historical object, for example, about sword escalibur, that it belonged to the person, which according to chronicles exactly existed, – it will not be a fact concerning this weapon, especially in the aspect of modern beliefs, if radiocarbon analysis will show, will prove its manufacturing later than the attributed events. But if around a certain history there will be a lot of various tales, and with a philosophical and instructive bias, and also serve to attract adherents, plus to everything – if with the coincidence of time there will be opponents and refuting, and even alternative histories, in this case, firstly, it will be forgotten and few people will wonder whether it happened at all, and secondly, different combinations of statements will be interpreted in their own way in order to prove their rightness, and in some cases, for example, biblical, their holiness. After all, disputes to prove, as it were, the improvement of a religious doctrine, exactly the type of this doctrine (as disputes can take place within one confession), are conducted with the purpose to prove the best, let me put it this way, the holiness, divinity of one's religion, confession, sect. The disputes about the Immaculate Conception follow the same scenario. Some rely on faith and spirituality, others on logic and realism. For example, realists believe that it is a myth created by Christians to emphasize the importance of Jesus. Incidentally, realists may well be Christians themselves. For example, Protestant theologian Harry Emerson Fosdick put it this way: "Belief in the immaculate birth as an explanation for the identity of a great man is a well-known way in which extraordinary exceptionalism was explained in antiquity." I have already described numerous examples in myths and legends.
Nomor stopped his narration, stopped "marching" along the route he had set, looked thoughtfully at those to whom his speech was dedicated. He summarized:
– Let's have a little smile.
The audience supported his call. After receiving the energy charge, he continued:
– It is quite logical that Christians, wanting to win over the pagan audience, presented them with the virgin conception of Jesus, because such a thing was in the practice of deification. It had happened more than once. This was another rebuke to Jesus, the desire of the Jewish clergy to destroy him and his sect. However, he and his company knew what they were doing. They understood: to win, to assert their power over the souls and minds of people, they needed to consistently and firmly assert their postulates, to attract slaves, those who had nothing to lose, as Vladimir Ilyich said, "nothing but their chains. So that it would have the effect of sacrifice for salvation. That is, they were already oppressed, so the affirmation of their faith gave them an invisible weapon, power, which they were deprived of in the material world… moreover, according to their faith it turned out that after death they would live in some divine kingdom. This infuriated those in power. This consistency, despite oppression and oppressions, led not just to a belief in the Immaculate Conception – to a subconscious doubt that such a thing was impossible. Even people with the logic of empirical thinking began to speculate about the reality of it, even if invested with the thought of a highly developed civilization, which in this way tries to tune mankind to the desired manner and policy of behavior.
Nomor took a heavy breath, sipped some water. Pluto took advantage of the pause.
– What was it really like? Your personal version.
– You may laugh, but I'll tell you, a century to learn…" he smiled and added: "I'll even say, now it's possible, an eternity to learn and…" he smiled again.
His smile infected many experts in the audience, though not all of them. Some, on the contrary, became more serious, even glanced ironically at their colleagues in the program. Nomor, noticing this, explained his opinion:
– In connection with the discovery of the method of traveling between worlds… and the worlds themselves, and the worlds being in different time chronology in relation to the development of human society on our planet… we can check how it was and is there. So I will answer the question: if I believe in miracles, it is only in that scientific conception, which speaks about not yet revealed this phenomenon by the level of science. The other side of this logic is unconditional faith. That is faith without conditions. And without conditions one can believe in anything. Logically, I believe in rationality and reality. And most importantly, as one very wise saint said, God does not perform miracles for the amusement of people. By the way, this is how he revealed himself about the extraction of the gracious fire from an ordinary lighter, with which he lit candles in the Kuvukliya6 .
– Oh! – Venus exclaimed, as if this revelation were her own personal tragedy.
Apparently determined to finish her off, Nomor added:
– Very often the Immaculate Conception is used in arguments in terms of proving the contrary. In fact, it played into the hands of Christians to attract like-minded people. Allegedly, the followers of Christ had to speak about his real conception from a man, because a pregnant girl not from her husband, and from whom it is unknown, was a disgrace. But here they omit the fact, and I frankly think they are lying, that conception by the Holy Spirit was a cult and privilege of gods or divine persons. Here I must make a footnote – see the beginning of the lecture. Although I would feel more comfortable saying – stories. It's not like we're listening to all this for an exam.
Smiles appeared on faces, mostly those that were younger.
– As for belief or non-belief, in particular, in this and similar things, I will say this, which, by the way, I always say, or rather, I stipulate in advance, so as not to be accused of offending the feelings of believers, as it is fashionable to say nowadays, – you are as right in your belief as atheists are in their non-belief. Just as, indeed, adherents of another religion are right in their disbelief in what to you is a sacred tenet of your religion. So you may believe this, someone may believe that which is not true, and someone may believe something that we both will not believe, yet to them we will be… there are a lot of words you could put here, from unbeliever to Satanist. In religious interpretation, being born of God, of the Holy Spirit, unmarried, immaculate is, to put it mildly, the sweetest magic for those who perceive reality in terms of scientific interpretation. After all, believers in the divine origin of the world and man in no way deny the creation of the world, the universe, and everything simply by the dictates and wishes of God, and instantly. Although no… in six days.....
