I'm not sure if Mary or Jesus were real but if they were I think it's pretty much a given that Mary believed in Jesus.

IMO Mary was not a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus.

Matthew, did not meet Jesus until Jesus was about 30 years old. [Matthew 9:9]
Luke does not claim to be an eye witness but only a compiler who never had even met Jesus [Luke 1:1-3]
So both gospel writers who report the virgin birth were at least 30 years away from Jesus’ birth.
How could they know about Jesus’ birth?

My mother always tells me that I was born of a virgin.
Just like Jesus, there is no way to tell if a mother was a virgin when her child was born, nor is their any way to tell if a child was born of a virgin.

About the time that Mary became pregnant she went on a trip to visit her relative, Elizabeth, in the hill country. [Luke 1:39] So she was not being watched by her family or the people of her town. Any five minute interlude could have done the deed.

The relatives and people of Mary’s town could not be witnesses of Mary’s virginity. When it was noticed Mary was pregnant Joseph didn’t want to disgrace or embarrass Mary . [Matthew 1:18-19] So Joseph probably took “credit” for Mary’s pregnancy. To tell everyone that Mary was pregnant and still a virgin would have been ridiculous. Nobody would have believed him. LOL.

So the only possible witness could have been Mary, herself. Why should we believe her? Mary’s two or three witnesses are no where in sight.
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No contradiction. The earliest Christians were all Jews. They celebrated the Jewish Sabbath. A conversion from Judaism to Christianity wasn't required. Jesus was considered to be the Jewish Messiah. "Christ", or Christos, is the Greek word for Messiah. Even "Jesus" is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew/Aramaic name Joshua.

She's held up as the (unattainable) paragon of women: sinless, "virgin" (thanks to a translation error), chosen of God. God chose Mary to do this thing, and although she was scared about it, she submitted her will, with perfect obedience, to the will of God. Mary is perfect. Be like Mary. Bleh.

People talk about "intercession", but really I think the appeal of Mary a) for the church, is as an example of how women are meant to behave; and b) for women, is because she's the only woman in the whole schema who has any real prestige--and it's unquestionable, unassailable prestige.

I went to a Catholic grade school and had Mass twice weekly K-6. The only time I whole-heartedly enjoyed and looked forward to church was when we crowned the statue of Mary on "May Day". There was something primal--elemental?--about that rite and observance that pulled on me, like a magnetic attraction. Consciously I considered it was the only time we actively honored a woman. It wasn't until much later I realized my attraction more likely stems from the fact that it's a Catholic rebranding of a pagan tradition--and I have a natural affinity for "pagan" ideals, like reverence for nature, celebrating the turning of the seasons, honoring women and men equally, etc.

But wait, in Matthew 1 "16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah." So, in the prophecy, which Jewish scholars say was misrepresented in the Bible, Jesus had to be direct line of David and Abraham. But that is through Joseph in Matthew. So, was Joseph the father or god. If Joseph is the father, he's not the son of god. If God is the father, Jesus is not of the line of Abraham or David. Boom! Can't be the Messiah based on lineage in the Bible.

As my tour guide in the Vatican said, "of course, she is divine"

She is also the immaculate conception. The catholics don't worshipher according to them. I love listening to the catholic channel on the tv and on radio They have an hour long program called catholic answers live.

All religions are confusing Lol