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<p>In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Cy Kellett sits down with Karlo Broussard to explore one of the most honest and difficult questions many Christians face. Karlo unpacks why emotional experience isn&#8217;t the final word on truth, and how the Catholic Church offers something deeper than feeling.</p>
<p><strong>Transcript:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Caller:</strong> I have this very close friend who recently found himself at home in an evangelical church. He&#8217;s very intelligent, and we&#8217;ve been having religious conversations. I&#8217;m Catholic, but when I talk Catholic doctrine with him, when I send him resources, he says that he will look because he&#8217;s curious and he wants to know. But even if he believes everything the Catholic Church teaches and some of the things his pastor is preaching are wrong, he won&#8217;t change churches because of that, because where he is right now is why he feels good.</p>
<p>So he says he&#8217;s tried a lot of different churches before, both Catholic and Evangelical, and this is the first one that he likes. And if someday he stops liking it, then he will look for another church. So I guess my question is, how would you normally approach someone like this in order to try to convince them there&#8217;s maybe something more important than just feeling good, namely the truth?</p>
<p>Yeah, yeah, okay. So that&#8217;s how, what I would like your help with.</p>
<p><strong>Karlo:</strong> Yeah, so, brother, you actually stole my thunder. I was about to go exactly where you went right at the end there. That it&#8217;s not about what we like or don&#8217;t like, what makes us feel comfortable or not, or gives us emotional highs or not. The real ultimate question is, is this true?</p>
<p>Now, in one sense, your friend can start that inquiry with individual theological teachings and this church and this community and that community and the Catholic Church, or he can start more generally by asking, what is the true church of Jesus Christ? Did Jesus Christ establish a church? And if so, where is that church to this day? Assuming that Jesus promised his church would be with us until the end of the world?</p>
<p>Those are the sorts of questions, Igor, that you can invite your friend to begin entertaining and then walk with him in trying to answer those questions. And of course, we have all of the resources at catholic.com for free online. And then we have our Catholic Answers bookstore at shop.catholic.com that can assist you in walking with your friend and answering these questions.</p>
<p>Did Jesus establish a church? Yeah, he said, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to build my church upon this rock&#8221; in Matthew 16:18. And then you can explain to your friend that we would exegete that text and interpret that rock to be Peter in light of the immediate context and how Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, establishing him, as I was talking earlier in the broadcast, as the leader of the Apostolic College and the head and the leader of the church that Jesus is building here on this earth.</p>
<p>And so we see that Jesus establishes a church. He tells us elsewhere that this church will exist until the end of time. He hints at this in Matthew 28, verse 20. St. Paul talks about it in his letter to the Ephesians when he talks about the Church existing from age unto age. And so whatever is part and parcel of the church will always exist until the end of the age.</p>
<p>Peter&#8217;s leadership role is part and parcel of the Church. And so therefore, Peter&#8217;s leadership role will exist until the end of time. And the only way that can be is to have successors to St. Peter and whatever bishop Frick he died in, which is the Bishop of Rome.</p>
<p>And so, given that explanation, Igor, you can see that, hey, at least from a Catholic perspective, the reason why you ought to be Catholic is because Jesus started the Catholic Church. That&#8217;s ultimately the answer that requires justification and defense, a little bit of which I provided already with Matthew 16:18-19.</p>
<p>But that&#8217;s sort of the approach, Igor, that you kind of have to take with somebody like this to try to get them to see that it&#8217;s not about what you like or dislike. Okay, you might not like your family members, but that doesn&#8217;t mean they aren&#8217;t your family members. Right? You know, we can&#8217;t, like, say, &#8220;Oh, well, I&#8217;m no longer a member of the family just because I don&#8217;t like my family members.&#8221;</p>
<p>So it&#8217;s about what is true. And the question is, is the Catholic Church the original church of Jesus? We say yes. So the question is, is that true? And if it is true, well, then your friend ought to become Catholic, assuming that he loves Christ. If he doesn&#8217;t love Jesus, well, then we got to take a step back and start talking about whether we should love Jesus and believe in him.</p>
<p>But assuming that&#8217;s in place, then the ultimate question is, which church did Jesus establish and where is it at today? And if it is the Catholic Church, then out of love for Christ, he ought to be Catholic. What do you think of that, Igor? Was that helpful?</p>
<p><strong>Caller:</strong> Yeah, yeah, it was helpful. Thank you. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think he would normally. That&#8217;s a rational approach, but he would normally just. I think he would normally come back and say something like, &#8220;I&#8217;ve given myself to Christ, and I think that really he really loves me and I love him, and it doesn&#8217;t really matter what church I go to.&#8221;</p>
<p>And I mean, he keeps asking sometimes how that affects his salvation. I&#8217;m trying to be very careful to tread that line, of course, not to say that he&#8217;s damning himself or something like that. But, yeah, I don&#8217;t know.</p>
<p><strong>Karlo:</strong> Okay. All right, well, let me share a couple of thoughts. Let me share a couple of thoughts here, Igor, and see if this will be helpful.</p>
<p>So, two things here. Your friend said, &#8220;I&#8217;ve given my life to Christ. He loves me, I love Him. So it doesn&#8217;t matter which church I belong to.&#8221; But wait a minute. If you love Christ, well, wouldn&#8217;t it follow that we should belong to the community that he established, to the church that he established?</p>
<p>And I mean, think about this. If he loves me, well, then wouldn&#8217;t Jesus want me to belong to that church? Because that&#8217;s where I&#8217;m going to experience his love the most. And so it actually is the case that it does matter which church we belong to precisely because we love Christ.</p>
<p>So you might want to gently challenge him on that and try to get him to see that love of Christ is the very motivation for why we should want to belong to the church that Jesus established, whatever church that might be.</p>
<p>Now, the second thing you brought up there at the end, and it slipped my mind. I forgot it. I thought I had it in the bag, but I forgot. Oh, yes, his salvation.</p>
<p>Consider this line of approach, Igor. You can share with him and say, &#8220;Hey, look, friend, yes, it&#8217;s true that it&#8217;s possible that you could be saved outside of the Catholic Church if you&#8217;re not responsible for your ignorance of the Catholic Church and stuff. That&#8217;s possible. But consider this. If the Catholic Church is the church that Jesus gave us, then it would follow from that that all of the gifts that Jesus wills for me to experience and use and have for my salvation are present there.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other words, we have all the apples in the basket, all of the gifts, life and truth that Jesus wills for you individually, for you to be saved and to intensify and live out that saving relationship with living life to the full with great joy. The Catholic Church has those gifts.</p>
<p>And so even though it&#8217;s possible for you to be saved outside the Catholic Church, under certain conditions, you still want to be Catholic to enjoy and experience all of the gifts that Christ wants you to have and that he wants me to have to experience the Christian life in full.</p>
<p>And so the question becomes, do you want to experience the Christian life in full? And assuming we can presume that the answer would be yes because he loves Christ and he said so, well, then you want to belong to the church that can help you fulfill that desire to live the Christian life to the full.</p>
<p>And that&#8217;s, so we would argue, the Catholic Church. If Christ started the Catholic Church, then the Catholic Church would be the answer to that question of providing everything that is needed to live the Christian life to the full.</p>
<p>Igor, thank you so much for your question there. Hopefully, all goes well with your friend. We&#8217;ll be praying for him. Praying for you as well.</p>

If I Feel Closer to God as a Protestant, Why Be Catholic?

Is it necessary to dive into childhood or is it more about exposure?

Can a moms feeling of just being overwhelmed actually be anxiety?

I’m a middle school teacher. What tips do you have for helping my students through anxiety?

I’m so filled with anxiety that I have torn up my skin and have ulcers. I need help in mitigating this experience?

How do you deal with anxiety knowing that you’ll always fall to sin?

Thought my anxiety would go away after being sober for 4.5 years. How do I deal with it now that it hasn’t gone away?

How do you deal with anxieties when you don’t realize you have anxiety until it boils over?

Overcoming Anxiety

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<h3>Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 557</h3>
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<h4>Reading 1    <a href="http://cms.usccb.org/bible/1john/1:5">1 JN 1:5B-2:2</a></h4>
<div class="poetry">Beloved:<br/>
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ<br/>
and proclaim to you: God is light,<br/>
and in him there is no darkness at all.<br/>
If we say, &#8220;We have fellowship with him,&#8221;<br/>
while we continue to walk in darkness,<br/>
we lie and do not act in truth.<br/>
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,<br/>
then we have fellowship with one another,<br/>
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.<br/>
If we say, &#8220;We are without sin,&#8221; we deceive ourselves,<br/>
and the truth is not in us.<br/>
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just<br/>
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.<br/>
If we say, &#8220;We have not sinned,&#8221; we make him a liar,<br/>
and his word is not in us.
<p>My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin.<br/>
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,<br/>
Jesus Christ the righteous one.<br/>
He is expiation for our sins,<br/>
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.</p></div>
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<h4>Responsorial Psalm    <a href="http://cms.usccb.org/bible/psalms/103:1">PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 13-14, 17-18</a></h4>
<div class="poetry">R.    (1)  <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong><br/>
Bless the LORD, O my soul;<br/>
and all my being, bless his holy name!<br/>
Bless the LORD, O my soul;<br/>
and forget not all his benefits.<br/>
R.     <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong><br/>
He pardons all your iniquities,<br/>
he heals all your ills.<br/>
He redeems your life from destruction,<br/>
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.<br/>
R.      <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong><br/>
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,<br/>
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.<br/>
He will not always chide,<br/>
nor does he keep his wrath forever.<br/>
R.    <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong><br/>
As a father has compassion on his children,<br/>
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,<br/>
For he knows how we are formed;<br/>
he remembers that we are dust.<br/>
R.    <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong><br/>
But the kindness of the LORD is from eternity<br/>
to eternity toward those who fear him,<br/>
And his justice toward his children&#8217;s children<br/>
among those who keep his covenant.<br/>
R.    <strong>O, bless the Lord, my soul!</strong></div>
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<h4>Alleluia    <a href="http://cms.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11:25">SEE MT 11:25</a></h4>
<div class="poetry">R.    <strong>Alleluia, alleluia.</strong><br/>
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;<br/>
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.<br/>
R.    <strong>Alleluia, alleluia.</strong></div>
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<h4>Gospel    <a href="http://cms.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11:25">MT 11:25-30</a></h4>
<div class="poetry">At that time Jesus responded:<br/>
&#8220;I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,<br/>
for although you have hidden these things<br/>
from the wise and the learned<br/>
you have revealed them to the childlike.<br/>
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.<br/>
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.<br/>
No one knows the Son except the Father,<br/>
and no one knows the Father except the Son<br/>
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
<p>&#8220;Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,<br/>
and I will give you rest.<br/>
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,<br/>
for I am meek and humble of heart;<br/>
and you will find rest for yourselves.<br/>
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.&#8221;</p></div>
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<div>Source: <a href="http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings">cms.usccb.org</a></div>
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Daily Holy Mass: Wednesday, April 29, 2020

How would you explain to a protestant that the reformation did more harm than good?

How would I reply to a friend who says that a Catholic shouldn’t judge a gay relationship?

Can I receive communion more than once a day?

Our priest seems to rush the Mass. Is it appropriate to approach him and ask him to slow down?

Is it good to assume that the people being addressed in Romans 10 were already baptized with great faith? Thus, faith being what was needed for salvation for them?

My friend favors the spiritual presence view of the eucharist? How do I explain to him that this view is insufficient?

I’m thinking of leaving the Catholic church because they won’t give the precious blood? Why am I being denied a sacrament?

I agree with the limiting of microplastics. We need to do what we can to save God’s planet?

Are the different Churches in the new testaments akin to what today are modern dioceses?

In light of 2 Cor 5:20, what is a good way to evangelize senior citizens whose memory isn’t good?

Ask Me Anything

When we choose our investments for retirement, can a Catholic invest in companies who we know are contributing money to Planned Parenthood?

Since James was writing before the events of Acts 15, did he fully understand the gospel?

How would you talk to someone for the World Mission Society, Church of God?

How do I evangelize my agnostic brother?

Can you recommend a source on the history of communion?

Is it permissible to bless my home with blessed oil?

Why do Catholics keep using the word pray when it comes to communicating with the saints? If they change the wording it may not cause as much confusion?

Do you think an individual blessing given during communion is in violation of Fiducia Supplicans?

Catholic Answers Focus: The Hidden Rebellion

<p>Father James Boric, the rector of America&#8217;s first cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, joins us to explain why he chose Eucharistic adoration as a cornerstone of his parish-building efforts. It turns out there is a lot of power in sitting quietly with Jesus.</p>

What Good Does Adoration Do?

My Methodist friend hasn’t been to church in a long time and doesn’t drive. How can I help her keep the Lords Day holy over the phone?

Mark’s gospel was written first and based on Peter’s account. Are the others written based on the account of other apostles?

How do we Catholics formulate our belief on assurance of salvation?

What tips do you have for evangelizing one’s Baptist family?

Does John 13:6-10 teach parental or judicial forgiveness?

Why in the debate with Bart Ehrmann, he had a disagreement about Jesus saying He was divine in the synoptic gospels? Why?

I heard a claim that the Church wanted Luther dead, is this true?

How should we treat the death of the Pope? Can we say he is already in heaven?

How can the historical Adam and Eve fit in with modern evolutionary science?

Was Jesus born in a cave or a house?

Can I go to a Protestant service, if I still go to Mass?

I heard there is a reentering of communion between Rome and Anglicans. Will this be on hold with the passing of Pope Francis?

Can you explain the Orthodox claim that the church was originally beyond just Rome because Peter founded a church in Antioch?

<p>Can Catholics believe in both a historical Adam and Eve and modern evolutionary theory? We explore how Church teaching reconciles faith and science, along with insights on Jesus’ divinity in the Gospels, the death of a pope, and Catholic relations with Protestants and Orthodox Christians.</p>
<p>Join The <em>CA Live Club</em> Newsletter: <a href="https://wvw.catholic.com/radioclub?email">Click Here</a></p>

How Can Adam and Eve Fit with Modern Evolutionary Science?

<p>There’s a popular myth that Jesus never claimed to be God and wasn’t originally thought of as divine by his followers. For instance, in his book <a href="https://www.bartehrman.com/how-jesus-became-god/"><em>How Jesus Became God</em></a>, the atheist New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman claims that “Jesus was not originally considered to be God in any sense at all, and . . . he eventually became divine for his followers in some sense before he came to be thought of as equal with God Almighty in an absolute sense.”</p>
<p>Part of his argument is that in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, “Jesus never makes explicit divine claims about himself” and that these divine-sounding claims appear only in the last of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John. And certainly, by the time we get to the Gospel of John, it’s clear that Jesus’ followers consider him divine. John begins his Gospel by declaring Jesus “the Word” and says that “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).</p>
<p><strong>One problem with the idea that belief in Jesus’ divinity emerged slowly</strong> among Christians is that St. Paul, considered the <em>first</em> to write, clearly believes that Jesus is divine. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul quotes a hymn that says of Jesus that “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:6-7).</p>
<p>Ehrman admits the problem, asking, “Didn’t a ‘low’ Christology” develop into “a ‘high’ Christology over time? And if so, shouldn’t the views of the Synoptic Gospels be ‘higher’ than the views of Paul? But they’re not!” His solution, on the basis of a misreading of Galatians 4:14, is to advance the bizarre argument that, in fact, “Paul understood Christ to be an angel who became a human.”</p>
<p>Such a view seriously misunderstands the Old Testament background to Paul’s theology. In the prophet Isaiah, the God of Israel (YHWH) declares, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear’” (45:22-23). Yet Paul applies these words to Jesus, saying “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). That’s presenting Jesus not simply as an angel, but as the one God.</p>
<p>There’s also the problem of what Jesus claims about himself, even in the Synoptic Gospels. It’s true that Jesus never simply says, “Hello, I’m the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, true God and true man,” and so if <em>that’s</em> what you’re looking for, you won’t find it. But he does say of himself that “something greater than the Temple is here,” and then he calls himself “guiltless,” and then says that “the Son of man is lord of the sabbath” (Matt. 12:6-8; cf. Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).</p>
<p><strong>To see the gravity of these words, you need to know their Old Testament background.</strong> The Temple in Jerusalem was “the most holy temple in all the world” (2 Macc. 5:15), and the Holy of Holies within was “the most holy place” (1 Kings 7:50). Why? Because “the Lord is in his holy temple” (Hab. 2:20). For Jesus to declare himself greater than <em>that</em> is to make what’s clearly a divine claim.</p>
<p>Likewise, the Lord of the Sabbath is God himself. In the Ten Commandments, God declares, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.” This is explicitly a day set aside to the one God who created all things, since “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exod. 20:8-11).</p>
<p>It’s worth remembering that Israel had, by this time, a rich tradition of prophets speaking on behalf of God. And none of them spoke like this, presenting <em>himself </em>as greater than the Temple or the Sabbath.</p>
<p>In John’s Gospel, we’re told that “the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). But John’s just explaining explicitly something we see in the other three Gospels. For instance, in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus describes himself as the Lord, as the judge of all the world, and as the unique Son of the Father:</p>
<blockquote><p>Not every one who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.”</p></blockquote>
<p>It’s true: he doesn’t explicitly say that in calling God his Father, he’s making himself equal to God. But he doesn’t need to say it. His listeners understand this, and ultimately, they arrest him for blasphemy. It is now time for Jesus to speak plainly. On trial, the high priest demands, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” And Jesus replies, “You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest is outraged, tearing his robes, and saying to the others, “He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy” (Matt. 26:63-65).</p>
<p><strong>This is the pivotal moment in all three of the Synoptic Gospels</strong> (Mark 14:64; Luke 22:71): that Jesus was turned over to the Romans for execution because he was found guilty of “blasphemy” for presenting himself as the Son of God. And this is presented not as a misunderstanding, but as the scribes and Pharisees having “rejected the purpose of God for themselves” (see Luke 7:30), thereby fulfilling another of Jesus’ grand predictions: that “as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:24-25).</p>
<p>Jesus was killed for making statements about himself that clearly implied that he was not only a divine being of some kind, but the one God of Israel. If you miss this, then you miss the whole point of each of the four Gospels, as well as the message of St. Paul and the other New Testament authors.</p>

‘But Jesus Never Said He Was God’

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<p><strong><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'segoe ui', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'helvetica neue', sans-serif;">DAY 155</span></strong></p>
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<p>“If John’s Gospel is reliable, why is it different from the others?”</p>
<p><strong>DEFENSE</strong></p>
<p>Every author has his own style, and John was supplementing the other Gospels.</p>
<p>Differences between John and the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are often exaggerated. They tell the same basic story, referring to many of the same incidents in Jesus’ life (the Baptism by John, early preaching in Galilee, feeding the 5,000, later ministry in Judaea, the triumphal entry, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and Resurrection).</p>
<p>The differences are principally of two types: (1) matters of style and (2) incidents John mentions that the synoptics omit or vice versa.</p>
<p>In terms of style, John presents Jesus’ teachings in extended speeches rather than pithy sayings. Before tape recorders, long speeches in historical documents involved reconstruction, which the audience knew. The claim was not that a historical speech was a word-for-word transcript, but that it accurately conveyed the thought of the speaker. John was an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry (21:24) and was thus in a position to accurately express Jesus’ thought in his own literary style (see Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, 1:229).</p>
<p>That John includes incidents the synoptic Gospels omit and vice versa is primarily because he is writing to supplement the synoptics. Early sources indicate he was urged to supplement what they had written (see Eusebius, Church History 6:14:7) and that he initially expressed some reluctance to do so (see Muratorian Canon 9-16). This may ex- plain his statement that, were all of Jesus’ deeds to be recorded, “I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (21:25).”</p>
<p>John expects his readers to know the synoptic tradition. In 3:24 he mentions John the Baptist “had not yet been put in prison”—the imprisonment being mentioned in the synoptics but not elsewhere in John.</p>
<p>Comparing John and Mark reveals John’s outline is structured so its events fit around those recorded in Mark (see Jimmy Akin, “Did John Use Mark as a Template?” online at JimmyAkin.com; Richard Bauckham, “John for Readers of Mark” in The Gospels for All Chris- tians). This reveals John intended to supplement the synoptic tradition.</p>
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Why Is John’s Gospel Different?

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<p><strong>DAY 254</strong></p>
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<p>&#8220;Isaiah’s prophecy of Immanuel (Isa. 7:14) doesn’t apply to Jesus. It doesn’t say ‘a virgin shall conceive.’ The Hebrew word ‘almāh doesn’t mean ‘virgin,’ but ‘young woman.’”</p>
<p><strong>DEFENSE</strong></p>
<p>Actually, ‘almāh can mean either.</p>
<p>Its basic meaning is a young woman of marriageable age. In Hebrew society, such women were expected to be and normally were virgins. The term thus was sometimes used to indicate virginity, though not always. After reviewing how the term is used in the Old Testament, John Watts concludes: “It is difficult to find a word in English that is capable of the same range of meaning. ‘Virgin’ is too narrow, while ‘young woman’ is too broad (<em>Word Biblical Commentary</em>, <em>vol.</em> 24: <em>Isaiah</em> 1–33 (rev. ed.), 136).</p>
<p>Translators therefore have to choose how to render it in particular cases. Watts points out (ibid.) that the translators of the Greek Septuagint rendered it <em>parthenos</em> (“virgin”), while other Greek translators used <em>neanis</em> (“young woman”).</p>
<p>We elsewhere discuss the fact that, on the primary, literal level, the Immanuel prophecy was fulfilled in the time of King Ahaz (732–716 B.C.) and that the child was, perhaps, his son Hezekiah (see Day 253). If so, the <em>’almāh</em> in question would have been Hezekiah’s mother, Abijah (2 Chron. 29:1). Either way, some young woman known to Ahaz conceived the child.</p>
<p>This young woman may still have been a virgin at the time the prophecy was given, in which case the Greek translation <em>parthenos</em> would have applied to her in a precise way. Even if she was not a virgin, prophetic texts operate on more than one level, and this one had a greater fulfillment that occurred long after Ahaz’s time.</p>
<p>When that fulfillment occurred, God chose a woman—Mary— who was not only a virgin but who conceived while remaining a virgin (Matt. 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–35). Also, the child she bore was not simply called “Immanuel” (as Hezekiah may have been called early in life, as a second name; cf. 2 Sam. 12:24–25). Instead, the child was <em>literally</em> “God with us.”</p>
<p>In view of this, the first Christians looked back on Isaiah’s prophecy and naturally saw it fulfilled in Jesus. The connection would have been obvious from the Hebrew text alone, and the fact that, by divine providence, the Septuagint translators had used the term <em>parthenos</em> only underscored the point.</p>
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A Virgin Shall Conceive