THE DEBATE ABOUT MARY'S AGE

‘Why do Christians always take things the Bible say hook, line and sinker’? ‘And please don’t give me the talk about the Bible being written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit because in the end they are still men as such human influence will affect whatever revelation they receive’. That was a colleague of mine expressing her opinion about Christians believing all that is written in the Bible. This isn’t wrong as it is ‘HER OPINION’, I mean we are all entitled to our opinions aren’t we?

Now here’s what happened, I was walking past her office when she stopped me to ask my opinion on some article another colleague presented about Mary the Mother of Christ being 15years old when she was conceived of the Holy Ghost and as such was an under aged girl when she was picked by God.

‘So your God picks under aged girls abi’? She scoffed. Haba, who come tell the person Mary age na? Na only him waka come o, because me I no see where dem write Mary age for Bible…I can’t fit shout abeg.

Did you read that Mary asked why she an under aged girl was chosen? Because the Bible clearly states that Mary’s response to the Angel Gabriel was ‘be it unto me according to thy word’ – Luke 1:38.

 I simply told her I had never read about it, besides Mary was clearly of marriageable age as she was to be married to Joseph the Carpenter – Matthew 1:18. Remember him?

That was what prompted her to express her opinion on Christians believing everything in the Bible and asked if I thought it was everything that happened in Jesus’ days that was written in the Bible.

I responded that I knew that there were other works of literature written as regards what happened before, during and after Christ’s days on earth but I wasn’t up to debating whether God picked an under aged girl to be the mother of Christ…simple.

‘No o she insisted, you have to say something o all you religious people’. I looked at her askance,’ me religious’? I simply sighed and gave my response.

‘I am not religious, Christianity for me is entering into a new life in Christ, following in his footsteps, obeying God’s commands and simply nurturing my relationship with Him. I do not think I am better than you are, I only have assurance of salvation. It’s a matter of Faith’.

I am all for questioning status quo and asking questions but with my Faith, it is what it is…FAITH. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, it is believing without a doubt even when you can’t see.

When my Mother says she loves me, I believe her without a doubt and what more? She has shown over the years that she loves me by the sacrifices she has made and by just being there. As it is with love so it is with faith for me. I believe without a doubt that God made me, sent his son to die for me because he so loved me and has given me the gift of his Holy Spirit FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!

So my Faith in God is about FAITH and though I haven’t seen God, I have seen his mighty works. I have experienced miracles and have seen same in the lives of those I know, I know the peace that comes from simply obeying his commands and surrendering all to him. This isn’t borne out of a desire to trust something unknown and bigger for the things in my life that I have no control over…God is not unknown, he speaks to me daily and I have the full assurance of him being present…always.

Now back to Mary’s age I decided to ask my question, ‘who told the researcher Mary’s age’? My colleague responded that he was a historian and he had proofs from works of literature written about Jesus’ time on earth.

I asked again ‘So what makes you think he is right and the Bible is wrong? ‘What makes you think you can believe what the man wrote but Christians can’t believe what the Bible wrote’?

At this point I remembered that I had plans to get to the Salon to get my hair done and simply walked away.