"Was Jesus really born of a virgin?"

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"Was Jesus really born of a virgin?"

Matthew 1:18-20 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."

This is one of the most miraculous claim made in the Bible. Was Jesus really born of a virgin? Was this a common story in other religious traditions? Why do only half of the gospels discuss the virgin birth?

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"Should prayer be public?"

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"Should prayer be public?"

Matthew 6:5-6 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is such a prominent aspect of Christianity. Why do these verses seem to condemn the practice in public? Are all people who pray publicly hypocrites? What "reward" have the hypocrites already received? Why are there so many instances of public prayer elsewhere in the Bible? If public prayer is acceptable then what is the purpose of this passage? Does prayer even work?

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"Why did Jesus have to cast demons into pigs?"

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Matthew 8:28-32 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, the two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him saying, "If you cast us out, send us away in the herd of pigs." And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

In these verses were are told that Jesus cures two men of demonic possession by casting the demons into a herd of pigs that proceed to run into the sea and drown. Why did Jesus need to use the pigs? Why did the demons seemingly want to inhabit the pigs? Could Jesus have cured the two men without causing the pigs to kill themselves? What happened to the demons after the pigs died? Did they "die" as well?

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