A Virgin Conceived

If Mary was telling the truth, her baby had no human father. She claimed an angel appeared to her and told her she would conceive a son by God's Spirit. Then he said that this child, whom she was to name Jesus, would be the Son of God. If Mary was lying, the night of Jesus' birth was not holy, and the only thing that was silent was the truth. But how can we know? How can we take seriously the kind of story that usually deserves laughs of disbelief? The answer is in what followed. If there were no witnesses and no evidence, we could ignore Mary's claims. If her son's life was the same as any other life, her claim of a virgin birth would be the easiest of all stories to dismiss.