Reply #21: Either Jesus was born of a virgin or else he was not.

[Deep13]

Granted there is no way to ascertain the truth directly, but there is still only one right answer. It is still a question of fact. So we are left with circumstantial evidence. Parthenogenesis does not occur in humans. Unless the Holy Spirit has DNA, one has to wonder where Jesus got his Y chromosome. Many myths involve impossible birth scenarios to avoid the supposed pollution of sexual reproduction. That makes this myth more than a bit derivative.

So absent something pretty compelling to the contrary, we can safely say it never happened.

Did Jesus rise from the dead? Again, he either did or did not. It's a question of fact. Again, there is no way to know directly. But people do not spontaneous stop being dead. The whole definition of death is its permanence. If he came back to life, he was no really dead. If that's true, then it rather takes the wind out of the story's sails.