The results of being pregnant would be one hell of a stretch if she was a virgin.

After all these posts we are at last coming to the nub. When a literalist accepts that different translations from different languages can mean different things, we get closer to being able to see where this is coming from. Factor in the art of borrowing from earlier traditions to appear relevant to those you are trying to convert and we get the Bible.

So the only thing I don't get is, taking the above into account, why otherwise rational people defend the absurd notions. No need. As a moral guide, you could do worse (so long as you don't try the disgusting bits towards the front half of the book) and as a historical document showing how beautiful the English language was at the time of James I, it is of linguistic interest and I am sure, beauty. Those who seek to modernise the words are missing an important point.

It isn't the fascinating concept of how people used to think that is an issue where the Bible is concerned, its the insistence of some that it should guide How society thinks. That's another cauldron of porpoises.