“WHAT??? YOU SAY THERE WERE OTHER GODS THAT WERE ALSO BORN OF A VIRGIN???”
There are many cases documented on the religions of India, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Mexico, Tibet, etc.
MAIA, MOTHER OF SAKIA AND YASODA OF CHRISHNA;
CELESTINE MOTHER OF THE CRUCIFIED ZULIS;
CHIMALMAN, MOTHER OF QUEXALCOTE;
SEMELE, MOTHER OF THE EGYPTIAN BACCHUS, AND MINERVA, MOTHER OF THE GRECIAN BACCHUS;
PRUDENCE, MOTHER OF HERCULES;
ALCMENE, MOTHER OF ALCIDES;
SHING-MON, MOTHER OF YU, AND MAYENCE, MOTHER OF HESUS, AND MORE …
… were all as confidently believed to be pure, holy and chaste virgins, giving birth to Gods, Sons of God, Saviors, and sin atoning Mediators. All of these virgins existed before the time of Mary and Jesus.
In asian minor Attis was born of a virgin, Cybele. In Syria, Adonis’ virgin mother is Myrrha.
In Alexandria Aion was born of the virgin Kore.
In Greece, Dionysus was born of a mortal virgin Semele, she wishes to see Zeus then is mysteriously impregnated by one of his bolts of lightning. (source=Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy..the Jesus mysteries 1999 p 35)
In ancient Egypt the priests claimed that Queen Hatshepset was the offspring of the god Amon and a mortal mother.
Also Romulus founder of Rome was born of a virgin, a vestal Priestess and the god of Mars. (Ben Zion Bokser Judaisim and the Christian Predicament ; 1966, pg 254)
And that is just naming a few….
I guess Jesus wasn’t the first to be born of a virgin. Jesus is the last in a long line of such pagan “deities” which include Adonis, Baal, Attis, Mithras, Isis, Dionysus, and others. Each of these pagan deities supposedly was half-man and half-God beings born of virgin mothers. Adonis, Attis and Dionysus supposedly were resurrected after three days in the earth. Jesus seems to specifically be patterned after Isis, Dionysus and Mithras.
WOMAN INSPECTED MARY’S VIRGINITY WHILE SHE WAS PREGNANT
A second-century story known as The Protoevangelium of James fills in a lot of the gaps in Mary’s biography. It tells us about Mary’s childhood, that she had special status as a dedicated virgin, and that she was 16 when she conceived Jesus. In this version of the nativity story Joseph doesn’t just accuse her of disgracing herself, he responds to Mary’s statement that she hasn’t “known” a man by asking her, “Where did this thing in your womb come from then?”
But Joseph is a believer in comparison to woman named Salome. Salome, who meets a midwife who examined Mary, declares, “As the Lord my God lives, unless I insert my finger and investigate her, I will not believe that a virgin has given birth.” Mary prepares herself for the gynecological exam and Salome performs the test. Her hand literally catches on fire, and it takes the appearance of an angel (as well as some strong statements of contrition from Salome) before she is healed.