Virgin Birth Account Reliable? Part I

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(Luke 1:26-35) Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by G-d to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with G-d. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord G-d will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end...”

Up to here, there is no problem except that in order to call Joseph the father would mean perpetuating a lie.

Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of G-d.”

Verse 35 implies that she would conceive in a 'supernatural way'. However, the Angel speaks in a futuristic way: this and this will happen to you. Mary's reply in verse 34 is in the present/ past tense. She said, "How can this be, as I do not know a man?” that is, "I am not having sexual relations with anyone at the moment." But she would soon “know a man,” as she was betrothed to Joseph. Thus, the angel’s statement should not have surprised her, as he said, “you will [future] conceive”. There is nothing unusual about a woman soon to be married having a son in the near future, so her response is inappropriate. Up to this point the angel has not said anything about a “virgin birth.” It is very natural for an engaged woman to look forward to children, so why is she surprised that in the future she will conceive? If the angel had said, "You are pregnant", then her reply would have made sense. But he says, "You will be pregnant."

Also, these words the angel spoke to Mary did not come to pass in Jesus’ lifetime, thus they speak of a future event:

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with G-d. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord G-d will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end...’”

COULD THE NEW TESTAMENT HAVE BEEN TAMPERED WITH? YES.

One example of tampering is 1 John 5:7: “And there are three which bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This verse only appears in the Catholic Doue Bible (Latin Vulgate), and in the King James, which was translated from the Latin Vulgate. You will not find this verse in any other translation of the New Testament. The reason why? Bible scholars tell us it was added in order to clarify Church doctrine - the doctrine of the Trinity, of course. This is one example of tampering. Then there are also the errors. For example, in Matthew 27 we read about Judas’s betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Verse 9 says: “Then what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, namely, I took the thirty pieces of silver, the costly price which was bargained with the children of Israel.” The problem here is that these words are not found in Jeremiah, but in Zechariah 11:12,13. This is a rather blatant mistake.

Source: http://countermissionary.org/articles/virginbirth.html