"Is the Virgin Birth Scientifically Impossible?
Skeptics have often stated that it is impossible for a virgin to give
birth to a child. While it would be a scientific anomaly to give birth
while a virgin, it is not a scientific impossibility. This has been
known to happen in nature, although it is rare. When it does happen,
all offspring are female, since the female has two X chromosomes, so
that the offspring inherit, also, two X chromosomes. However, it could
be possible in humans for a woman to give birth to a male. The way that
it could happen is if the woman had both an X and Y chromosome, which
occurs in 1 in 5 million women. So, this possibility cannot be
completely ruled out as impossible.
Of course, the Bible describes the virgin birth as a miracle that
resulted from the action of the Holy Spirit. We don't know exactly
what was involved, but it would probably require at least some genetic
source from the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of the method by which Jesus was conceived, it would have
been very risky to document and claim that He was born of a virgin. In
the Middle East there were "honor killings" for women who conceived out
of wedlock, so to speak of a virgin birth was extremely dishonorable.
In fact, the Bible alludes to some disparaging remarks made by the
opponents of Jesus. In addition, if you look at the anti-Christian
literature at the time, much of it focused on this aspect of
Christianity. This makes one wonder why, if Christians were just making
up a religion, they say something that would offend virtually everybody
in the Middle East. It makes no sense to make up something offensive,
unless it were true."
Someone forwarded this to me; it's from http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/virginbirth.html.
Since it is not documented we should take it with a grain of salt (however I did not find it on Snopes), scientists have been able to achieve parthenogenesis (virginal conception) in humans. I have never heard of a woman with a Y chromosome but it doesn't seem impossible. I would even argue that external genetic material from the Holy Spirit is not necessarily demanded by what the text says; in other words, I'd be willing to believe that Jesus could have been conceived from genetic material purely from Mary (if indeed it is possible for a woman to carry a Y chromosome).
More interesting and relevant is their argument about why it would be risky to proclaim the Virgin Birth!
I'm going to confirm this with some scientifically-knowledgeable people I know &mdash it's important not to forward undocumented and unsupported things uncritically &mdash and I'll let you know if they have anything to say.
