Comments on: Virgin Birth: It’s Pagan, Guys. Get Over It. https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161 Announcing appearances, publications, and analysis of questions historical, philosophical, and political by author, philosopher, and historian Richard Carrier. Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:42:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Tom Eaton https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-42936 Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:42:50 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-42936 In reply to Kuudere-Kun.

I get a kick out of the way that apologist Christians default to, “No it isn’t!” or “Yes it is!” when they can’t think of anything better to say. It just shows how terribly afraid they are of being wrong!

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By: Tom Eaton https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-42935 Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:33:33 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-42935 In reply to Yosi.

So I’ve seen the words exegeses and eisegeses but never quit knew what they meant, so just now I looked them up, which isn’t a difficult thing to do. My suspicion, however, is that the person or persons that you are addressing don’t have a clue as to what they mean and won’t bother to look them up. But just to be fair, even if they do, I seriously doubt that they will get it.

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By: Tom Eaton https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-42933 Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:09:28 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-42933 I’ve agreed with this line of thought for more than fifty years.I just never had the evidence to back up my suspicions’ Great Job!

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By: Tom Eaton https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-42932 Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:05:47 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-42932 In reply to Chuck Messenger.

I concur!

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By: Jim Kissam https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-39407 Tue, 05 Nov 2024 19:02:16 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-39407 Wonderfully written article and agree 100 percent. I taught the Bible for over 28 years and now see things much differently. Isaiah chap 7 does not support a Christian virgin birth story as indicated. Thank you Dr. Carrier.

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By: Yosi https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-36818 Tue, 07 Nov 2023 12:55:22 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-36818 Richard, you hit the nail on the head. It’s a theological plague that people don’t know how to differentiate between exegesis and eisegesis. They believe that an interpretation of the text (sometimes necessary but most certainly not in this case) is the text. In the case of Christian understanding of this verse they are led astray by Matthew, bad (or worse) translators, and blind faith.

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By: Richard Carrier https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-36811 Mon, 06 Nov 2023 23:11:38 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-36811 In reply to Kuudere-Kun.

The issue is what the prophecy says (and does not say). Not whether it was a prophecy.

No this argument began with someone saying Isaiah was just pointing at an already Pregnant Woman.

Those two sentences are saying literally the same fucking thing.

I think you have failed to grasp what the prophecy is. Because you don’t know anything about Hebrew and amateurishly misinterpreted what the prophecy says. Exactly as we have explained several times now. Maybe eventually you’ll get it. But, I dunno, you do not seem to be showing any signs of possessing the requisite competence to get it. So I won’t hold my breath.

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By: Kuudere-Kun https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-36795 Sat, 04 Nov 2023 17:30:39 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-36795 In reply to Richard Carrier.

No this argument began with someone saying Isaiah was just pointing at an already Pregnant Woman.

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By: Richard Carrier https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-36761 Wed, 01 Nov 2023 15:31:27 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-36761 In reply to Kuudere-Kun.

That’s neither here nor there. The issue is what the prophecy says (and does not say). Not whether it was a prophecy.

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By: Kuudere-Kun https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161#comment-36757 Wed, 01 Nov 2023 02:06:23 +0000 http://www.richardcarrier.info/?p=11161#comment-36757 In reply to Richard Carrier.

Present and Past Tense Language is used in Prophecies all the time, that doesn’t prove it isn’t a Prophecy.

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