In this superb article Linaria Yeghnazar stresses that it is important not to just see Mary as the mother of Jesus, but to look at the whole of her life as a model ladies can learn from. She urges people to remember that Mary did not just give birth to Jesus, but brought him up, she watched the start of his ministry, she stood by him and was there right at the end when he suffered on the cross. She was a true mother ? faithful to her son to his dying breath. And then after the resurrection and the birth of the church, Mary is still very much at the heart of things. But she didn?t try and lord it over others as the mother of Jesus: she walked with them as an equal. Was Jesus born of a virgin? adapted from the writings of Josh McDowel by Mojdeh Hawksley p18- 19/25This brilliant article explains to those who find this a difficult event to believe why it was necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin. The writer argues that God wanted this to happen for the following reasons: in the ancient world this was completely unique; this means that Jesus would not inherit the sin of Adam; the birth shows that Jesus had a direct relationship with God from his first breath; and if Jesus was a son of Joseph he wouldn?t be able to claim he was a son of David.