Martinz, from a rational point of view, I agree with you that a virgin birth is not reasonable as people aren't parthenogenic - Greek origin (virgin + birth). I have actually thought about the birth of Jesus (as) due to my scientific background as a plant geneticist and breeder.
Theoretically, there are 2 cases where a mammalian mother could produce offspring without a male partner.
The first case is where a primary oocyte (diploid = 2n) does not undergo the reductionary cellular division (meiosis) to form eggs (haploid = 1N) which would then descend into the uterus and 'somehow' begin embryogenesis. In this case the offspring would be genetically identical to the mother, hence female. We know that humans originate from the mating of 2 different individuals with the combining of genetic material from both. This mating gives rise to individuals that are 'heterozygous' (Aa vs AA or aa) for a large number of genes.
The second case is where the unfertilized haploid (1n) egg would 'somehow' attach to the uterine wall and begin mitotic division, but undergo an initial cellular division failure after the first nuclear division had occurred. In this case, the cells would have 2 copies of the same set of chromosomes and the progeny would be what is called a doubled haploid. The progeny would be 'homozygous' (AA or aa) for every gene and, therefore, again female.
Now human parthenogensis has been induced in the lab to create human stem cells from unfertilized human eggs; however, we know that the mating of closely related people often results in children with genetic birth defects. This is because we are carriers of an undefined number of deleterious genes (a) that are masked by the presence of a functional gene (A) on the other chromosome. A human embryo resulting from a doubled haploid would most likely be lethal due to an excess of these deleterious genes in a homozygous (aa) state.
Since both of these cases would result in a female progeny if they occurred, Jesus could not have been formed by an explainable 'freak of nature' parthenogenesis. Therefore, there are 3 more alternatives.
The easiest to explain is that Mary had either consensual or forced intercourse with a man. In the first case, she would be a fornicator which is unacceptable to my understanding of Mary's high moral standing. In the second case, Mary would not to be blamed, but as in the first case it would make Jesus an illegitimate son which is the Jewish view of Jesus. I reject both of these because they are disrespectful of Mary and Jesus and because it is contrary to what Allah (swt) said in the Quran.
The second alternative is that Allah (swt) miraculously created sperm that fertilized one of Mary's eggs and the third alternative is that Allah (swt) miraculously created an embryo in Mary's uterus that subsequently went through normal embryogenesis resulting in Jesus' natural birth as a human. I believe in the last choice because it is consistent with the Quran, "Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, then He said unto him: Be! and he is." 3:59
Theoretically, there are 2 cases where a mammalian mother could produce offspring without a male partner.
The first case is where a primary oocyte (diploid = 2n) does not undergo the reductionary cellular division (meiosis) to form eggs (haploid = 1N) which would then descend into the uterus and 'somehow' begin embryogenesis. In this case the offspring would be genetically identical to the mother, hence female. We know that humans originate from the mating of 2 different individuals with the combining of genetic material from both. This mating gives rise to individuals that are 'heterozygous' (Aa vs AA or aa) for a large number of genes.
The second case is where the unfertilized haploid (1n) egg would 'somehow' attach to the uterine wall and begin mitotic division, but undergo an initial cellular division failure after the first nuclear division had occurred. In this case, the cells would have 2 copies of the same set of chromosomes and the progeny would be what is called a doubled haploid. The progeny would be 'homozygous' (AA or aa) for every gene and, therefore, again female.
Now human parthenogensis has been induced in the lab to create human stem cells from unfertilized human eggs; however, we know that the mating of closely related people often results in children with genetic birth defects. This is because we are carriers of an undefined number of deleterious genes (a) that are masked by the presence of a functional gene (A) on the other chromosome. A human embryo resulting from a doubled haploid would most likely be lethal due to an excess of these deleterious genes in a homozygous (aa) state.
Since both of these cases would result in a female progeny if they occurred, Jesus could not have been formed by an explainable 'freak of nature' parthenogenesis. Therefore, there are 3 more alternatives.
The easiest to explain is that Mary had either consensual or forced intercourse with a man. In the first case, she would be a fornicator which is unacceptable to my understanding of Mary's high moral standing. In the second case, Mary would not to be blamed, but as in the first case it would make Jesus an illegitimate son which is the Jewish view of Jesus. I reject both of these because they are disrespectful of Mary and Jesus and because it is contrary to what Allah (swt) said in the Quran.
The second alternative is that Allah (swt) miraculously created sperm that fertilized one of Mary's eggs and the third alternative is that Allah (swt) miraculously created an embryo in Mary's uterus that subsequently went through normal embryogenesis resulting in Jesus' natural birth as a human. I believe in the last choice because it is consistent with the Quran, "Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, then He said unto him: Be! and he is." 3:59
