I always got some sick enjoyment out of taking these people through their math dilemma myself. Their faces are usually pretty priceless when they actually think their nonsense through.

Good article, except one point. Mary did consent so she wasn't raped by God. It's also true that the angel's message was phrased as a declaration of what was going to happen rather than a request. You see that dynamic in every encounter with God where God is recruiting human agent. God or an angel representative makes the declaration of intent, answers any questions, and then the human accepts the will of God and agrees to play their role.

That acceptance seems to be very important in the stories. I figure it's because of honoring free will, or it was written that way to "prove" that humans had free will, though that's not what actually happened. In other words, the story was changed over time once somebody (probably those pesky pagans with their rational thinking - the heathens) brought it up.

At any rate, it always made me wonder how many said no thanks, right? Like what if Mary wasn't so vaulted above all other women because of he purity and what not, but because sge was the only one who said yes. We just disnt hear about the 50, 200, or thousands who were asked earlier that night. Or Noah? What I the reason the Hebrews had to be slaves for 500 years because it took that long to find someone (Moses) who would lead the resistance and evacuation?