You asked: How did Mary get pregnant if she was a virgin and who impregnated her?

Thanks for your note to us here at TruthBook about Mary. To answer your question, I will be using the teachings of The Urantia Book, which is the focus of our website, but with a special emphasis on Jesus.

If Mary was a virgin, it would be very difficult to imagine how she might become pregnant with a child who was truly human. All human beings are conceived in only one way – and that is to have sexual relations. But traditional church teachings would have us believe that Mary somehow became pregnant without having sex. And then these teachings go on to have us believe that Jesus was a truly human baby. If we use our God-given minds, we may find this teaching very difficut to understand and accept, even though most of us grew up being told that it is the truth.

In PART IV of The Urantia Book, the Life and Teachings of Jesus – we discover that far from being a virgin, Mary was a young women who enjoyed a normal married life with her husband, Joseph. They engaged in normal relations after their marriage, and the first child that was conceived was Jesus. This event was accompanied by a supernatural visitation by Gabriel, who informed Mary that this child, conceived only the day before, was to be the Deliverer. And we are told that this visitation by Gabriel was the only supernatural occurrance connected with Jesus’ conception and birth. In other words, Jesus was conceived and was born much the same as you or me.

If Jesus was truly one of us – a true human being – there was no other way for him to come into the world than in the normal way – through sexual relations of Mary and Joseph; otherwise, he would not have been truly human. Jesus possessed all of the physical genetic inheritances of his earth parents – parents who were specifically chosen by Gabriel for this honor.

But – how did it happen that Jesus was also divine? How was this miracle acheived? The authors of the book admit that even they are intrigued by this, and cannot explain it. In This section of the book, we read:

120:4.5 Urantia mortals have varying concepts of the miraculous, but to us who live as citizens of the local universe there are few miracles, and of these by far the most intriguing are the incarnational bestowals of the Paradise Sons. The appearance in and on your world, by apparently natural processes, of a divine Son, we regard as a miracle—the operation of universal laws beyond our understanding. Jesus of Nazareth was a miraculous person.
120:4.6 In and through all this extraordinary experience, God the Father chose to manifest himself as he always does—in the usual way—in the normal, natural, and dependable way of divine acting.

Mary and Joseph went on to create quite a large family – nine children in all. But Jesus was the eldest.

If you follow some of the links I have given you in this reply, you may be confused by the term that they use for Jesus – Michael – the universe title for this Son of God. But if you follow this link, that will be explained better, and will help you to grasp the true nature and identity of this miraculous God/man.

Even though this may seem to be heresy to those who believe in the virginity of Mary, it really does make good sense, I think you’ll agree. Knowing this truth about the conception of Jesus allows all human beings to claim Jesus as their own – a truly human brother, and one who lived a life that all human beings can strive to emulate. That he was also divine only adds to his charm and attractiveness, as he spent his life revealing the loving nature of the heavenly Father to our creature eyes. And through the study of his life, we appreciate and love him even more, knowing that he truly is our elder brother who understands us because he IS one of us.

129:4.7 And this was his true and supreme purpose. He did not come down to live on Urantia as the perfect and detailed example for any child or adult, any man or woman, in that age or any other. True it is, indeed, that in his full, rich, beautiful, and noble life we may all find much that is exquisitely exemplary, divinely inspiring, but this is because he lived a true and genuinely human life. Jesus did not live his life on earth in order to set an example for all other human beings to copy. He lived this life in the flesh by the same mercy ministry that you all may live your lives on earth; and as he lived his mortal life in his day and as he was, so did he thereby set the example for all of us thus to live our lives in our day and as we are. You may not aspire to live his life, but you can resolve to live your lives even as, and by the same means that, he lived his. Jesus may not be the technical and detailed example for all the mortals of all ages on all the realms of this local universe, but he is everlastingly the inspiration and guide of all Paradise pilgrims from the worlds of initial ascension up through a universe of universes and on through Havona to Paradise. Jesus is the new and living way from man to God, from the partial to the perfect, from the earthly to the heavenly, from time to eternity.

Thanks again for your note to Truthook; I hope this reply has been helpful – and I hope that you’ll be inspired to read even more of The Urantia Book, a modern revelation of truth mandated by God and gifted to our world.