LD 14 - The Virgin Birth

If ever there was a religious doctrine that appears to be a Shibboleth—a word or phrase that simply serves to distinguish insiders from outsiders—the Virgin Birth seems to be one. Affirm the Virgin Birth and you are a conservative; deny it and you are a liberal. So as a test of orthodoxy the Virgin Birth is important. But what can easily get lost is the importance of the Virgin Birth itself.

This is an important place for one of the Catechism's many why-does-it-matter follow-up questions. "How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you?"

Like all of the redemptive events summarized in the Apostles' Creed the Christ's holy conception and birth are historical events with profound significance.