Let's talk about Mary

A couple of weeks ago, Olga came up to me with a burning question:
Olga: Do you think Mary had sex?
Me: Do you mean the Virgin Mary?
Olga: Yes, do you think she had sex?
Me: Yes, but not until after Jesus was born.
Olga: Really? You think Mary had sex! Then why is she called the Virgin Mary?
Me: Because she was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, and didn't have sex until after he was born.
Olga: How do you know that? Did Jesus have any brothers and sisters?
Me: Yes, one of his brothers was named James.
Olga: You know his name?
Me: Yes.
Olga: You really know his name!
Me: Yes.
Olga: But Catholics don't believe that Mary had sex, do they?
Me: No, Catholics have a different view of Mary. They don't like to think of her having sex.
Olga: In my religion, it is a bad thing to be a virgin if you are married. It would be a sin to not have sex with your husband.
Me: Well, I think she had sex with Joseph, but not until after the birth of Jesus. After all, she was a good Jewish girl, so of course she had sex with her husband.
Olga: Really? you believe she was Jewish?
Me: Of course.
Olga: Why do Catholics think different things?
Me: Catholics have a number of different beliefs about Mary, and I really cannot speak for them. Catholics pray to Mary, and protestants don't, because Protestants believe that you should only pray to God.

By this point, I had had quite enough of the sex life of Mary, so I tried to steer the conversation down a different path.

Me: After all, Christianity is a monotheistic religion.
Olga: I always wondered about that. How can that be? I don't think it is monotheistic.
Me: The Trinity is still one God.
Olga: I don't understand that.
Me: It is like the Shema in Hebrew.
Olga: What do you mean?
Me: You know, "Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad." In Hebrew, the word 'echad' doesn't mean 'one' like when you count 'one, two, three'.
Olga: No, it means one like a group.
Me: Exactly. That is the Trinity. One like a group. That is why Christianity is a monotheistic religion, because it is explained in the Shema.
Olga: I never knew that.

From the sex life of Mary, to Monotheism, in one simple step. Of course, any attempt to define the Trinity risks introducing new (or old) heresies, so lets hope that the orthodoxy police aren't reading my blog.