The Annunciation: Believe it or Not

 This Sunday's Gospel reading is Luke 1:26-38. In it, Mary is visited by an angel and told that she will bear the son of God. In the last sentence, Mary humbly consents. 

 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

There should be no need to expound on Luke's account of this event. You either believe it or you don't. 

Reasons I have heard to disbelieve the Annunciation include, 

• There are no such things as angels.
• There is no such thing as a virgin conception.
• The word translated as "virgin" just means young girl.

My simple response is to first ask if the person believes in God, and if they respond in the affirmative, then ask them if God's powers are limited in any way. If they say "No", then their inconsistency is easy to point out. If they say that God can't do such things, then we have to go into a deeper discussion because that answer essentially means that I have a John Shelby Spong on my hands and this is someone who is likely to deny many other things in the Gospels including the Resurrection of Jesus.

If you believe that all things are possible for God, then why can't he send an angel and permit a virgin to conceive His Son?